The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., presented their annual Mary McLeod Bethune Award for Community Service to The Merze Tate Explorers. The award was presented to Sonya Bernard-Hollins, founder of the nonprofit organization for her work in serving the youth of the Kalamazoo community.

The sorority presented the award during their women’s history celebration in March at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Kalamazoo. Dozens of past honorees and sorority members attended the event that also honored Belinda Tate, the first African American executive director of Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and Elizabeth Miles, a long-time member of Mt. Zion Church, for her role as a leader.

Bernard-Hollins was nominated for the award by sorority member Dr. Betty Dennis. Dennis, an administrator at Western Michigan University, felt the honor was fitting as the late Merze Tate was a 1927 graduate of WMU, world traveler, and philanthropist to the university before her death in 1996. Dennis and Gloria Foster-Whimbly presented the award to Bernard-Hollins and the supporting Explorers in attendance.