Pair honored at 31st annual MLK Community Service

Two Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School employees were honored Sunday night at the 31st Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Citywide Celebration Committee named Central Junior High social worker Carolyn Thomas and nurse Dana Deisher as the 2021 recipients of the Dr. C. John Ritter Humanitarian Service Award.

"Both of these ladies have worked for years, and they're making a difference," Citywide Celebration Committee chairwoman Debra Mitchell-Braxton said. "They reach out in the community and get us engaged in helping the young ladies, and that's what it's all about service to others."

The award is presented annually since 2003 to individuals who exemplify the social betterment of other people. Thomas and Deisher were recognized for their work with at-risk young girls through their organization Intelligent Female.

"I really see it as a blessing to get to work with these girls," Deisher said, "It's phenomenal that we are honored on Martin Luther King Day,because I feel like a lot of his characteristics of peace, of faith, of love, of justice, all of his leadership qualities is what we try and instill in our young ladies to show there is a peaceful means in the end to get what you want and to make a difference."

In addition to the award presentation, Pastor Calvin Bird delivered a sermon focused around the overall theme of "We've Come This Far By Faith," based around a popular church hymn.

"The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen," Bird said during his sermon. "In other words it is the substrate that holds us up. It is what keeps us standing. I'm not standing here because I've got strength, I'm standing here because faith says that even though I'm tired I'm still going to make it. Faith says, even though I'm worn and weary, and I might not even know what's going to happen next. But my faith says, I can't leave here I've got to go."