HPU Hosts MLK Day of Service Events and Worship Service

Center for Community Engagement Awarded MLK Day of Service Grant

HIGH POINT, N.C., Jan. 5, 2024 – High Point University students, faculty and community members are invited to participate in a variety of community service projects for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Jan. 15, 2024.

Students will serve the community through projects to revitalize local organizations, clean areas of the city of High Point, pack thousands of seeds for the community, assemble care kits for veterans and more. For a full list of events and volunteer opportunities, click here to join HPU students, staff and faculty as they participate in community service projects on MLK Day 2024.

Community members are invited to join in service projects, such as:

- Winter care kit packing

- Meal packing

- Seed packing

- Community cleanup and garden work

- Playground pickup

- Terrariums with the city

- MLK worldwide food drive (donation)

In 1994, Congress designated a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service – A Day On, Not a Day Off. HPU has taken that charge to heart by leading hundreds of volunteers in service to the city of High Point and surrounding areas each year. HPU students, faculty, staff and community members annually perform 500,000 hours of service while volunteering in many ways.

In addition to these service projects, HPU will host multiple educational workshops, speakers and films highlighting King’s life and legacy.

Center for Community Engagement Receives MLK Day of Service Grant

North Carolina Campus Engagement recently awarded HPU’s Center for Community Engagement a $5,000 subgrant from a MLK Jr. National Day of Service grant, jointly received by Partnership Alliance organizations and funded by AmeriCorps, the corporation for national and community service.

This multi-year funded program aims to engage more than 6,500 students across 11 states in service on or around MLK Day 2024 to support underserved and marginalized individuals and communities, according to N.C. Campus Engagement.

HPU students, staff and faculty will use these funds to support related costs associated with activities the HPU community will participate in on MLK Day. These activities include a project in the Washington Street Historic District, a predominantly Black neighborhood. AmeriCorps VISTAs will lead a project that includes packing winter care kits to be distributed at the annual Guilford County Point in Time Count of people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers also plan to hand out reusable soup bowls, transport the HPU mobile lab and conduct a bookbag drive with the campus Circle K chapter. Click here to sign up to volunteer.

HPU’s Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Worship Service

Community members are invited to attend HPU’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Worship Service on Jan. 15, 2024, at 11 a.m. in Hayworth Chapel. This event is free and open to the public. This year’s keynote speaker is Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale, the founder and senior pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Cynthia Hale as our guest preacher for this year’s Dr. King Worship Service,” said Rev. Dr. Preston Davis, vice president and minister to the university. “Dr. Hale is, without a doubt, one of the most gifted preachers in the country. She is clearly anointed with God’s spirit with an extraordinary ability to bring the Gospel to life. I can’t wait for our students and community to experience her preaching.”

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Hale earned her Master of Divinity from Duke University and a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary. She holds five honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees and an honorary Doctor of Law degree. Hale established two ministries: Elah Pastoral Ministries, a mentoring program to assist in the spiritual and practical development of pastors and para-church leaders, and the Women in Ministry Conference, a national conference to develop, coach and mentor Christian women in ministry.

As a recipient of numerous honors and recognitions, Hale was inducted into the African American Biographies Hall of Fame, the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Business League Women’s Hall of Fame. She received the National Urban League’s Women of Power award, the Preston Taylor Living Legacy Award and the Balm in Gilead Keeper of the Flame Award and was recognized on Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list as one of the nation’s most influential African American leaders. In 2009, Hale was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. She also served as a member of the 2016 Platform Committee for the Democratic National Convention and delivered the invocation at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Hale is a contributing writer for many books and publications, including “Power in the Pulpit II: How America’s Most Effective Black Preachers Prepare their Sermons,” and the preaching resource series, “Feasting on the Gospels.” In January 2010, she authored her first book titled, “I’m A Piece of Work: Sisters Shaped by God.”

Hale presently serves as chair of the IC3 Conference Board, president for the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference, a member emeritus of the Board of Visitors of the Divinity School at Duke University, a member of the Board of Trustees at Hollins University, a member of the UNCF National Faith and Education Initiative advisory council and a member of the Welcome.US Council. She serves as the co-chair of the International Spiritual Oversight Committee and is an active lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Music at the service will be led by Genesis Gospel Choir and guest musicians. Each year, this worship service serves to awaken the faithful witness of Dr. King for our lives here and now.

Dental School Offers Free Dental Care to Veterans, Teachers and First Responders

HPU’s Workman School of Dental Medicine will provide free dental care at two locations to veterans, teachers and first responders on Jan. 15 as a way to thank these everyday heroes in the community. More than a dozen Workman School of Dental Medicine faculty and staff members will provide the free dental care at two HPU Health locations – HPU Randolph Dental in Asheboro, N.C., and HPU Hillandale Dental in Durham, N.C.

Veterans, teachers and first responders are eligible to receive free oral exams, head-and-neck exams, limited same-day care and information about their oral health needs. Walk-ins are welcomed. Individuals can make an appointment by visiting the following links:

- For HPU Randolph Dental in Asheboro, visit https://www.highpoint.edu/randolph/

- For HPU Hillandale Dental in Durham, visit https://www.highpoint.edu/hillandale/