Local events planned to pay tribute to King
Sunday, Jan. 20 Media Fellowship House to hold MLK birthday celebration
Media Fellowship House will hold its 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at First United Methodist Church, 350 W. State St., Media.
In addition to the traditional music and a keynote address by distinguished guest Anita Friday on “Suspicion … Why and What Cost?,” two more inductees will be added to last year’s honor roll of 12 Spirit Award Winners.
For 2019, MFH will add new inductees to the Hall of Fame of men and women with similar qualities as King such as loyalty, leadership, integrity, honesty, determination and courage. This collection of individuals honors King as well as serves as role models for all who find value in their lives, accomplishments and commitment to advocacy for justice. The MLK Spirit Hall of Fame nominees include individuals in our local community as well as in the national focus. Nominees include: Ella Baker, Congressman John Lewis, Alex Wind, Elinor Phillips Cadman, and Bryan A. Stevenson.
The voting and their bios were online until Jan. 9, before the votes were tabulated. The inductees will be revealed, with their portraits displayed, during the MLK Celebration. Afterward, MFH will prepare short biographies of the new inductees for the MFH website.
The Jan. 20 event will also include performances by The Penncrest Chamber String Ensemble, Delco Mass Choir, and BIMAS.
For more information about the MLK Spirit Hall of Fame and MLK Day celebration, visit http://www. mediafellowshiphouse.org.
Ardmore churches to host MLK interfaith worship service
Bethel AME Church of Ardmore, 163 Sheldon Lane, Ardmore, will hold a MLK Interfaith Worship Service
10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. Participating congregations are Bethel AME Church of Ardmore, Or Zarua, Gladwyne Presbyterian and Old Haverford Friends Meeting. Lunch and discussion will follow the service. For more information, call 610642-8966.
Zion Baptist to host MLK shabbat of interfaith harmony
Zion Baptist Church of Ardmore, 219 W. Spring Ave., Ardmore, will host an
11 a.m. MLK Shabbat of Interfaith Harmony on Sunday, Jan. 20. Participating congregations are Main Line Reform Temple, Zion Baptist Church of Ardmore, and Beth Am Israel. For more details, call 610-6491216 or visit www.zionbaptistardmore.org.
Main Line MLK Association to hold musical tribute to MLK
The Main Line MLK Association will host a musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, in McPherson Auditorium at Bryn Mawr College. Performances will be by the St. Thomas Gospel Choir of African Episcopal Church, Vision For God A Capella Group and Main Line Youth Freedom Singers. This year’s honorees will include Diana Robertson, president of the Main Line Branch NAACP and civil rights advocate and Shawn Lee, teacher and community and church advocate. A shuttle bus will transport attendees from Bryn Mawr College’s Gateway, Merion and Park Science lots to Goodhart Hall. This event is open to the public. For more information, visit www.brynmawr. edu/events.
Monday, Jan. 21 Penn State Brandywine holds MLK day of service activities
The community is invited to join Penn State Brandywine students, faculty and staff on Martin Luther King Day for a morning of family-friendly service activities. The event will be held
10 a.m.- noon Monday, Jan.
21, in the Student Union Building at Penn State, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media.
Brandywine’s activities are sponsored by the campus’ Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement and are part of the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service.
Along with learning about King’s life and legacy, participants will create valentines for local seniors, write cards to the military, crochet blankets for local animal shelters, organize toiletry kits for women’s shelters, and create art based on individualized dreams for society. Donated toiletry items will be collected and the Nittany Lion mascot will be present.
The event is free of charge and light refreshments will be served. Registration is available through the Day of Service website at mlkdayofservice.org/ volunteer. For additional information, contact Vippy Yee, Rosenberg Director of the Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement, at vxy3@psu. edu.
Dr. L. Joy Gates Black to deliver keynote address at MLK Unity Celebration
The Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County, in partnership with the Upper Darby Community Outreach Corporation, will host its 18th Annual Unity Day Celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
8-9:30 a.m. Monday, Jan.
21 at Drexelbrook Corporate Events Center, 4700 Drexelbrook Drive and Valley Road, Drexel Hill. Hundreds of people throughout the community, including YMCA members, family, friends, and elected officials, will join together to honor and live out the words of King. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. L. Joy Gates Black, president of Delaware County Community College. Gates Black is the first woman, and the first African American to head the college.
During breakfast, guests can enjoy live music provided by local church choirs. In addition, the Community YMCA will present awards to two middle school students from the Upper Darby School District. The students were asked what King’s words and actions mean to their lives today. Guests are encouraged to bring toiletries or non-perishable food items for local shelters and food pantries. The breakfast is a community partnership between the Community YMCA, Upper Darby Community Outreach Corporation, UpperDarby School District, and the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. For more information, visit cyedc.org.
