Woodbury Honors Martin Luther King

Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached the value of community service. That was the theme Monday when Woodbury honored Martin Luther King Day with a community breakfast event at .

It was the first time a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Breakfast has been held in Woodbury, said Lucy Zanders with the St. Paul Area Council of Churches. The event was more corporate-based years ago, but added a community outreach breakfast 11 years ago to bring people together.

“That’s the whole essence of Dr. King’s work,” said Zanders, who was living in Memphis when he was assassinated. “It’s so family-oriented. Most parents and their children, even on a day out of school, can hear about his legacy and talk with people with a common interest.”

Verona Mitchell-Agbemadi co-chaired Monday’s event, at which people were asked to commit to volunteering in their respective cities.

“Everyone can serve the community, across racial lines, economic and social lines,” she said.

The , along with and high schools, were recognized at the breakfast for their efforts to foster community service.

“It's the concept of getting people together from across the east metro on the local level and recognizing how they are embodying the principals of Dr. King,” said co-chair Andrena Guines.

Jan Schiltgen, of Lake Elmo, has attended several Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Breakfast events.

“I like the ideas of us being better people and a better community,” she said. “I do a lot of volunteer work, so it just revives me.”

The Woodbury breakfast featured a live feed from a similar event at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Cory A. Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., gave a stirring keynote address.

While his speech was peppered with several jokes—his father once told him that he may “have as many degrees as a thermometer, but you ain’t hot”—he left the audience with a challenge to do more in their communities.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport,” Booker said. “We are a full-contact participatory endeavor. You’ve got to get in the game.”

Booker spoke of his time as a member of the Newark City Council, and a fast and tent-out he did at a New Jersey housing project. His effort was joined by hospitals, clergy and other mayors. But it’s not the big events that shape people’s lives, he said, rather it’s the small acts of service that make a difference.

And on Martin Luther King Day, Booker said it’s a time to recognize the efforts of those who came before.

“We must stand up because people stood for us,” he said.