COMMITTED TO THE CORE: 6th Annual MLK Awards Ceremony

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, vision, and commitment to the causes of both civil rights and public service, the Paterson Youth Council (PYC) hosted the 6th Annual MLK Youth Recognition Awards Brunch at the Brownstone House in Paterson on January 16^th, 2012.

The Youth Council uses this national holiday in honor of Dr. King to recognize some of the city’s most committed and community-minded young people and the adults who have helped them succeed.  After a several month long nomination process that yielded over 100 nominations, the Paterson Youth Council bestowed the MLK Youth Recognition Awards upon five young people (Andrea Casale, Anny Perez, Niara Medley, Damyra Price and Amir Budhai), one adult (Giovanni Restrepo) and one organization (The Girl Scouts of North Jersey) from the City of Paterson who has made a difference in the community through their commitment to the ideals and virtues championed by Dr. King.

Numerous city, county and state elected officials attended the event including Mayor Jeff Jones, Paterson Superintendent of Schools Dr. Donnie Evans, Freeholder TJ Best, County Surrogate Bernice Toledo, County Sheriff Richard Berdnick, State Assemblywoman Shovanda Sumpter and State Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly. In addition to the dignitaries, over 250 community members attended the event to show their support of the award winners and to honor the life and message of Dr. King’s legacy.

Paterson’s own Body and Soul—a jazz quartet made up of students from Rosa Parks School of Performing Arts—set the tone with masterful melodies and rocking rhythms throughout the duration of the program. The agenda also included two heart-felt performances, one by Lionel King, who performed an original poem entitled “What Dr. King Would Say, If He Were Here Today” and the second by Briana Devore, a student of Passaic County Technical Institute, who  did an a cappella rendition of Lift Every Voice and sing.

The award ceremony was followed by a day of service with two service activities. The first, a movie entitled The Interrupters, was shown and followed by a public forum. Thirty-five community members attended with representatives from Operation Cease Fire: SNUG Chapter of the YMCA of Yonkers leading the conversation. The second service project was the “Hearts of Hope Campaign” in which community members pledged acts of kindness to the city of Paterson. Over 300 pledges were collected on heart shaped pieces of construction paper, and will be assembled into the shape of a tree for display at the Center City Mall.

During the awards ceremony, School Superintendent Donnie Evans related his very personal experience of growing up in the South during the 1960’s and the powerful impact that the work of Dr. King has had on his life.  Freeholder TJ Best spoke to the many accomplishments of Dr. King. He mentioned the fact that Dr. King completed his secondary and post-secondary education at a young age (graduated from high school at 15 and college at 19) and identified a parallel between Dr. King and one of this year’s student recipients—Amir Budhai—who at the tender age of 15 is scheduled to graduate high school and begin college at Columbia University this fall.

When accepting his award, Amir Budhai said “Thank you to everyone who supported me over the years, and thank you to my mom and dad, who taught me at a young age that extraordinary should be my ordinary.” Amir’s attitude to life is serves as an example to everyone, and reflects the passion of service and personal integrity espoused by Dr. King and other prominent American leaders. NJCDC CEO Bob Guarasci was moved by the day’s events and said, “Each of today’s award winners reflect the spirit of public service and commitment to community inspired by Dr. King. Paterson is very fortunate to have such ambitious young people and committed adults to lead the way.”

View more 2012 MLK Awards photos on Flickr.