Bethel AME Church collecting toiletries for MLK service project
The Main Line Martin Luther King Jr. Association will be collecting and packaging toiletries to be distributed to the homeless and shelters 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. at Bethel AME Church of Bryn Mawr, 50 S. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr. For more information, call 610-5276674.
HCAN holds MLK activities at Haverford Library
Havertown-Area Community Action Network will hold its third annual MLK Day community event 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Haverford Township Free Library , 1601 Darby Road, Havertown. The event will feature family-friendly service projects, educational activities, crafts, music circle and story time. For teens and adults, there will be a guided conversation about race and how to effectively respond to racism. To honor King’s legacy, participants can bring school supplies to donate to the Universal Institute, a Title 1 School in South Philadelphia.
For more information, e-mail library@haverfordlibrary.org, call the library at 610-446-3082 or call Tina at 484-57-8534.
Chester Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority plan Day of Service at Academy Park
Chester Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. will partner with Goodwill Delaware County Job Center on January 21 to organize an MLK Day of Service focusing on employment education. Students from Academy Park High School will have a full day of interactive learning about looking for a career, including interview tips and hearing from people in the field. In addition to employment education, students will have an opportunity
to meet with summer employers. The workshop will take place at the school, 300 Calcon Hook Road, Sharon Hill.
Every year members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority support the communities throughout Delaware County in a variety of ways. This year, the sorority will be giving a gift that will continue to give, the skills to find employment.
Chester Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta is celebrating 25 years of public service organization that serves Delaware County, making a difference in the lives of individuals who live throughout the area. Chester Alumnae has been committed to community service since its charter on Jan. 22, 1994. For more information, visit www.dstchesterpaac.org /home.html.
MLK Day ‘Hoops from the Heart’ raises money and food donations for Community Action Agency
Basketball players across the county will drive to the hoop on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to raise funds and food donations for the Community Action Agency of Delaware County Inc., the county’s anti-poverty agency that helps families and individuals to move toward self-sufficiency.
Called “Hoops from the Heart,” the MLK Day of Service initiative was started in early 2001 and has since raised over $100,000 for Community Action Agency programs that serve low-income residents in Delaware County.
Four basketball clinics will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Jan. 21, at Cabrini College in Radnor, Haverford College in Haverford, and Neumann University in Aston.
The clinics, open to boys and girls in grades one through eight, will cover all aspects of fundamental play. Each player who preregisters will get a complimentary T-shirt. Cost for the clinic ranges from $20-30, depending on which school is hosting the clinic. Proceeds from the annual event will benefit the Community Action Agency of Delaware County, which provides services to needy families in local communities.
The athletic staff at each school will conduct the clinics. Bobbi Morgan, the Women’s basketball coach at Haverford College, was one of the people who created the Hoops from the Heart program.
All proceeds raised benefit CAADC programs, which include emergency housing, social services, employment training and life skills training. In addition to operating shelters and daycare facilities for individuals and families, the CAADC also provides many vital services including welfare-to-work programs, and food and fuel assistance.
In addition, each athlete is asked to donate a nonperishable food item that will go to the Life Center of Eastern Delaware County, one of CAADC’s emergency housing programs. The Life Center, 63rd and Market streets, Upper Darby, houses 50 homeless individuals and serves over 150 residents each year. The Life Center also operates a food program that serves 200 250 people daily.
For information about the 18th Annual “Hoops From the Heart” event, contact Gail King at CAADC at
610-874-8451.
Online registration forms are available at each school’s website, or by calling coach Bobbi Morgan at Haverford College, 610-446-9397; Athletic Director Chuck Sack at Neumann University, 484840-4711; coach Alisa Kintner at Widener University,
610-499-4476; and coach Kate Pearson at Cabrini College:, 610-902-1016.
MLK Day of Service in Chester
MLK Commemorative Committee of Chester & Vicinity will present the MLK Day of Service 9 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21. This year’s activities will be centered on the 500 block of the Avenue of the States with more than 20 happenings at five locations. Activities will be offered for all ages and include Dr. Daisy Century performing as Harriet Tubman and aviator Bessie Coleman, Black History 101 Mobile Museum, Heritage Bus Tours, mural and T-shirt painting, a book fair with readings, author signings and giveaways, and debut of a documentary film about the YWCA Chester. Continental breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served. Those interested in volunteering should arrive between 8 and 10 a.m. All events are free to the public.
