UCA to Host Annual MLK Prayer Breakfast

The fourth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Breakfast will be held Friday, Jan. 14 at the University of Central Arkansas.

The breakfast will begin at 9 a.m. in the Student Center Ballroom 205B.

The purpose of this breakfast is to celebrate the spiritual legacy, the moral courage and fortitude that Dr. King brought to the social justice movement of this country, said Angela Jackson, director of the Office of Minority Student Services.

“We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his examples – the values of service, truth, dignity, humility and compassion that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership,” Jackson said.

“Dr. King was a servant to mankind who exhibited great poise in a time of civil turmoil,” she added. ” His efforts to really bring equality to all put him at the forefront of the civil rights movement and he should continue to be honored each year to make sure our youth understand all that was sacrificed for their rights.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the King holiday.  

Keith Jackson, founder of P.A.R.K. (Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids) and former NFL player, is the guest speaker. He will speak on this year’s prayer breakfast theme, “Service above Self.”

Jackson, a Little Rock native, was the thirteenth pick of the first round in the National Football League draft in 1988. He played in the NFL for nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Miami Dolphins, and finished his career with a Super Bowl championship with the Green Bay Packers.

In 1992, Jackson incorporated P.A.R.K., a non-profit organization that serves junior and senior high school students who appear to be at risk of dropping out of school and or succumbing to the pressure of drugs, alcohol, sex, and/or gangs.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast is sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Services & the Office of the President.