Diversity Day Set for Sunday on Woodstock Square
Patrick Murfin and Gloria Urch return as on stage co-hosts of Diversity Day 2006: We’re All Immigrants!
The program for DIVERSITY DAY 2006: WE’RE ALL IMMIGRANTS! will blend the usual musical and dance entertainment with personal connections by McHenry County residents to their immigrant heritage. The annual festival will be held on Sunday, October 1st from 1 to 4 pm on the Square in Woodstock.
Long time festival co-hosts Gloria Urch and Patrick Murfin will welcome performances by folk artist Keith Johnson, the Pioneer Players, Mexican dance by Livinia and by Yesenia Galarza, contemporary Mexican music by the Enriquez Family and Palmira Applegate, and a finale by roots music band O Brother Group.
The heart of the program will be sharing of family cultural traditions in song, dance, crafts display and remembrance by more than a dozen local residents starting with Payne of the MCC Black Student Union and Carol Arrego of the college’s Latinos Unidos. Among the others who will share their family’s immigrant experience are Dr. Nelson Borelli from Argentina, Harold Rail from Germany, Korea’s Sung Lee Lemrise and family, Keith Johnson of Swedish heritage, Sean O’Donnell of Ireland, Buddhist monk Chan Thumbage from Sri Lanka, Fusun Atay Borelli from Turkey, David Daoui of Algeria, and Janet Douglass and family sharing their Scottish traditions. The Rev. Dan Larsen of the Congregational Unitarian Church will conclude the program.
Arielle Payne, a student leader at McHenry County College, has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 McHenry County Peace and Justice Award. The award will be presented by last year’s winner Janie Galarza.
The Peace and Justice Award is given annually to some one whose work in the community exemplifies the goals of the Diversity Day festival. “We have had a long list of distinguished winners,” according to festival spokesperson and co-host Murfin. “Most of them had long records of service and were fairly widely known in the community. But this year we wanted to highlight someone from the rising generation. McHenry County College was an obvious place to look. Among many outstanding students, Arielle Payne stood out.”
Payne entered MCC as a student in the Running Start program in the spring of 2004. She will continue through the current school year before transferring to a four year college to continue her education in nursing.
She is an active member of the Campus Christian Fellowship and served as president of the Black Student Union (BSU.) She is stepping down from that position to serve as an appointed Student Trustee. Last spring her essay on Martin Luther King won recognition from the English faculty.
In addition to being a full time student with extra curricular responsibilities, Payne works as a nanny to seven children in Island Lake. She leads county high school students in Bible study at Harvest Bible Chapel. An accomplished musician, she plays piano and performs in musical theater.
“We consider this award to be among the most distinguished given in the county,” Murfin said. Past recipients were Holocaust witness and human rights advocate Werner Ellmann, Native American activist Cindy Bloom, Susanne Hoban of the Family Health Partnership Clinic, community leader and festival co-host Gloria Urch, Peace educator Mary Fox, McHenry County Peace Group founder Libby Pappalardo, Latino Coalition leader Carlos Acosta, former Turning Point Director Lou Ness, and Janie Galarza of the Harvard Human Relations Commission.
The festival will also feature dozens of display tables from local social service agencies, community organizations, issue advocate organizations, and religious and religious groups.
Diversity Day is organized by the Congregational Unitarian Church with sponsorship support by the Latino Coalition of McHenry County, Harris Bank, and Home State Bank.
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