“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education, and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I write to openly acknowledge my good fortune in having landed in a community that fully embraces and endeavors to bring about this vision–one that, of course, only appears to be audacious in contrast to prevailing social circumstances. I am inexpressibly grateful, encouraged, and joyful over the outpouring of support–material, emotional, and practical in response to our MLK Jr. Oatmeal Drive Challenge for the Pine Street Inn.
As of this writing, we’ve collected 435 boxes of oatmeal for Pine Street. 435 boxes!
I wish you could see the children take in the twin-peaked mountain of oatmeal in the Gallery, their eyes agog, their comments flowing from astonishment to pride and to motivation to do more. And I wish I could express how uplifting it is—how affirming of our values it is—to see this community so effortlessly and joyfully mobilize to share our good fortune with those less fortunate.
Thank you. And please keep it coming. The Gallery table is available to be weighed down with your generosity until Friday, January 24.
-On behalf of MLK Jr. committee members: Koreen McQuilton, Betty Pryor, Beth Sousa, Dean Spencer, and Heather Woodcock, with thanks to Anderson Santos
