High school senior, local pastor honored at 15th MLK Jr. Prayer Breakfast in Gainesville
A Gainesville pastor and a high school senior who are continuing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of fighting for equality and justice, and love for others were honored for their perseverance and determination.
Pastor LaShon Young of Fresh Start Ministries and So'Unique High, a senior at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, were recognized as the 2023 Drum Major for Justice Award and Joseph "Joel" Buchanan Drum Major for Justice Scholarship Award recipients, respectively, at the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the MLK Jr. Commission of Florida Inc. Friday at the Best Western Gateway Grand Hotel in northwest Gainesville.
The theme for this year's prayer breakfast was: "Do You Understand the Assignment? Dr. King Did."
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High's scholarship is for $16,335, of which $2,500 came from the King Commission.
Her interest in pursuing a career in the medical field began on a personal note, High said, adding that she went through months of medical neglect from doctors before being diagnosed with Lupus SLE caused by a pleural effusion in her left lung, fluid around her heart and bad kidney function.
In 2020, High felt a sharp pain in her chest that progressed into muscle spasms. She was given muscle relaxers and Ibuprofen and she said the pain got worse.
"I started feeling more pain in my back area," High said. "So much so that it began to be hard to breathe, sneeze, cough and even laugh. All this time of taking painkillers and muscle relaxers had caused my kidneys to no longer be able to break those medications down."
She will take what she has experienced medically and use it to help others as she will attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee to major in healthcare administration to learn about the medical field and to help decrease malpractice towards the Black community in the healthcare field, High said, adding that she also plans on pursuing a degree in musical theater.
"God has brought me into a field that I have much knowledge in," High said. "Instead of locking that pain and hurt away, I will use it to fight for equality in healthcare so that my story doesn't happen to anyone else."
Young is a Gainesville native who graduated from Gainesville High School and was crowned one of the school's first Black homecoming queens in 1979.
She is also the owner of Adult Care Express, and for over five years she has sponsored programs for seniors in nursing care facilities. Young has provided necessities and has served meals to the homeless during winter months and has volunteered and provided supplies to storm victims in Panama City during the aftermath of hurricane Michael.
Young also created PINK GIRLS, a mentoring group for elementary school girls in collaboration with Women in Ministry Network, and created a juvenile prevention program called A.I.D. (Avoiding Illegal Distractions).
"I want to thank this committee and the person who nominated me to receive this acknowledgement," Young said. "When you do things, you do them not for accolades but because there's a need. I look forward to seeing you by God's grace next year."
The annual prayer breakfast always features the prior year's Drum Major for Justice Faith Leader Award recipient as the keynote speaker, and this year the speaker was Pastor Gerard Duncan of Prayers by Faith Ministries in Gainesville.
"Let us stand on the assignment of love," Duncan said. "Love is God. America is failing King's dream. It saddens me that we need to do more. We cannot do this by ourselves. We must stand up to make a difference. Let us be the change we want to see in our communities."
Duncan said King stood on six principles: human dignity, racial equality, economic equality, love, forgiveness and non-violence.
"We need to work towards the greater good," Duncan said. "Sometimes we don't remain united after one leader's passing. God puts us in places for a reason. At times we don't like where we are, but we got to be there. We got to stand firm. God knows why he put you there. You are appointed and assigned by God."
The ceremony began with four prayers from pastors. Pastor Linda King of Showers of Blessings Harvest Center gave the invocation prayer, Apostle Willie King Jr. of Showers of Blessings prayed for world peace and racial harmony, the retired Rev. Dr. Geraldine McClellan prayed for families and the Rev. John Cowart, senior pastor of Abiding Faith Christian Church, prayed for prosperity.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville duo honored at MLK Jr. event as drum majors for justice
