The Greater Scranton MLK Commission will sponsor Sunday its annual celebration and awards dinner honoring the life, legacy and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
The theme of the event \u2014 which will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the fourth-floor McIlhenny Ballroom of the University of Scranton\u2019s Patrick and Margaret DeNaples Student Center, 900 Mulberry St. \u2014 is \u201cWhere Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?\u201d That was the title of King\u2019s final book, published the year before the pioneering civil rights leader and advocate for nonviolence was assassinated in 1968.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an incredible theme this year, and we chose that theme because right now in the environment that we have in our world we need to start paying attention to each other, being kind to each other and see what it is that we can do to make things better for each other,\u201d Greater Scranton MLK Commission President Carole Mason said Friday.<\/p>\n
The program will feature a luncheon followed by remarks by keynote speakers U. Melissa Anyiwo, Ph.D., an associate professor of history and director of Black studies at the University of Scranton, and Yerodin Lucas, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the school of social work at Marywood University.<\/p>\n
Tickets will be available at the door for $25, Mason said.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s event precedes a multifaith service planned for Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at Bethel AME Church, 716 N. Washington Ave., Scranton.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by the Scranton Area Ministerium in cooperation with the MLK Commission, the service featuring leaders and representatives of various different faith traditions will begin at 7 p.m., Phil Yevics, a volunteer officer with the ministerium, confirmed Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a powerful service,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s worth being there for people that can make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
All are welcome to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of it is just to recognize the significance of Martin Luther King and his heritage for all Americans,\u201d Yevics said. \u201cHis message of concern for the least among us and for equality and justice for all is something that we\u2019re still moving towards and we still have a lot of room for progress. It is something that all Americans can benefit (from) if we tune into what Martin Luther King was calling us to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other MLK events<\/p>\n
Other, unrelated events are also planned locally in honor of MLK Day.<\/p>\n
St. Joseph\u2019s Center, for example, will host Monday a winter children\u2019s clothing drive where residents can support local children and families by donating new or gently used winter clothing.<\/p>\n
The center\u2019s Baby and Children\u2019s Pantry is in need of boys and girls winter clothing in sizes newborn through 10\/12, as well as diapers in sizes 5 and 6 and pull-ups in sizes 2T-3T, 3T-4T and 4T-5T. The drive runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 320 S. Blakely St., Dunmore.<\/p>\n
Then, on Tuesday, Penn State Scranton will host its annual MLK Day event in The View Caf\u00e9, located inside the school\u2019s Study Learning Center Building, running from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The free event is happening Tuesday because the campus is closed Monday as a result of the federal holiday.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s event reflects the King Center\u2019s 2026 theme, \u201cMission Possible II: Building Community, Uniting a Nation the Nonviolent Way,\u201d according to Penn State Scranton.<\/p>\n
Amber Viola, a local resident, mother, Navy veteran, social worker and community activist, will be the keynote speaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Greater Scranton MLK Commission will sponsor Sunday its annual celebration and awards dinner honoring the life, legacy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[44212,44213,41219,37743,44211,178,180,179,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-89125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-carole-mason","9":"tag-margaret-denaples-student-center","10":"tag-mlk","11":"tag-mlk-day","12":"tag-penn-state-scranton","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-university-of-scranton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}