SERVICE

Honors in Action

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PTK is teaming up with PTK alum, Rebecca Trammel to bring the Phi Theta Kappa local Honors in Action project to move forward in her organization's efforts to raise basic needs, as well as educational resources/technology for kids throughout the Wilmington city area.

Their intention is to raise awareness, funds, and hope for children who need technology, meet basic needs and encourage reading proficiency and secure needed resources and support the academic success of the students. Trammel also started an initiative during the summer, "United for Racial Justice" that seeks to engage the greater community in the work of anti-racism. 

Conversations have started and we have hopes to host a Juneteenth celebration in downtown Wilmington, Summer 2021. As part of the celebration, United for Racial Justice wants to make Wilmington dance in the streets! After such a tough year, we believe that JOY is healing and even more contagious! Where there was conflict, we want to bring collaboration and celebration to make injustice a thing of the past. This will be a fundraiser involving the “Jerusalema Challenge” to involve people across the city to dance with us and raise funds for Community Conversations to be able to purchase Chromebooks with the Tek-Gap Initiative and support the mission of Community Conversations. The power of celebration cannot underestimated! 

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The first installment of the raising of hope is to engage kids in the Jerusalema Challenge, which will start as a "movement" across youth  in Wilmington on Martin  Luther King, Jr. Holiday and throughout February, Black History Month. It willculminate with a parade of   on Juneteenth (June 18, 2021) in downtown Wilmington. We will begin on MLK Day by teaching CFCC PTK members and others at CFCC (custodians, veterans, Nixon leaders) the Jerusalema dance. This is intended to be a safe, socially distanced “moveable event,”  in which all participants are masked. This group of newly commissioned “dance instructors” will go to different locations across town / youth programs to teach kids the dance. 

PTK will provide special masks that say DREAM in honor of MLK, promote public health and bring swagbags from CFCC to inspire our young participants.  PTK will line up a camera crew to film that will move to the various locations that week (hopefully Tuesday but if not, then throughout February) to film the behind the scenes activities while kids learn the dance.  This video will serve two main purposes: 1) help teach the dance to others who will want to participate and 2) serve as promo footage to recruit more dancers!

This all builds momentum toward Juneteenth, where Community Conversations sponsors a big celebration of "neighbors" from in and around Wilmington who participate in the hope-building and fundraising event in the spirit of Martin Luther King and other people of color who have peacefully led the charge toward equity and justice for all people. The beneficiaries of the funds will be the children at various after-school programs across town who were involved in the dance.