LIMA, OH (WLIO) - The Lima community continues to keep the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alive, but during the annual breakfast, they were challenged to develop their own mark on the world.
The legacy of Dr. King was not just talked about, it was in action at the 29th annual Memorial Breakfast at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center. Keynote speaker Doctor Lisa Bradley is Rhodes State College's special assistant to the president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and she challenged the audience to find their own legacy in the world.
"I am hoping that the young audience today will be able to find something within themselves and say you know what, here is the one thing that has lit a fire or a spark inside of me, just to be able to pass it on to others, generation after generation," says Dr. Lisa Bradley.
Bradley says that sometimes we look for legacies out of people who hold important titles or a status, but she says before Doctor King became the iconic civil rights leader, he was a man with a dream.
"If we look back at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, he started out at being, yes an ordinary person. Who was kind enough to open the doors to let individuals come in to be able to have a place to be able to start the activism and to be able to start this peaceful journey," adds Dr. Bradley.
The Breakfast is put on by Sisters in Service and Sigma Mu Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the money raised is used for scholarships. They are happy to see the community continue to support their mission of giving back and keeping Doctor King's dream alive.
"Dr. King stood for so many things and we just can't just sit back and wait for things to happen. So, it's great to see that people on a day off coming out and being part of the community and looking forward to hearing something positive," says Robin Frazier, Pres. Sigma Mu Omega. "Really giving back to the community and be unified today."
Dr. King said 'Everybody can be great because everybody can serve' and Mayor Sharetta Smith says the time is right to give back on his holiday.
"If there is anything that I want people to remember, is that remember the work of Dr. King and this day is to be a day on, and not a day off," says Mayor Sharetta Smith.
