Purdue North Central invites community members to its 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 19, in the PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building cafeteria. The day’s theme is “Celebrating Harmony Together: 20 Years Honoring the Vision of Dr.
Rev. John Nunes
Martin Luther King Jr.”
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7:15 a.m. and breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m., with the program to begin at 8 a.m. Reservations are not required.
Rev. John Nunes, the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Chair at Valparaiso University, will be the featured speaker. Jamaican born and Canadian raised, he is the former president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief, an organization helping people in 17 countries to work their way out of poverty.
Pastor Ron Gaston, founder of The Temple Total Fitness, a Christian gym and not-for-profit organization in Michigan City, will emcee the PNC event. Guest singer will be Delshawn Taylor, a psychology major on the pre-med track at IU South Bend. The event will also include an excerpt from the play “Rickey” written by Jerry Holt, chair of the PNC Department of English and Modern Languages, featuring actor Steven Becker in the role of Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey.
Breakfast participants are asked to bring non-perishable food items to be donated to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana and food pantries in Michigan City and LaPorte.
Guests are also invited to view select artwork of Margaret Burroughs during the event. The art, on loan from Pines Village Retirement Communities, highlights diversity in our culture while encouraging mutual respect and understanding. Burroughs founded the DuSable Museum of African-American History in her Chicago home. The artwork will be on display outside PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building Room 144 through February.
PNC students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome to join one of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Service Projects that will take place throughout the area Jan. 19. From 10 a.m. to noon, PNC students will lead educational activities focused on King’s life at the Michigan City Public Library. All children are welcome to attend, but activities are intended for kids ages 3 to 12. From 5 to 7 p.m., an Interfaith Talent Show coordinated by the NAACP and New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will take place at the church on West 6th St., Michigan City.
Also, on Jan. 24 at 2 p.m., the film “42” will be shown at the Michigan City Public Library with a discussion to follow led by Jerry Holt. The film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and the man who signed him into the Major Leagues, Branch Rickey.
2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration sponsors include: premier sponsors Horizon Bank, PNC Chancellor’s Diversity Fund, Herald-Argus and News-Dispatch; gold sponsors Dr. and Mrs. David Pratt, Michigan City Human Rights Commission, NIPSCO, Sinai Temple and 1st Source Bank; silver sponsors Blue Chip Casino, LaPorte Savings Bank, Swanson Center, Unity Foundation of LaPorte County, and LaPorte County Convention and Visitors Bureau; and bronze sponsors Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Sigma Phi Omega, and NAACP.
For more information and to request accommodations for those with disabilities, contact Laura Weaver, PNC service learning coordinator, at laweaver@pnc.edu or 219-785-5742.