In collaboration with the University of Minnesota Crookston, UND and Grand Forks Public Schools will participate in the Red River Valley Celebration of Dr. King.

Day of service 

In 1994, Congress designated MLK Day as a national day of service that remains strong two decades later.

Promoted as a “day on, not a day off,” the UMC and UND will host service projects sponsored by the Student Senate at the Empire Arts Center.

The event provides the campus and community a chance to socialize, network and volunteer their time and service. Multicultural Student Services Coordinator Terri Eide hopes all will partake in the day of service.

“You as an individual can make that choice. It is an opportunity for you as an individual to make that choice to do something for your community, for yourself, for what you believe in,” she said.

A social hour and lunch will take place before two service events. At 7 p.m. author Taylor Branch will speak about her book “The King Years” at the University of Minnesota-Crookston.

The events begin at 11 a.m. with a Unity Walk from Central High School to the Empire Arts Center.

Eide understands marching is a personal choice but hopes, with better weather, individuals will participate. After the half hour march, the celebration will showcase performances from sponsors and supporters from both Grand Forks and Crookston.

“This year I’m quite excited because we got the public schools involved, we’ve got some youth groups involved, so this is a collaborative effort — not just UND,” Eide said.

The list of sponsors for the event makes Eide proud.

“In planning this event, I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of both corporate and private sponsors in our Grand Forks community who have donated food (and) drinks … an overwhelmingly positive reception from the Grand Forks community,” Eide said.

‘Not Just A Black Thing’

This year’s program named “The Face of Civil Rights: It isn’t just a Black Thing” is a message Eide hopes all students will understand.

“I think that a lot of people, regardless of their age, think that MLK is associated with people who are black, and MLK was about more than rights for just black people,” she said. “My goal this year is to try to get other groups involved and concentrate more on the philosophy of MLK — about the day of service and helping others and that there should be equal rights for everybody. And to me, not being black, being a white woman, that means rights for everyone.”

Paula Kaledzi is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].