July 16 marked the 50th anniversary of the “Greenville 8” who challenged the Greenville County Library System’s segregation policies and set in motion a chain of events that resulted in a fully integrated Greenville Public Library a few months later.  The eight African-American students who were part of the peaceful sit-in were arrested and then released after less than an hour in jail.

Actions like that certainly require an inner conviction that your dream can affect real change in your own community.  That’s the kind of conviction that made these eight young students believe that they could take on a challenge as big and ugly as racism and discrimination right where they lived.

Our Dreamer’s Community and our Facebook and Twitter pages are designed as tools to help you connect with others who share the same dream.  Together we can accomplish more.  Take the time to share your dream and the challenges you face, so that others can come alongside you to help, support and encourage you.  By sharing, you might find yourself part of a group that can look back 50 years later and know the difference you made.

All. Together. Now

To begin taking action on your dreams, we’re encouraging you to put them in writing.  As a statement of inspiration, purpose and hope, we’ve written our own Dreamers’ Constitution, a declaration built on the ideas and powerful language that our nation’s Founding Fathers used when they wrote the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States.  A new part of our website will feature the opportunity for each of you to write your own Dreamers’ Constitution.  Make a contract with yourself to pursue your dreams, take action on them and change the future.

Another important part of this year’s marketing campaign is a new Facebook Fan Page that allows greater interaction for our fans.  The fan page includes several new custom pages that will tell you more about scholarship opportunities, the Dreamers’ Constitution, and the many events that we have planned for this year.  We will be sharing messages of inspiration and challenging our fans to pursue their dreams.  Throughout the coming months we’ll share photos, videos and links we think will inspire or help you as you take action on your dreams.  We welcome your inspirations and challenges, successes, feedback and questions on this fan page.  It as a resource for building connections, sharing your dreams and connecting with others.

With the launch of the new Facebook fan page, we ask that you spread the word and share the new page with all of your friends!  The power of collaboration will grow as the number of fans grows.  Each of you has the opportunity to bring your friends to this resource as well and help them see the possibility of their dreams.

We are excited and hopeful as we work towards the 2011 MLK Dream Weekend on January 14-17, 2011.  Thank you for the support, encouragement and inspiration you provide to us.

All. Together. Now.

MLK Dream Weekend is proud of the accomplishments over the past five years and in this fifth year intends to celebrate many milestones that have helped to shape this effort into what it is today. But we could not have done it without the support of the Greenville community, our sponsors, partners and volunteers.

• Over $20,000 in scholarships have been awarded to several students.
• Approximately 4500 people have been inspired by attending the MLK Dream Weekend Diversity Banquets, giving Greenville the opportunity to host individuals such as Dr. King’s daughter, Dr. Bernice King and Dr. King’s son, Martin Luther King III, and Mr. Terrence Roberts of Little Rock Nine.
• We’ve administered health awareness education to hundreds along with our presenting partner, Greenville Hospital System.
• We’ve helped increase the local blood supply through sponsored blood drives working in conjunction with The Blood Connection.
• We’ve given hundreds the opportunity to volunteer giving back to the communities we serve, an extremely important value Dr. King taught us.
• We’ve awarded  $5,000 to local dreamers to help them pursue their dreams and make our community a better place.
• We have contributed to organizations such as Phillis Wheatley and the Lupus Foundation.
• We’ve impacted hundreds through our Day of Dreams workshops for personal growth and development that span across topics such as financial planning, keys to achieving your dreams, living a healthy lifestyle and more.

The list of accomplishments goes on, but the biggest success is that we have ignited dreams – an important value that each of us can gravitate to no matter the age, race or gender. In this fifth year, we celebrate the realization of those dreams by the millions of people who have advanced their lives and our society through their dreams come true.

Tonight, we celebrate how far we have come, how much we have achieved and how promising the future is for ourselves and our children.

And tonight, we also challenge ourselves. We challenge the barriers, and the lack of passion and drive that has prevented many of us from realizing our dream.

Dr. King’s dream was meant to inspire, to instill in people of all races and creeds a belief that if something is good, is right, and is beneficial…it can be accomplished.

And though it’s true that accomplishments and achievements are individual acts, they are also community acts. In order to achieve meaningful progress we need each other, we need community spirit, community support and community sustenance. And how fortunate we are that the community of Greenville has stepped up in its efforts to expand the possibilities and potential for people of all races. How fortunate we are that Greenville is now firmly planted on the side of progress, on the side of justice and on the side of advancement for all people who desire to contribute.

So tonight we invite more dreams. Tonight we invite big dreams and little dreams, individual dreams and communal dreams, career dreams and  and spiritual dreams  Tonight, we encourage reverence for the mission of Dr. King by arousing in you and yours the good fire. Not the fire that burns things down but the fire that warms things up, the fire that burns in us all to do good, to achieve great things, to make a positive difference, to change our lives, our communities, our nation and our world for the better.

We all don’t need to attempt the impossible to make our mark. We all just need to become engaged and care about out how our lives impact others.

Have a dream. And have a way to make it come true. Thanks to Dr. King, the odds are no longer impossible. And the potential is infinite.

Thank you.

