Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2011 Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award honors Craig Gilbert

Guest author: Tamar Orvell

Craig Gilbert sporting his topi hat
and Nepalese doko basket

An appreciation and kudos to a tzadik [Hebrew: righteous person] — Craig Gilbert, my friend, mentor, sounding board, and role model, and Atlanta Bhutanese Refugee Support Group volunteer.

Emory University (School of Public Health and Goizueta Business School) will honor Craig and other recipients at The 2011 Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award ceremony on Thursday, January 20, at 4pm. The event will be in the auditorium of the Claudia Nance Rollins School of Public Health (1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322); a catered reception will follow. Parking from 3pm in the Michael Street Parking Deck (off Clifton Road) for faculty, staff, and students. Stay on the faculty, staff, and students side, and do not venture over to the visitors lot.

The theme for this year’s program of the 19th annual MLK Jr. Birthday Celebration is “Reinventing Communities: Turning Misfortune into Opportunity.”

This prestigious award recognizes Craig's accomplishments in the early days of the organic food movement, and for lifting up people in the refugee community (to earn fair wages for honest work, to access educational opportunities, and to preserve and transmit along the generations human dignity, cultural heritage, and ethnic identity).

At the event, Craig will speak briefly and share photos to highlight the Bhutanese Kudzu Basket Project and the Gardening Project, among enterprises he has initiated, championed, and given to with energy, imagination, and love!

The Atlanta Bhutanese community and many friends, allies, advocates, and supporters, are warmly invited to join in honoring Craig.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired America to grant human rights to all people using nonviolent means, a philosophy that Mahatma ("great soul") Gandhi, a son of India, pioneered. It is fitting that an Atlantan is recognized for upholding Dr. King's ideals by helping to resettle refugees from Bhutan (on the Indian subcontinent) whose homes and fields were stolen and whose lives were put on hold in refugee camps twenty years and longer.  
— Craig Gilbert

Related posts by or about Craig
Cross-posted at Only Connect

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