Annual Community Unity Breakfast held in Greenville

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - More than 100 people filled ECU’s Murphy Center Monday to remember Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy.

The 26th Annual Community Unity Breakfast focuses on celebrating and expanding diversity initiatives in Pitt County from city officials to residents, and knowledge on how to help work toward a more unified community.

For the Community Unity Breakfast planning committee co-chair, the day is a perfect opportunity for people in need to be heard. “Sometimes those of us with privilege tend to say this is what this community needs or I want to save this community but this is a time where we are all together to have those conversations across all lines of difference to bring more unity to Greenville and Pitt County,” Toya Jacobs said.

Reverend Dr. James Alexander, the keynote speaker says there are a few ways to help speed up the process of working toward equality within different communities. “It becomes important for us to go to them, to sit with them, to talk to them, and to acknowledge their own sense of humanity, their own voice and from there formulate a plan by which we can say I may not be able to do everything but I can do something. Everyone can do something because everyone is called to serve,” Alexander said.

Alexander went on to add that the value of continuing to ask questions to get a better understanding of one’s needs rather than making assumptions can do wonders for helping keep Dr. King’s dreams alive.

Each year the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce partners with the City of Greenville to host the Community Unity Breakfast, and selects a new keynote speaker each year to help celebrate and expand diversity initiatives in Pitt County and Greenville.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for civil rights and the continued efforts toward equality for all. The day also serves as a day of service to encourage community members to volunteer and give back to the areas where they live.

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