CLEVELAND — Brooke Bribriesco and Paulanita Barker are with the Shaker Heights Parent Teacher Organization, and they’re helping organize the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration for the school district, which includes a donation drive. They’re hoping to fill the donation boxes.
This is the third year they’ve had a donation drive around Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In past years they’ve raised between $10,000-15,000 worth of items, which they give to five local nonprofits. That’s just one way they celebrate the legacy of Dr. King. They had two other events leading up to the day.
“We’re really trying to engage the students and the entire community on a much deeper level of understanding on the civil rights movement and Dr. King through learning about our history, our shared experiences now, and how we can help each other in hard times,” Bribriesco said.
On Thursday, students were chosen to meet with Rev. Otis Moss, who personally knew Dr. King and even marched with him.
“We’re really hoping that the students of shaker heights feel connected to the past,” Bribriesco said. “That they feel inspired by Reverend Moss in their own lives and what they can do in the future.”
On Sunday, they held a community conversation in the Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Community Building. Organizers said the purpose was to help teach people about the lessons learned from the civil rights movements in the past.
“This part of it here is gonna just sum it up,” Barker said. “Bring all the entities together and using the space and using the resources to just have a conversation that goes a little deeper dive into the speeches of the Vietnam speech that Dr. King gave and the I have a dream speech.”
Organizers said Shaker Heights students will also participate in service projects that will help local nonprofits, and enlighten them about the civil rights movement.
