MLK Celebration and Award Dinner Set for Jan. 14

The Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission will hold its annual Community Celebration and Awards Dinner Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at 2 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center at The University of Scranton. The event celebrates the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. This year’s theme, “Still I Rise,” is inspired by Dr. King’s quote, “we must walk on in the day ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”

The keynote speaker at the award dinner will be Sara Sofanelli, J.D., who serves at special counsel for Pro Bono Initiatives at the law firm Schulte, Roth and Zabel. In overseeing the pro bono program, Atty. Sofanelli leverages the firm’s resources to represent indigent individuals seeking justice, bring impact litigation for a more just and fair society, and develop strategic partnerships with international, national and local nonprofit organizations to enable them to better achieve their missions. Under her leadership, 70 percent of Schulte, Roth and Zabel’s lawyers, along with dozens of business staff, participated in pro bono service in 2022.

Atty. Sofanelli earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, and her J.D. degree, with honors, from the George Washington University Law School.

A ‘Q and A’ will immediately follow Atty. Sofanelli’s presentation titled “Where do we go from here?”

Also at the event, The Greater Scranton MLK Commission will honor three members of the greater Scranton community. Melanie-Rose “Torshie” Wentum will receive the Youth Leader of the Year Award. A junior at Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, Wentum serves as president of the school’s Christian Community Club, participates in Black Student Union, Speech and Debate, Chorale, Chamber Singers, Coda Red (an acapella group) and the varsity Lacrosse Team. Wentum is also a content creator for WoolStitch, a Christian clothing brand she co-founded with her father.

Rashida Lovely, Dunmore, will receive the Business Leader of the Year Award. She is the owner of Newave Studios, Northeast Pennsylvania's first black-owned multi-arts and science studio. She is also one of five co-founding members of the Northeast Pennsylvania Black Chamber of Commerce and a co-founding member of the Northeast Pennsylvania Pan African Coalition.

Norma Jeffries will receive the Community Leader of the Year Award. Jeffries grew-up in Scranton, then returned to the area after residing in New Jersey and retiring from Verizon Communications. She currently serves as board secretary for the Scranton Municipal Recreational Authority and is a member of the Scranton Shade Tree Commission and the Electric City Foundation. She volunteers with the Electric City Flower Show, the Lackawanna County Prison and the after-school program at Grace Bible Church in Dunmore. She is among the participants who shared their stories as part of The University of Scranton’s two-year “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” Project that was supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.

Tickets for the Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission Community Celebration and Awards Dinner are $25 and can be ordered on the event webpage.

On Monday, Jan. 15, the Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission, in partnership with The Scranton Area Ministerium, will host an Interfaith Prayer Service at 7 p.m. the Shiloh Baptist Church on William St. in Scranton.

The University will light a tribute for MLK Day on its Class of 2020 Gateway sign from Friday evening, Jan. 12, through Monday evening, Jan. 15.