ODU MLK Day Observance Aims to Spark Discussion About Food Security

January 08, 2016

ODU students volunteering at last year's MLK Day of Service.

Old Dominion University's celebration of the life and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. comprises events this year designed to focus on service, as well as remembering the unifying achievements of the civil rights pioneer.

Old Dominion's 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observance includes a Sunday Supper, and is designed to encourage the growth of a University-wide service culture.

"Dr. King was a true servant-leader, and it is only appropriate that we take his inspiring words and put his passion into action," said Cee Cee Tucker, special assistant to the president for community engagement. "That's truly the best way to remember his vision."

On Sunday, Jan. 17, in the Webb University Center North Café, Old Dominion will host "America's Sunday Supper/Hunger Banquet," a dinner and conversation to honor the legacy of King. The event, which starts at 6 p.m., features Antipas L. Harris, associate professor of practical ministry and director of the Youth and Urban Renewal Center at Regent University.

From humble beginnings in a small Holiness-Pentecostal church founded and pastored by his parents, Harris has become an accomplished leader, speaker, teacher and activist. He strives to help people overcome distress, to reinforce faith and to impart comfort through the arts and provide stability through education. His motto is "Rise to the Call."

The dinner will be the kickoff to a campus-wide effort to raise awareness of food insecurity on campus and in our communities and will be followed by an idea-generation session about sustainability planning for the new Monarch Pantry.

The next day, Monday, Jan. 18, Old Dominion community partners will provide opportunities for members of the University community to engage in service projects connected to food insecurity in Hampton Roads in the ODU MLK Day of Service.

To register for the events, respond by January 12 to Old Dominion's Office of Community Engagement or 757-683-3116. Email volunteer@odu.edu for more information about the ODU MLK Day of Service.

Old Dominion University has a proud history of service, stretching back to the school's very beginning as the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary.

For four years in a row, Old Dominion University has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which "highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community challenges."

In his annual State of the University address last August, President John R. Broderick noted that Old Dominion students performed more than 500,000 hours of community service in the past school year, which translates into $12.5 million of local value.