By Denise Civiletti

Posted on Jan 19, 2026, 6:23 pm

Read on Riverhead Local

The 41st Annual Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast drew a crowd of about 400 people to the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge Monday, to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. 

Rev. Charles Coverdale, who conceived the event shortly he was called to First Baptist Church of Riverhead, was honored by the memorial breakfast committee with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The breakfast committee presented MLK Jr. Meritorious Awards to community healthcare advocate Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and CEO of Health and Welfare Council of Long Island and affordable housing developer and advocate David Gallo, president/cofounder of Georgica Green Ventures. The committee also presented an MLK Jr. Special Recognition Award to Justice Fernando Camacho,  acting Suffolk County Supreme Court justice and New York State Court of Claims judge. Camacho was recognized for his advocacy for justice-involved individuals.

In remarks accepting his award, Coverdale, who has just retired as senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Riverhead, reflected on his journey from the South Bronx to Harvard to Riverhead.

He said he was a city boy called to pastor a church in the country and was reluctant to answer that call, even initially turning down the church’s call.

“I learned you should never be afraid to go where God sends you to go, because he’s going to make a way for you there, and there’s a reason why he wants you there,” Coverdale said.  

Coverdale also looked back on the origins of the MLK memorial breakfast. In 1983, the year Coverdale came to Riverhead, Congress adopted legislation setting aside the third Monday in January to honor King’s birthday. He said he realized that there was no countywide event celebrating King’s life, so, working with members of his congregation, he started one. It quickly grew to be one of the premier MLK Day events in the region.

The Rev. David L. Kelley II, senior pastor at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Brooklyn, was the keynote speaker at today’s event.

Kelly spoke about what he called “uncomfortable benevolence,” the idea that “no matter what somebody does to you, your response is to work for their good.” That, he said, is “true Christian love — agape.”  Agape is a Greek word meaning unconditional, selfless and benevolent love.

“No matter what divides us, it’s going to take agape — real Christian love — to bring us together, to remove the boundaries that divide us in so many ways, to remove the barriers that that separate us, whether by race or religion by skin or color, whether by ethnicity or by politics or by poverty or by distress or by zip code or by sex or sexual orientation or gender or age discrimination,” Kelley said. “No matter what divides us, what separates us, what calls us to be at odds with each other, no matter what it is, the only thing that will help us get over it is agape.”

Agape is what King’s movement was about, Kelley said.

Drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he urged, “Find a way to do some good. Find a way to be kind. Find a way that no matter what someone does to you, find a way to put love in action,” he said.  “Find a way to do some good. Find a way to be kind.”

Musical selections were performed by the Reverend Dr. Marti Luther King Jr. Freedom Choir. 

Guest speakers included Rep. Nick LaLota, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, and Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon.

The annual memorial breakfast is a fundraiser for Family Community Life Center, the nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by Coverdale and members of First Baptist Church to establish a community center in Riverhead. Over the years, the plan has evolved to include affordable housing which is being developed in partnership with Georgica Green Ventures on land owned by First Baptist Church on Northville Turnpike in Riverhead.