LIMA — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became a central figure in the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. To honor his message and life, a variety of events were held Monday in Lima, emphasizing giving back to others.
St. Rita’s Health Partners presented the Bradfield Community Center with a $25,000 donation Monday to help the Bradfield fulfill its mission of serving the community while also celebrating the renaming of the Bradfield gymnasium to the “Martin Luther King Jr. Gymnasium.”
“We are going to start some programs, addressing needs in our community,” Bradfield executive director Kesha Drake said. “We need to focus on our youth and continue to find ways to impact others in the community.”
This donation will help fund three wellness initiatives at the Bradfield Center: Baby Steps, a support group helping young families become stable and self-sufficient; the Senior Health and Wellness Program, providing various exercise classes for seniors Monday through Thursday, along with quarterly health assessments and monthly wellness luncheons; and the Youth Summer Program for children ages 6 to 13, which draws from STEM and substance abuse prevention models.
“At St. Rita’s, our focus is on improving the health and wellness of our community, and to successfully do that, we need strong partners to coordinate with who have a similar mission,” St. Rita’s CEO Bob Baxter said. “The Bradfield really does that. This was a partnership that made a lot of natural sense.”
Several community members, including 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn and Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin, also participated in a march from the site of the former Whittier School on Reese Avenue to the Mizpah Community Center, hearkening back to King’s 1963 march on Washington.
“This is our eighth year doing this walk,” Glenn said. “It means a lot. King walked miles and miles for our rights.”
While Glenn was grateful for the people who turned out for the half-mile march, he expressed disappointment that more young people did not seem to be actively participating in activities honoring the civil rights leader.
“We need to educate our young people about this,” he said. “It bothered me when I saw a young, 13-year-old African-American kid not educated on who Martin Luther King was, and a young white kid, 10 years old, whose mother had taught him, knew what he was all about.”
Mizpah hosted a Day of Service to honor King, with such events as a winter wear giveaway and packing survival bags for the homeless. A community meal was also provided.
“It is a day on instead of a day off,” Mizpah executive director Vickie Shurelds said. “King always called us into action.”
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