M.L.K.'s gift

Ten years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday gave four black women reason to start an organization. The group has fewer than a dozen members, yet it has become host to one of the best attended celebrations of Martin Luther King Day on the North Shore.

The luncheon has made the Malden-based North Shore Black Women's Association a viable local organization that raises money for student scholarships and charitable gifts for the region.

The effort has helped set in motion a greater sense of inclusion of all races in Malden, said Chris DiPietro, the former community liaison for the city and currently its human services director.

"Understanding people's heritage helps us understand that we all belong," said DiPietro, who has attended the event for five years.

The Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Jamaica Plain, agrees.

"What you discover is that his legacy has transcended race," she said.

"Increasingly what I find is that not only the black community celebrates [the day], but we all take responsibility and we all hold each other accountable," White-Hammond said. She is the keynote speaker at the association's 10th annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon, which will be held Monday at Anthony's in Malden.

Pat Beckles, a member of the association, was surprised when she attended her first luncheon seven years ago.

"I was amazed that such a small group of people could put together such a well-organized program," said Beckles, a retired nurse who said she was the first black nurse assigned to the newborn intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

But since that luncheon some things have changed.

"A lot of people came because of Martin," she said of those days, "and a lot of white people came because they said, `I can do this, I am multicultural, and I am not a racist.' But as time has gone, more people come because they genuinely want to."

In part, Beckles attributed this to the diversity that Malden is experiencing. With 56,000 people, Malden is 74.2 percent white, 9.7 percent African-American, and 14.6 percent Asian, according to US Census statistics from 2000. Malden is also home to growing numbers of Caribbeans and Africans. Last year, Haitians from the area - as well as Boston and Randolph - bought 65 tickets for the luncheon, said Mary Moore, president of the association.

And association members - all nine of them - are keen on keeping up with the times.

"We just thought it could represent women from all walks of life," said Iodiah Henry, who started the association with Johnnie Knight-Wilder.

In 1993, the North Shore mainly celebrated the Martin Luther King holiday in black churches and at a Lynn minority community center, Moore said. The group hoped to create a more inclusive public event to honor King, she added.

Members first met in Knight-Wilder's basement and planned the 1993 luncheon to raise money for high school students and adults pursuing higher education. "That has always been our primary focus," she said. Every year since 1993, the organization has given at least two scholarships.

Through the years, the group has honored community role models and has tried to include leaders from different religious denominations as speakers. The group expects close to 400 people this year, some from as far away as New York and New Hampshire. It is also planning an open house in February to recruit members.

"We are getting old and we need fresh ideas," said Marion Desmond of Winchester, who joined in 1993. "We are always looking for new members and young women to carry on, black or white. We certainly do not discriminate.

"This celebration is not just a black holiday; it's a holiday for all, because his dream was about equality for all. We are proud when we see members of the municipality and Middlesex County at our tables," Desmond added. "Our theme has always been involvement makes a difference. And having people come together, sitting together with this common interest of unity, this is what Martin Luther King stood for."

Angelica Medaglia can be reached at medaglia@globe.com.