Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration This Sunday at Kleinhans

Noted Scholar and Educator L. Nathan Hare is Keynote Speaker

The Concerned Citizens Following The Dream Committee will honor several community leaders this Sunday, January 15 at their annual Martin Luther King celebration to take place at 6 p.m. at Kleinhans Music Hall. The theme this year is, “Together We Can Be the Dream.”

Admission is free and open to the public.

Honorees who will receive awards for their work in education, medicine, judicial, humanitarian, leadership, community service, diversity, interfaith, and business include:

•Bishop Jacqueline Foye - MLK Women of Distinction Award

• Sharon Belton-Cottman - MLK Education Award

• Ed Drantch - MLK Media Award

• Dr. Candace Johnson - MLK Medical Award

• Judge Craig Hanna - MLK Judicial Award

• Bishop Tommie Reed - MLK Humanitarian Award

• Lenny Lane - MLK Community Award

• Rosa Gonzalez - MLK Leadership Award

• Apostle Robert L. Sanders - MLK Interfaith Award

• Jerry Daniels - MLK Businessman Award

• Jomo Akono - MLK Diversity Award

• Oswaldo Mestre, Jr. - MLK Community Service Award

Noted scholar and teacher of both Christian education and classical African history and culture., L. Nathan Hare, will be the keynote speaker.

The celebration is also slated to have several performances by The African Cultural Center Drummers and Dancers, Buffalo Performing Arts School, Kimera Lattimore, Larry Salter’s Soul Orchestra True Bethel Church Praise Dance Ministry, Delivered, Moe Badger, Worship Ministry and Young Adults of The Tabernacle of Orchard Park Bishop Robert Stearns, Pastor, Eireann Kennedy and many others.

The event is sponsored in part by: M&T Bank, Wegmans’s Food, Councilman Ulysees Wingo, Councilman Darius Pridgen, Councilman Rasheed Wyatt, Senator Tim Kennedy, The Fretted Buffalo World Class Acoustic Guitars, ECMC, Lombardo Funeral Home Connect/Life, Community Health Center, Alan Core Funeral Home, Buffalo Teacher’s Federation, Molina Healthcare and WUFO Power 96.5 FM & 1080 AM Radio.

For more information contact Bessie Patterson, program coordinator, at 716-855-1539 for more information.

Martin Luther King Day of Service and Blanket Drive

The Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor And Cultural Anchors Celebrate Dr. King’s Life With A Day Of Service And Blanket Drive

“This year, we are even more energized as we prepare for the MLK Jr. Day of Service to provide a larger helping hand of support to our community. There has been so much suffering, so, the Corridor team has an extended list of service projects and activities to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stated Terry Alford, Executive Director of the Michigan African American Heritage Corridor Commission.

Activities include:

8:45 - 10 a.m. MLK JR. DAY OF SERVICE ACTIVITY: In collaboration with Faustenia Morrow, Founder of Monarch of Infinite Possibilities, join us as we assist select community churches with projects. #MLKDAY

10: 30 – 11:30 a.m. - Celebrating the renovations made so far and sharing upcoming plans for the Historic Michigan Street Baptist Church – Event Open to the Public

12 noon - 2 p.m. - FREE Tours of the Michigan Street Baptist Church, The NASH House Museum, the Historic Colored Musicians Club and the WUFO Black Radio Collective.

12 noon – 4 p.m. MLK JR. RADIO SPECIAL: WUFO

Black Radio Collective and WUFO Power 96.5 “Redeeming The Dream\” Honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK DAY OF CARING BLANKET DRIVE

We are asking the community to donate a new blanket that can be distributed to Buffalo area residents on MLK Day. Blankets can be dropped off at the Michigan Street Corridor Office at 111 Genesee Street or at WUFO Power 96.5 Radio Station at 143 Broadway Ave. Buffalo, NY 14203 during business hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. now thru January 16.

The New Blankets will be distributed on MLK Day January 16, from 12 Noon to 4p.m. at the historic Michigan Street Baptist Church, 511 Michigan Street.

“Reading about many community members who went without power or heat and recognizing the expensive cost of preparing for the winter or a winter storm, the Michigan street team evaluated how they could help,” stated Lillie Wiley Upshaw, Michigan Street Board Chair and Chair of the Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition/the Historic Michigan Street Baptist Church. For More details @ www.michiganstreetbuffalo.org