NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Charles and Etta Dudley Foundation, whose namesake played a role in helping to provide food and medical supplies at the historic Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C., is celebrating its grand opening on Sunday, Oct. 20, in a newly renovated building in the Haynes Meade area.
With the aid of its community partners, the Foundation seeks to raise funds and promote
initiatives that ensure that the area’s most vulnerable and at-risk groups are educated and that their basic needs are met.
“We partner with others for mutual success. We help children, families, and communities break the cycle of poverty by empowering people of all ages to dream, aspire and achieve,” said Michael Hubbard, CEDF’s executive director.
The late Charles Dudley, Sr., was an advocate for racial justice and structural change during the second half of the 20th century. When the Poor People’s Campaign took place in 1968, Dudley was president of the South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Members with medical backgrounds volunteered their services to help the underserved and
provide support during the civil rights demonstration. They raised enough money to purchase a van and stocked it with medical supplies in anticipation of any violence that might occur.
When some southern white Adventist leaders were angered that the van was at the Campaign, Dudley defended the members’ actions as ministering to the needs of their constituents.
Dudley and his wife, Etta, believed wholeheartedly that we should “treat others as you’d like to be treated,” and that belief is at the heart of the Foundation.
“We are blessed to be included in the legacy of truly great parents and to honor them for all the wonderful work they did for so many young people…including me,” said Bert Dudley.
To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.cedudley.org/.
