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Thursday, January 18 2024
Democracy & the Dream: MLK Day

It was a cold afternoon as a small crowd gathered at Grace Episcopal Church on Sunday, January 14th for an MLK Service hosted by New Creations International Church. Pastor Anthony Smith from NCI graciously offered us the opportunity to participate in NCI’s service.

As you know, our team decided not to host an event this year. We’ve had some people ask about that decision. There are a few reasons: first, there is more happening to keep Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community alive in our community than in the past, and it was time for us to put our support behind these efforts. Furthermore, our planning team, which consists of several community partners, agreed this is a crucial moment for us to shift our energies beyond one evening to focus on a broader strategy to promote civic engagement in our community.  

Yet, one thing we were not willing to give up was the recognition of the Dr. Percy & Lileah Harris ‘Who Is My Neighbor” award recipient. We were honored to have Anne Harris Carter, one of Dr. Percy & Lileah Harris’ children and key participant for our planning team, present the award. She presented the award to Sarah Swayze.

Sarah Swayze served as a teacher at Washington High School, and seeing a true need in Cedar Rapids, she retired from that position and created Empowering Youths of Iowa (EYI). Her goals were to

Increase the graduation rate of the Cedar Rapid youths

Reduce the number living in poverty as adults

Reduce the cost of services on the community

Improve physical and mental health and overall quality of life

To this end, EYI provides services to any student who is at risk of failure or dropping out. EYI also provides services to anyone under the age of 21 who have already dropped out, but have a desire to return to school to secure a diploma, and they have assisted over 70 students secure their diploma.

Sarah is moving forward and has plans to create an EYI charter school.

From the nomination letter, “Sarah is a witnessing child of God, whose care and compassion is reflected in her loving service to the young people of Cedar Rapids. From her educational orientated community services, she mentors and assists challenged and marginalized students to achieve educational successes.”

As she received the award, Swayze preached to us of the value of every child and the importance of listening to God’s call upon our lives.

Additionally, in this service, Pastor Jonathan presented the yearlong strategy for civic engagement entitled, “Democracy & the Dream.” Throughout this year, St. Paul’s will join with community partners to build community, foster times of celebration and connection, and promote civic engagement. Particularly, we will work on matters related to voter registration and mobilizing voters for the November election. The first community celebration event will be on May Day, more details will be forthcoming.

Posted by: Rev. Jonathan Heifner AT 03:33 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
 

    St. Paul's United Methodist Church
    1340 3rd Ave SE
    Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

    319.363.2058

    Office Hours:
    Monday-Thursday | 9:00 am-4:00 pm
    Friday | 9:00 am -12:00 pm 

     

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