Port Huron students to deliver messages of hope to senior citizens this MLK Day

Efforts are underway to make this Martin Luther King Jr. Day a special one for one of the area’s most vulnerable populations, our isolated senior citizens.

Port Huron Schools is continuing its partnership with the Port Huron NAACP with a collective service project that will deliver messages of hope to area senior citizens. The St. Clair County Council on Aging has joined as a partner on the project.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, Jan. 18.

“This year, more than ever, encouraging and helping others find or rediscover hope is a valuable necessity,” says Port Huron Schools Superintendent Jamie Cain.

“It’s inspiring to see our students challenge themselves in the memory of Dr. King to provide hope to some of the most vulnerable citizens in our community, shut in seniors.”

Students of the school district are creating messages of hope that will then be delivered to senior citizens for the holiday. The messages will reflect the theme “with unity, comes infinite hope.”

The theme for 2021 is based on Dr. King’s quote, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” It comes from a speech first delivered in February 1968, just two months before his Memphis assassination.

In a typical year, NAACP leaders would make in-person visits to area classrooms. While COVID-19 has prohibited that from happening, elementary school students will instead watch video performances of Mae Among the Stars and Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah as read by Bishop Kim Brown and Port Huron NAACP president Kevin Watkins.

Students at the secondary level will listen to Dr. King’s speeches and create the messages of hope to be delivered to senior citizens.

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