MLK Dream Weekend

When we think of church ministries, local organizations and support groups, we think of Men, Women, Children, married couples, singles and the elderly. But we tend to forget about a very important group of people that make up 65% of the residents in Greenville County. That special group of people are our single mothers. A single mother of 8 years, I was compelled to not only share my testimony but write my testimony of my experience as a single mother. In 2006 I wrote and released my first published book, Single Mothers Dispelling the Facts. From this book, was birthed my dream, Mom&Me Ministries. Mom&Me Ministries is a Christian based support group for single mothers in the Greenville and surrounding counties. Every Mother’s Day weekend, Mom&Me Ministries host an annual empowerment luncheon for single mothers. The luncheon consists of empowering them through local resources, other single mothers testimonies, an motivational speaker and we present each mother with a gift. Throughout the year, I do one on one counseling session and mentoring to our single mothers and I host a monthly fellowship where the single mothers come together to minister to each other through the word of God and their life experiences that they deal with on a daily basis. Since 2006, I also have establish and building a relationship with the single mothers of Oakland Place Apartments which is a low income housing community in our county that consists of 90% single mothers. Even though I am very blessed and honored that God chose me for the dream, the time has come to expand the dream to where I can provide a facility for mothers for job training, counseling, economical assistance and to further their education. It is my dream for Mom&Me Ministries that we could have a facility in Greenville County to provide services to our single mothers and begin to focus on the children as well as the mothers. Mom&Me Ministries is not a ministry that promotes or encourage someone to become a single mother. But just like every other organization and support group, one is needed for our single mothers. We can not change who they are, but we can make sure that the lives of our single mothers and their children are just as important and nurtured as our married couples, our singles and our elderly. Mom&Me is to support and not to judge and condemn. We believe and our mission comes from Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one ; they get a better return for their labor. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.” In addition to what we have established and doing for single mothers, Mom&Me Ministries is currently looking into resources and ways to make the ministry a nonprofit to be able to obtain sponsors and grants for the future Mom&Me Ministries Empowerment Facility.

Dr. Robert Dennis 1942-2009

The MLK Dream Weekend Executive Council extends our deepest condolensces and prayers to the family of the late Rev. Dr. Robert Dennis (1942-2009). We will always be grateful for his significant contributions to the success of MLK Dream Weekend, especially for the 2009 celebration through the radio and TV commercials he participated in on our behalf. Like Dr. King, Rev. Dr Dennis’s legacy of dynamic ministry and community service will never be forgotten.

]]> http://www.mlkdreamweekend.com/in-memory/feed/ 0 http://www.mlkdreamweekend.com/a-dreamers-success/ http://www.mlkdreamweekend.com/a-dreamers-success/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:08:49 +0000 Kirsten http://www.mlkdreamweekend.com/?p=525 There are several reasons why I believe that the Martin Luther King (MLK) Dream Weekend celebration is one of the most significant events in the upstate. First, the celebration of Dr. King’s birthday brings hundreds of people, from different backgrounds, together to recognize both diversity and unity. Those philosophies are what Dr. King believed were vital in helping our country reach her full potential of greatness. Second, the executive staff at MLK Dream Weekend uses every available resource to engage the community and recognize individuals who exemplify the dream that Dr. King envisioned more than 40 years ago. I applaud the MLK Dream Weekend staff for keeping “the dream” alive in Greenville, South Carolina. Against insurmountable odds, Dr. King had a vision that the Jim Crow South would end segregation and provide equality in education to all children. There were many who doubted him; yet, he pressed forward. His courage, tenacity, and unwavering faith in God enabled him to witness the impossible become reality. Segregation began to come to an end and the United States embarked on a new course. Dr. King’s testimony means everything to me as I have learned from his example. He has empowered me to address an epidemic, childhood obesity, which threatens to ruin the quality of life for a growing number of Americans.

As a recent “Win-a-Dream” recipient, I am thankful for being rewarded for dreaming big as Dr. King did. While researching ways to pursue my vision, I learned that MLK Dream Weekend and the Greenville Hospital System (GHS) together launched a community-based contest to support a health related dream in the upstate. Promptly, I submitted an online essay which discussed my dream and eagerly awaited a response. As I read some of the entries on the MLK Dream Weekend website, I realized that the contest was extremely competitive. Thankfully, I was considered as a finalist and earned the opportunity to meet the judges to further discuss the details of my dream. After winning the $1500 grand prize, things have not been the same. My organization, Young Marathon Runner’s of America (YMRA), has gained notoriety, momentum, and support from individuals I could never have anticipated prior to being selected the winner. Now, YMRA is nearing its final phase before being launched to the community. We have partnered with many organizations here in the upstate. I’m amazed at what has ignited from my passion to see healthy kids and an essay that I had the courage to write in October 2008. Be on the lookout for our press release at year end. YMRA’s mission is, “to inspire the youth to live a healthier lifestyle by becoming physically active and nutritionally savvy.” We will raise the community’s level of awareness on childhood obesity and methods of prevention. In the end, we aim to see a culture shift to a more disciplined lifestyle towards better health and wellness.

God Bless,
Nicholas Wideman
ymraonline.org

As we approach the 5th Annual MLK Dream Weekend in January 2010, the vision for this event continues to be that of reflecting the best of our community by intentionally creating synergistic, mutually beneficial relationships between businesses, organizations and individuals. Our desire is to implement events and activities that inspire dreams, ignite individual potential, as well as provide clear strategies for turning dreams into reality. We are excited to share with you examples of success stories from previous MLK Dream Weekend efforts.

Our goal is that 2010’s events will expand our capacity to inspire and implement plans that will change lives and improve the quality of life for our community and its citizens. Keep checking back with this website as well as our Facebook page to learn of the activities and opportunities we have in store for the remainder of this year as we lead into our 5th celebration January 15, 2010.

Keep Dreaming!!

Pastor Curtis Johnson, Founder of MLK Dream Weekend