[January 22, 2013]
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Monday morning it was a packed house at the
Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium on the campus of Lincoln College as the
community came out in support of the Joyce Kinzie/Martin Luther King
Jr. Scholarship Breakfast.
The scholarship program was the brainchild of
Joyce Kinzie and the Rev. Glenn Shelton, with a lot of support
from Les Plotner. It began as an annual breakfast at the
Maple Club, which was owned by Kinzie. Each year funds were
raised and scholarships given to minority students graduating from
Logan County high schools.
The scholarship program began as just the
Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, but after Kinzie died in 2010,
her name was added to the scholarship in commemoration of her
dedication to the program.
Monday's event kicked off with a buffet
breakfast provided by chef Warren Wendlandt and the food
service staff of Lincoln College.
Opening remarks were provided by John Blackburn,
Lincoln College president. Blackburn spoke briefly about
growing up in a southern Illinois community where the population was
all-white. He recalled then moving to the Southern states as a
young child with his family and witnessing segregation firsthand in shopping centers, movie theaters, restaurants and more.
He recalled asking his parents why, and their
explanation was that if they didn't have separate services, it would
get too crowded. For a child this was a reasonable
explanation, but Blackburn said he thinks that at that time this
type of explanation may have been how people justified in their own
minds what they were doing in being separate.
Before leaving the podium Blackburn also
acknowledged the committee that puts the breakfast together each
year, including Shelton, Plotner, Cathy Tiffany (Kinzie's daughter),
Tina Cunningham, Debbie Ackerman and Cynthia Kelley.
Pictures by Nila Smith |