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DURHAM -- Like Martin Luther King Jr., Tijuanda Farrington has a dream.
Her dream -- homeownership -- came closer to reality Monday when the N.C. Central University community and others, including U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., gathered in a North-East Central Durham neighborhood during a groundbreaking ceremony for Farrington's new dream home.
The Habitat for Humanity home in the Eagle Village Community at 615 Hickory St. is being built with help from NCCU student volunteers and others.
It was no coincidence that the ceremony was on Martin Luther King Day.
"Martin Luther King Day is a day of consequence for every American," Hagan told the crowd during a beautiful, sunny afternoon. "But now, rather than taking a three-day weekend of leisure, we are doing better by honoring Dr. King's memory with a day of service."
Hagan said King believed in serving others.
"This is a day on, not a day off," Hagan said. "Dr. King believed that all of us have the power to lift ourselves up and improve our communities. He wisely said that everyone can be great, because anybody can serve."
Durham Mayor Bill Bell said improving neighborhoods is a top priority for the city.
"In some cases, you can do it a house at a time," Bell said. "In other cases, you do it a block at a time. But the fact is it can be done, and what we're seeing here today is a part of the renaissance that we're trying to bring to our inner-city neighborhoods."
State Sen. Floyd McKissick, who represents Durham in the Legislature, said King would affirm what was happening Monday.
"Dr. King believed in equal rights, equal opportunities for all," he said. "He'd be pleased today to sit here and see a multiracial coalition building homes for people who don't have homes."
NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms said this is the second Habitat for Humanity home the university has sponsored. He said a third one is planned in the same neighborhood after this one is built.
"We're 100 percent involved," he said, "all the way from the beginning until the finishing touches."
