‘The time is always right to do what is right’
Breakthrough Project hosts celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Kimberly Miller recalled a time she saw an older woman take groceries out of her cart at a supermarket checkout because she couldn’t afford to pay for all of them.
The woman, Miller said, removed cans of vegetables and beans, some rice and even meat, an order of food that looked to be an entire meal.
Miller said the woman paid for the remainder of groceries and left the store. As the checker began ticking off Miller’s groceries, the Stockton resident said she would take the items the woman in front of her left behind.
After paying for her own groceries and what the woman left, Miller walked outside to the parking lot, found her loading what she had paid for into a car, and gave her the items she couldn’t afford.
“I can’t remember what year it was, but we were having economic problems as a state,” Miller said. “Social Security checks were delayed, and she had been waiting on her check. She just got what she could get and said, ‘Thank you so much. I just didn’t know where my check was. I was just trying to get the best I could get out of it, and I so appreciate what you did.’”
The moral of Miller’s story, she said, was that the time is always right to do the right thing. It was also the message of the Breakthrough Project’s 22nd annual Celebration of Unity on Monday.
The celebration was held at the First United Methodist Church to honor the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
A 2016 recipient of the Susan B. Anthony Women of Achievement Award, as well as a 2018 recipient of the Stockton Women’s Collaborative: the Making a Difference Award from the San Joaquin County Commission on the Status of Women, Miller was the event’s keynote speaker.
MIller, a county native, left the region as a young woman but returned home 20 years ago. Since her return, she has been active in both the Lodi
and Stockton communities, serving as director of administration for the Women’s Center-Youth and Family Services.
She has also served as president of the Leadership Stockton Alumni Association, as well as activities coordinator for the Quail Lakes Baptist Church.
During her presentation Monday, Miller said she second-guessed her actions at the grocery store, wondering what other customers thought and fearing the woman who couldn’t afford the items would ultimately reject them when she found her.
“What I received was appreciation, gratitude, sincerity, compassion and empathy.
I remembered what is was like to need help and to accept it,” Miller said. “It also made me aware that not everybody had the same circumstances that I had, and I was blessed with the opportunity to make a difference in another person’s life through the act of service.”
Miller said her decision to act that day was just who she had become over the years. But even who she had become was due to the many people she had met in the Lodi and Stockton communities, and who had pushed and urged her to better herself, she said.
Among those were former Boys and Girls Club director Bertram Chatham, for whom she worked an a part-time basis when she returned to San Joaquin County 20 years ago. When she told him she needed a full-time job, he contacted Women’s Center director Joelle Gomez, who hired her as a bookkeeper. Miller eventually made her way up the ladder to become that organization’s director.
Gomez also urged Miller to apply for the Leadership Stockton program, which helped her gain the confidence and ability to take on the role of leader in her future endeavors, she said.
Miller has also been involved with local branches of the American Association of University Women, which encouraged her to return to school to further her education. She is currently attending University of the Pacific to obtain a Doctorate of Education at University of the Pacific.
She said King recognized that people become their best as a result of support from friends, family, and the entire community.
“The encouragement we provide one another to be our collective best is our hope,” she said. “Dr. King’s dream lives in my heart and in my actions. I can’t conquer all of the injustices in our society. But I have the power to impact lives for the better. No matter how big or how small, our hope is empowered by our actions. As a bystander we watch. As a participant, united with others in service, we solidify our hope for the future generations.”
David Hill, founder of The Breakthrough Project, said Monday’s message was a great one because Miller had a community of support from those around her.
It’s the kind of support the Breakthrough Project hopes to instill in Lodi residents, he said.
“This is really neat for me to see this,” he said. “But it’s taken a community of people. A village does a lot better work than individuals. Because there a lot of caring individuals that make up a community like Lodi, but also make a difference of hope. And we can make a difference.”
Also presented
Every year, the Breakthrough Project sponsors an essay contest for local fifth- and sixth-graders centered around the Celebration of Unity theme. This year, students were asked to write about King’s “The time is always right to do what’s right” quote in the context of 1960 and today.
Students were asked to describe a time where doing the right thing was difficult and ignoring a problem was easier.
Larson Elementary School fifth-grader Ella Leffler and sixth grader Simon Kolber took first place in their respective grades.