In early May 2007, a college student in St. Louis received an invitation to attend dinner with twenty complete strangers two nights later. The student accepted, and the result was an improbable $1,000 donation from a prominent business leader to help fund the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project in Washington, D.C.

This semester, MBA students in Adjunct Professor Ron Rubin's 'Selected Topics in Entrepreneurship' course at Saint Louis University read the book, The First Thirty by Jillip Naysinthe Paxson.

Recently honored at the Northeast Student Diversity Leadership Conference as Multicultural Relations Book of the Year, The First Thirty is based on the true story of educator, artist and philanthropist Greg Forbes Siegman, his efforts to bring people of different backgrounds together, and the extent to which his college experience and civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced his desire to do it.

In addition to having students read The First Thirty, Rubin (who also serves as Chairman aka 'Minister of Tea' for The Republic of Tea), sponsored a surprise visit by Siegman to guest lecture his course on the final day of class in May 2007.

The night before the event, Siegman hosted a dinner for complete strangers at Nadoz Cafe. He has co-hosted similar dinners in New York and California -- calling them "Dinners with Friends, except nobody knows each other."

Rubin, his wife Pam, and Leonard Johnson (Harris-Stowe State University Student Government Association President) were among the twenty people who attended the dinner in St. Louis.

A few days earlier, the Student Government Associations at Harris-Stowe and Saint Louis University announced plans to partner in raising $10,000 for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project in Washington, D.C. Through this commitment, HSSU and SLU join many other colleges and universities recognized as "Dream Keepers." This marks the first time the two universities have partnered for a project.

The Rubin's were so impressed by Johnson's efforts after learning about them during the dinner that they have decided to make an unsolicited $1,000 donation.

Johnson said, "This [donation] was so unexpected...I want to thank Greg again for inviting me to [come to] dinner...and the Rubin's for the support...[it just shows] when you place a group of productive people in the same room on any given day, the end product will be achievement..."

Siegman said, "It was very gratifying to hear about Ron and Pam's support for Leonard's efforts to support the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project in Washington DC. To me, the legacy of Dr. King is about getting beyond who and what you already know, and being open to meeting people of other ages, cultures and backgrounds, and then seeing all the great things that happen when those dots are connected. Ron and Pam's donation for the Memorial in honor of their new friend, Leonard, is a great example of that."

To see pictures: www.GregForbes.com, click Greg's Week, click: May 07 St Louis.