By Andy Dahn
BLOOMINGTON – A Normal Community senior has been named the youth recipient of the annual I Have a Dream Martin Luther King Jr. Award.
Amari Funderburg said Rev. King’s legacy has changed her life and taught her a valuable lesson.
“Now I can go to school with students of all different races,” Funderburg said. “I can be friends with whoever I desire to because he had a dream and he acted on that dream. He didn’t do it by himself, it was a community of people that weren’t all black. It’s just amazing to me and it shows me that dreams are real, you just have to put in the effort.”
Along with being a member of Normal Community’s Diversity Club and Not in Our School group, Funderburg has also volunteered with the WJBC Brotherhood Tree and has served meals at Home Sweet Home Ministries.
“Every family deserves a chance,” said Funderburg. “Whether it be the parents don’t have enough money to afford for the kids to eat or they don’t have a job in general, it shouldn’t be that their children have to come to school hungry. That’s not right.”
The Bloomington and Normal Human Relations Commissions also named Arthur Haynes of Bloomington and Marcos Mendez of Normal the recipients of the Adult Human Relations Award. Markus Brooks was Bloomington’s youth award winner.
Andy Dahn can be reached at andy.dahn@cumulus.com.
