The University of Toledo

Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Day Celebration

MLK Co-chairs
Mr. Bill Stewart and Dr. Shanda Gore with 2011 Unity Award winner Mr. Robert Smith

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Day Celebration is a joint effort between The University of Toledo and City of Toledo. The Celebration takes place annually on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

The 2012 Unity Celebration was held on Monday January 16 at 9 am in Savage Arena on main campus.  The celebration was televised for the second year by Fox 36 for the entire community to see. We announced the honoree of the MLK Unity Award and the winners of the Paramount sponsored MLK Scholarship. We enjoyed performances by the Toledo Interfaith Mass Choir, a youth choir, and others. The featured speaker was Mr. Hari Jones, the assistant director and curator of the Washington D.C. based African American Civil War Freedom Foundation and Museum.

Food Drive: We collected over 40 boxes of food for the MLK Kitchen for the Poor. Thank you to everyone who contributed food and volunteered during the food drive. We had enough food to fill MLK Kitchen's truck!

Check out this link to the Channel 11 news story about MLK Day volunteering and the food drive.

Past Events...On January 17, 2011, The University of Toledo held the Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Celebration at Savage Arena on the main campus with over 2,800 attendees. Guests were asked to bring canned food items which were collected at the entrance to benefit the MLK Kitchen for the Poor. For the first time ever, the Celebration was televised on Fox 36 in front of thousands of viewers. At this event, the first MLK Unity Award winner was announced. Congratulations to Robert Smith! Performers at the 2011 Unity Day event included the Toledo Interfaith Mass Choir, Ms. Portia Bills singing the National Anthem, the UT Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB), MLK Academy for Boys, and JJ’s Express.