Local leaders prep for MLK Day
ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be taking place throughout the U.S. in the coming weeks, and Liberal will also be taking part.
Martin Luther King Jr. Committee treasurer Kathy Pugh said planning is currently under way for this year’s festivities.
“I will be delivering the Dr. King flags to Andy Skinner and the Kiwanis Group, and the Kiwanis Group is going to put them out. The flags will then be on display Friday, Jan. 16 through Monday, Jan. 19,” Pugh said. “We will also be continuing giving out scholarships, and applicants must write a 500-word essay about educational goals/dreams they have. The application is available through the college online, and the deadline is April 1. We have raised enough money where we can give $500 for each recipient, and we're going to give out four scholarships. We're trying to rebuild the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee – Presephoni Fuller has resigned and is moving, and then BethAnn Volden, who was our president, is going through some right now herself, so she's stepped down. I'm the treasurer, and I am trying to recruit and get more people involved so we can do things. We usually have a breakfast in January, before Martin Luther King Day, and those details are being worked out at the moment – I know Christine [Hammond] and Kiffiany [Stevenson] have offered to help me put that together, so we're still trying to keep the dream alive. This will be our fourth year since we had started the committee back up, and when we started it back up, we had $40 in our account, and now we're able to give multiple scholarships away to young people in the community, so we have made some accomplishments. We've had a few bumps in the road, but we are planning on rebuilding.”
