Reprinted from the Monmouth Magazine, Winter 2009
Unsung Hero Awards
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unsung Hero Award was presented January 28 to five recipients—a student, Erin Wheeler, majoring in social work, faculty member Hettie V. Williams, and three nominees from the surrounding community. Community members honored in 2009 were Richard Brugger, director of the Bradley Food Pantry, Dianna Harris, president of Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation (MURC), and the Rev. David Stout, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park.
The Award recognizes people from Monmouth University and the surrounding community who represent the ideals embodied by Dr. King and who are sometimes not recognized for their effort in keeping “the dream alive.”
Erin Wheeler, an undergraduate student in the School of Social Work, visits local schools to speak with the children about the dangers of drunk driving. She has already spoken with over 500 students at many schools, including at eight elementary schools in Middletown. Heather Kelly, assistant director of student activities said, “Erin has the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm it takes to make a difference in the lives of others.”
Hettie Williams ’99M, and an Instructor in the History department, received six separate nominations for the 2009 Unsung Hero Award. Professor Williams, with co-chair Dr. Julius Adekunle, spent a year fundraising, organizing, and ultimately hosting a 3-day academic conference on race in November 2008. Titled, “Future of an Illusion, Future of the Past,” the meeting brought scholars from all over the United States, Europe, Latin America, and South America, as well as local high school students, to the University campus. One nominator described Williams as “a role model and mentor—a concerned and committed student advisor. Her work is marked by her passion and commitment to diversity within the university community.”
The Rev. David Stout, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, was nominated for his efforts to provide outreach programs for the poor and for children. One effort, the Choristers program, provides instruction in music at no cost for children and adolescents. Students in the program learn to read music, to sing and may also learn piano. Participating students are also mentored and given a supervised environment in which to complete homework.
Dianna Harris is president of MURC, a community-based nonprofit organization located in Neptune Township’s midtown area. Harris was recognized for her work helping a local nonprofit redeveloper to win an $18.5 million award from the state to revitalize the economic district with a mixed-use project spanning three and a half blocks. She also helped create Neptune Township’s annual “National Night Out,” a community block party. More recently she chaired MURC’s annual Holiday Toy Drive, which distributed hundreds of toys to the children of local families in need each year.
Richard Brugger, volunteer director of the Bradley Food Pantry in Bradley Beach, was honored for his decade-long efforts coordinating 100 volunteers, drawn from four area churches, and providing emergency food supplies to members of surrounding communities in need of assistance. Over the past seven years the Pantry has served more than 120,000 clients with dignity and respect in the face of demand increasing almost 50% since 2000. Brugger continues to find resources to feed the hungry without complaint, even with reduced resources and increased redtape.
Master of ceremonies for the awards, Heather Kelly, said, “We are truly lucky to have these individuals in our community. The work that they have done, and are doing, is essential to keeping Dr. King’s Dream alive.” Quoting Dr. King she observed, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