For more information about MLK Commemorative Committee of Chester & Vicinity, visit https://www. facebook.com/MLKCommitteeChesterandVicinity.
Prospect Park Youth Club and Fire Company to hold MLK Food Drive
Prospect Park Youth Club and the Prospect Park Fire Company are co-sponsoring a Food Donation Drive as part of the 24th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service. Donations will be accepted from 8 a.m. to noon Monday, Jan. 21 at the Prospect Park Fire Co. at 1001 Lincoln Ave., Prospect Park.
Suggested non-perishable food items are canned food, jars of peanut butter or jelly, rice, cereal, dried fruit/raisins, breakfast bars/healthy snacks, and more. Donations will benefit the Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry and the F.E.R.B program at Delaware County Community College. For more information on this and other MKL Day of Service events, contact mlkdayofservice.org.
Davidson to host MLK celebration brunch
State Rep. Margo Davidson, D-164 of Upper Darby, announced she and state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore, will host the Second Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Brunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, at Upper Darby Post 214 American Legion, 6914 Chestnut St., Upper Darby. U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, will be guest speaker.
The event is open to the public but people must preregister by calling Davidson’s office to secure their seat. There will be no tickets distributed at the door.
The event will celebrate the late King’s ties to Chester and Delaware counties, where the foundation was laid for the man he would become and the movement he would lead. He was a student at Upland’s Crozier Theological Seminary and found a lifelong mentor in the Rev. J. Pius Barbour of Chester’s Calvary Baptist Church. During this time, King also heard a speech in Philadelphia on Gandhian non-violent resistance, which electrified him.
The Davidson-Kearney event will feature a brunch and the second annual “Judge Carolyn H. Nichols Drum Major for Justice” award ceremony to recognize local civil rights activists. The award is named after the highest-ranking African-American female justice ever elected to the Pennsylvania bench.
Davidson was recently elected as the first AfricanAmerican woman to head the powerful Democratic Southeastern Delegation in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The election marked the latest in firsts for Davidson, who was also the first Democrat, the first African American and the first woman to represent the 164th Legislative District. She also chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus and is a member of the Bi-Partisan Ladies of the House.
For more information about the event, call Davidson’s office at 610-259-7016 or email ARichard@pahouse.net.
St. Andrew to mark MLK Day with service and activities
St. Andrew School in Drexel Hill will host the Inaugural SAS Day of Service event in Msgr. McGettigan Hall on School Lane and Foss Avenue from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21. Students in grades 3-8 will have the opportunity to serve others in the greater community. The program will involve an opening prayer service, followed by dedicated working stations where students will engage in hands-on activities to support Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Providence Animal Center, Lisa’s Army and local food shelters. In addition, students will recognize the efforts of local first responders and create rosary beads for missionary work around the world. As another avenue to support local partners in the school’s mission, there will be dedicated drop-off sites throughout the venue for donations to support the St. Andrew Parish Food Pantry, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Schools of Special Education and Providence Animal Center.
For additional information or to donate, contact: Beth Peacock-Zdinak of Saint Andrew Home and School Association at bzdinak@saintandrewschool.com.
Brandywine Youth Club holds tenth annual day of service
The community is invited to join the Brandywine Youth Club for its tenth annual MLK Community Service Day 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Jan. 21, at Brandywine Youth Club’s O’Donoghue Fieldhouse, 47 Thornton Road, Glen Mills. Participants can choose from a variety of projects in which to participate. If interested in ideas for specific donations or to RSVP, call or e-mail Dawn Gillespieat 610-246-7800 or gillespiedj@verizon.net. All ages are welcome, but small children must be accompanied by an adult. Community service hours are available.
Chester Made organizes MLK Day mural project
Chester Made will hold its 2019 MLK Day of Service in Chester on Monday, Jan. 21, celebrating the legacy of an important person in Chester history, Crozer Seminary graduate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Everyone is invited to come at 11 a.m. at MJ Freed Theater, 515 Avenue of the States, for a painted word activity that will add to the background for community painted mural boards. Participants will then install everything near 16 W. Fifth St., until 3 p.m.
This activity is free and open to anyone. Volunteers under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.
Volunteers are also needed 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, Jan. 18, at the Chester Made Makerspace, 511 Avenue of the States, to help prep supplies and paint the background for the mural boards to be used Monday. No registration is required. Volunteers should just show up in their paint clothes and get ready to make their mark in their community in a fun and stress-relieving way. The event is free and open to everyone. For more information, e-mail Chester Made Project Manager Ulysses Slaughter at chestermade@ pahumanities.org.