MLK Jr. Day Celebration returns for 37th year
January 12, 2023 at 8:41 a.m.
The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration will return to Port Chester for its 37th year this Saturday, Jan. 14, at Saint Frances AME Zion Church at 18 Smith St. The ceremony will commence at 4 p.m.
The interfaith event was held virtually in 2021 due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic but returned in person in 2022. This year’s ceremony will mark another year of the event’s transition back to normalcy after the pandemic.
Reverend Gerald Washington, the pastor at Bethesda Baptist Church, said it’s important to keep traditions like Saturday’s event alive.
“We cannot let it die,” he said. “We live in a chaotic world. This day could possibly be lost in the shuffle, but somebody has to care.”
To Washington, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wasn’t just an African American who made waves in the political history of the nation—he was a hero who deserves commemoration every year.
“He falls in line with the great pioneers that we honor to this day,” he said.
This year’s proceedings will include a presentation from keynote speaker Rev. James Furman of the Mount Zion Christian Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, who also spoke at last year’s event.
Honorees for the Humanitarian Awards often delivered during the ceremony hadn’t yet been selected as of Tuesday, Jan. 10. Washington said he and the others organizing the event were planning to choose a student and a community member from Port Chester who meet the criteria for the recognition.
Free T-shirts will also be given out at the event.
Comments:
You must login to comment.