MERCER ISLAND, WA (April 4, 2018) — Harold Spooner became the first recipient of the “Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Award,” at Covenant Shores Retirement Community Tuesday night.
Spooner is the vice president of community impact for Covenant Retirement Communities (CRC). He is the first recipient of the award.
The award was presented on behalf of the Diversity Awareness Partners (DAP) at Covenant Shores. DAP is a resident-driven committee that seeks to educate on matters of diversity, latent prejudice, and tolerance.
It developed out of the “Breakfast Club” initiative launched by CRC several years ago. Through the initiative, campus residents and employees from diverse ethnic backgrounds meet for breakfast to talk about their lives.
Spooner spoke Tuesday during a gathering at the community on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the slaying of the civil rights leader. After Spooner gave his talk on “Keeping the Dream Alive,” chaplain Greg Asimakoupoulos surprised him with the award. The award was a personalized framed print of Isaiah 1:17 illustrated by calligrapher Timothy Botts.
The award will be presented annually each January on Martin Luther King Day to a resident or member of the community who has demonstrated a commitment to the core values of King’s dream, Asimakoupoulos said. Those values include radical love, racial reconciliation, concern for the homeless and refugees, compassion for the poor, and mercy for the marginalized of society.
