Realizing the Dream
Update
Current Activities & Accomplishments
: January 2009 :
In This Issue...
Fourth Annual King Day Commemoration and Second Annual Realizing the Dream Awards
President Barack Obama's Inauguration and Realizing the Dream
Awards Celebration
Realizing the Dream began the year with an ambitious agenda for 2009. As the month's first undertaking, Realizing the Dream traveled to Washington, D.C. to host the Fourth Annual King Day Commemoration and Second Annual Realizing the Dream Awards, as well as to partake in the festivities surrounding President Barack Obama's inauguration. Attended by more than 300 guests and held at the impressive Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Realizing the Dream's ceremony honored four dedicated public servants, both domestic and international, whose work embodies the legacy of Dr. King.
The organization's most prestigious honor, the Realizing the Dream Award, was granted to Senator Edward Kennedy for his lifelong work to ensure adequate health care and equal rights for all. Other awardees were Congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, Burmese peace and democracy activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Reverend Claude Black, a longtime religious and social leader in San Antonio, Texas. In presiding over the awards, Martin L. King III said that "My father would be so proud of these four individuals to whom we are all indebted. It is fitting that this celebration falls just two days before we inaugurate our first black president, an occurrence made possible, in part through the work of these honorees, and through the work of my father."
In addition to the awardees themselves, there were several other notable individuals who joined Realizing the Dream for the event. These included the night's emcee and Realizing the Dream Board member Nick Clooney, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Mrs. Marian Wright Edelman from the Children's Defense Fund, poet Sonia Sanchez, Bishop Eddie Long, and the Honorable Henry Cisneros. Also, the night's guests were treated to three distinct and amazing musical performances-Bebe Winans performed an original song entitled "I Have a Dream," pop sensation Charice Pempengo wowed the audience with "God Bless America," and the Southern Baptist Praise and Worship Center Chorale provided moving renditions of several classic hymns.
Presidential Inauguration &
Realizing the Dream
In addition to the resoundingly successful awards ceremony, Martin L. King III and Realizing the Dream were also intimately involved in the events surrounding Barack Obama's inauguration as our 44th President. Most notably, Mr. King joined the incoming president for a day of service at a homeless shelter for teens, the Sasha Bruce House, where the two men helped repaint the facility's walls. The event was a fitting tribute to Dr. King's legacy of service, as it was one of more than 100,000 volunteer projects nationwide to take place on this year's King holiday. Also that day, the two men visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, and on Inauguration Day, Mr. King joined President Obama on the steps of the Capitol to celebrate the momentous event.
Partnering with President Obama was not the end of Mr. King's weekend though, as he also gave remarks at the ServiceNation breakfast and the Feeding America hunger rally. There he joined an array of influential leaders including Harris Wofford, John Lewis, John Bridgeland, Dorothy Stoneman, and Alan Khazei, as well as celebrity activists such as Ben Affleck and David Arquette. Mr. King also delivered the keynote address to the Stafford Foundation's People's Inaugural Celebration, a widely publicized initiative to bring hundreds of disadvantaged Americans to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration. In his remarks, Mr. King charged all Americans to continue honoring his father's legacy through everyday acts of service that help to realize the dream.
To Learn More...
Visit our website at www.realizingthedream.org.
If you would like donate to our cause, please follow the link provided:
www.realizingthedream.org/donate.htm.
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