The Christian Hospital Foundation will host its second annual “Embracing the Dream – The Beloved Community” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Luncheon from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, January 18 in the Detrick Building Atrium, 11133 Dunn Rd. “The event will be a celebration of inspiration, hope and healing for our beloved community,” organizers stated.
Rev. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach, will be the keynote speaker, and Evangelist Mary Tillman of 95.5 FM will serve as mistress of ceremonies.
The Drum Major for Service Award will be presented to honor an unsung individual who has given their time, talents and treasure in service of justice and equality. The award is inspired by Dr. King describing what he called the “Drum Major Instinct” in a sermon over a half-century ago at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church: “If you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness … We all have the drum major instinct.”
The 2019 awardees are James Buford, retired president and CEO, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; Maxine Clark & Bob Fox, Clark-Fox Family Foundation; Sonya Crider, executive director, Emerson Family YMCA; Esther Haywood, president emeritus, Saint Louis County NAACP; Susan Stith, vice president, Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Giving, Express Scripts Holding Company; and Kelvin Westbrook, president and CEO, KRW Advisors, LLC.
Scholarships will be awarded to one student interested in pursuing careers in health care from each of the Ferguson-Florissant, Hazelwood, Jennings, Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts; Lutheran North and Trinity Catholic high schools; and St. Louis Community College.
Individual reservations are $50 and table reservations for eight are $400. The celebration includes lunch and complimentary valet parking. A portion of the proceeds will support scholarships for local high school and junior college students interested in pursuing careers in health care, and the Medication & IV Antibiotic Fund for indigent patients.
For more information, visit ChristianHospital.org/MLK-Celebration or contact Kamille Pope at 314-653-4191 or Kamille.Pope@bjc.org.
