WJC’s MLK Day Commemoration

January 2, 2024 - January 15, 2024, All Day

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Honor Dr. King’s Legacy Through Action: Join us for a week of service, reflection, and community building as we commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Choose your path, from filling “Blizzard Boxes” with essential food for families in need to marching in spirit with a photo of your family “praying with your feet.

January 2-13: Food Drive for Blizzard Boxes

Please donate non-perishable foods to fill Blizzard boxes for those in need. Food requested: Canned potatoes, veggies, fruit,tuna, soups, rice, pasta, individual sized shelf stable milk. Food can be dropped off in the coat room or outside the main office. We will deliver the food to the JCC of Mid-Westchester for the program on January 15.

January 2-31: Pray With Our Feet

Rabbi Heschel prayed with his feet by marching with Martin Luther King Jr.  How does your family “pray with your feet”? (Do you volunteer? Or collect trash? Or do charity walks?) Send a photo to joannashlesinger@gmail.com to be included in a WJC collage, depicting all the ways our community prays with our feet. Feel free to be creative! Visit the collage or check out our MLK Day page on the WJC website for ideas and inspiration.

Friday, January 12 at 8:30pm: Bias: what is it and why it matters now more than ever

Following Rhythm and Ruach at 7:30pm, join us for a conversation with Joan Grangenois-Thomas entitled Bias: what is it and why it matters now more than ever. The evening also includes our Community-Wide Shabbat dinner at 6:30pm. RSVP to join us for dinner.

Saturday, January 13 at 1:00pm: Reflections on MLK & Building Bridges between Communities

Join us in the Chapel for a Shabbat afternoon program with Rev. Lee Trollinger (please see his bio below) of Calvary Baptist Church: Reflections on MLK & Building Bridges between Communities

Sunday, January 14, at 3:00pm: WJC Teens Sandwich-Making for HOPE

Monday, January 15, from 10:00am to 12:00pm: Blizzard Box

This family program is appropriate for all ages. We’ll gather at JCC Mid-Westchester to fill Blizzard boxes with non-perishable food for those in need. Registration required, space limited: https://jccmw.org/event/mlk-day/

About Joan Grangenois-Thomas

Joan Grangenois-Thomas is a seasoned communications professional who brings her extensive experience working with community groups, non-profit organizations, individuals and social enterprises to every project she executes.  Joan spent 10 years as a contract facilitator with the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute. There, she presented anti-bias training to school children, faculty and staff.  She brought that learning to her own community through the many organizations she’s been involved with including as president of the Port Chester/Rye N.A.A.C.P. In 2015, Joan founded Read, Talk, Act, an Interfaith, Social Justice Book Club, after the horrific attack on churchgoers at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC. The goal of the club is to gain understanding of the many ways racism and discrimination have taken root through reading. Members talk about how the readings challenged their assumptions, and then try to take action – individually or collectively – to affect change. The friendships and insights she has found through that book club has left an indelible mark on Joan. As a result of all her efforts, Joan  is sought after to speak and bring her brand of bias awareness to groups around Westchester County. Joan sits on the board of Sustainable Westchester, Journeys 2 Change and is in her second term as a trustee for the Village of Port Chester, where she has lived with her family for over 30 years. She is founder of JGT Public Relations, a boutique communications firm that works solely with nonprofits and social change groups.

About Rev. Dr. Erwin Lee Trollinger, Jr., M. Th.

Rev. Dr. Erwin Lee Trollinger, Jr. is a licensed and ordained through the Union Temple Inspirational Baptist Church and the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Association, Queens, New York. He attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, majoring in Social Work and Theology.  He earned his Master’s Degree in Sacred Theology at the Christ Theological Seminary.

In 2011 Rev. Dr. Trollinger became the Sixth Pastor of the Calvary Missionary Baptist Church of White Plains and serves as the Sr. Pastor. In 2012 Rev.  Dr. Trollinger became the President of the Ministers’ Fellowship Council of White Plains and Vicinity.  Currently, he serves as the Chaplin at Epic Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.  In 2018 Rev. Dr. Trollinger was appointed by the Board of Directors to become the International President and Patron for the Agape Christian Ministers College, Kumasi, Ghana.In 2022 Rev.  Dr. Trollinger received two honorary Doctorate Degrees from the Anointed by God Ministries Alliance & Seminary.  He received a Doctor of Theology Degree and a Doctor of Divinity Degree. In 2022 Rev. Dr. Trollinger was consecrated to the Bishopry to preside over the Agape Christian Ministers College, Kumasi, Ghana.

Rev. Trollinger previously served as Chaplain at the Westchester County -Norwood Jackson Correctional Facility, Sing-Sing Correctional Facility, and Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Rev. Dr. Trollinger has shared the gospel in foreign lands such as the Republic of Jamaica, West Indies, the City of London, England, Kampala Uganda, West Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies, Republic of Ghana and Republic of Liberia, West Africa. His motto: Lord Let Me Decrease, That Thou Might Increase