Prescott added to MLK Commission’s Toys for Tots
Little Rock -The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, a division of the Arkansas Department of Education, has announced two projects for the fourth congressional district in Nevada County.
The Commission has added Prescott as a delivery site for their annual Toys for Tots Drive and will deliver toys to 18 families in the Prescott area today. “Commissioner Patrick Gulley from Hope has really worked hard on coordinating the Toys for Tots program for his district and has arranged for kids to receive toys. We’ve contacted the families and invited them to pick up toys at the Prescott City Council Meeting. Fortunately, we can make Christmas a little better for some needy families who lack the resources to purchase toys for their children. The Toys for Tots project will be a springboard for programming in the Southwest Arkansas area,” says DuShun Scarbrough, Executive Director. “We also hosted a school supply drive earlier this year and Commissioner Gulley was also instrumental in helping to get the supplies out.”
The Commission will also host the 2020 MLK Reflections Programs, Wednesday, January 15, 2020, 3:30 PM, Hamilton Blakely Senior Center, 419 E. Main Street, Prescott, Arkansas 71857. Community leaders will present commemorative reflections and tributes to Dr. King’s legacy of peace, service, nonviolence, and his perspective on the interconnectedness of humanity. Admission is free and open to the public. Light Refreshments will be served. During the program Commissioner Patrick Gulley, who is a Nevada County resident, will be presented with the MLK Trailblazers Award for service.
“As a state Commission, we make every effort to serve rural, underserved areas of the state. There are great events across the state honoring the King legacy and this is one of them. We are inviting schools, the general public in Hope, Prescott, and the surrounding areas to come out and support this special event,” says Scarbrough.
Commissioner Patrick Gulley, 2020 MLK Trailblazer Recipient
Patrick L Gulley was born on January 23, 1981 in Prescott, Arkansas to God fearing parents Henry and Viola Gulley and was raised in Willisville, Arkansas to fear God by the age of five. He accepted the call to serve God and was singing with his father, and by the age of eight he was serving his community by picking up trash off the streets and serving about the elderly. He started working at Amfuel in Magnolia Arkansas after high school and started as a service man working his way up the ranks to become the first black production manager in the history of the form shop department. While at Amfuel, he realized that he still needed to do more so in 2004, he joined the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department and served for six years as a reserve deputy. He went to the University of Arkansas, Hope Community College, and graduated in April 2006. He studied Business Management at Stratford Career Institute and completed training in 2010.
Gulley joined Pastor G. Blakely in 2010 and help him build and organize New Beginning COGIC until he received a “call” to become a Founder and Pastor at the Agape United Church in Rosston, Arkansas which was given by God in January of 2016. In April 9, 2019, he was appointed as Commissioner of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission and on October 24, of 2019, he was selected to lead the membership as Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in DeAnne.