ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Communities throughout the U.S. will soon be commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and honoring his work and legacy.
Liberal will be among those communities, but as Martin Luther King Committee President Presephoni Fuller tells it, the 2025 festivities will be slightly smaller than in the past.
“In 2024, I've had a major surgery, and our new committee president, BethAnn Volden, is recovering from a serious accident she was involved in a couple months ago, so we're both pretty broken up at the moment, and another one of our committee members is working on her master's degree in California,” Fuller said. “With all of that in mind, we're going to scale down the 2025 celebrations – we'll still have the avenue of flags we've done the past couple years, and the Kiwanis is going to be in charge of putting those up, and for 2025, we're actually going to be hosting a prayer breakfast since Dr. King was a reverend and a man of prayer. Instead of selling tickets for the breakfast ... by this time last year, everything was already scheduled, and the last time we met as a committee was back in September, and it's just been one thing after another that's occurred since then. I reached out to Community Baptist Church, which has a food pantry, and we're going to host the prayer breakfast in the fellowship hall at that church Saturday, Jan. 18, with everything getting started at 9 a.m., and we're asking for free-will donations, with the proceeds going toward that church's food pantry. We're also going to be doing our service project, since we want Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be a day on, not a day off for people. Everything is going to be focused on Community Baptist Church, who is also currently looking for a pastor. The community has been phenomenal in helping us put together scholarships for our local students and their postsecondary education goals, and now, we want to keep giving back to the community. This prayer breakfast is a great way to do that.”
Fuller added there will be many prayer focuses that morning.
“We'll be praying for our community, the U.S., for world peace, for those who are incarcerated, for those who are battling substance abuse, and those who are victims of abuse or trafficking, among many other focuses. We can never have enough prayer, and I'm really grateful to Community Baptist Church for partnering with us, they've been amazing to work with,” Fuller said. “I'm also proud of how our committee has grown and expanded, we recently added Betty Symons and Rachel Coleman, both of whom are amazing to work with, and we're also partnering with the Black History Club at SCCC. My big goal was to have a parade for this year, but with everything going on, we knew it would be best to scale back the festivities somewhat, but we are moving forward with a celebration, and I'm looking forward to seeing what BethAnn does when she officially steps into the president role on the committee.”
Fuller said she is excited for the prayer breakfast.
“People don't have to pay for it since again, it's a free-will donation. We already have a sponsor paying for the breakfast, so that's one less thing for us to worry about for the 2025 event,” Fuller said. “The idea of doing a canned food drive had been discussed, but having been in charge of a food pantry at the church for five years, money is definitely preferred because then, we can buy what we know we actually need. Being able to help Community Baptist Church and have our proceeds go toward their efforts is a really good feeling, and I know they'll be able to help a lot of people. I don't want our committee to be one that's always got its hand out looking for stuff, I want us to also have chances to give back and help others in the community, and doing this is a great way to do that. And we're definitely going to be talking this event up, we're going to be mentioning it on social media and talking with other area media outlets to spread the word, because we do want a big crowd to show up that morning and pray with us and have a great breakfast and fellowship with everyone else who's there. We can't thank Community Baptist Church enough for hosting this as their way of giving to us, and we also can't wait to present them with some money to go toward the good they want to do through their food pantry, so it's truly a win-win for everyone involved.”
Fuller added she hopes to see a big turnout for the breakfast.
“Just come that morning and pray with us, and bring whatever prayer requests/lists you have, because we will definitely be praying a lot,” Fuller said. “We'll also share updates on some of our recent accomplishments and activities because we have been doing quite a bit. This committee has been in existence for about 40 years in Liberal, and we want to see it continue in some fashion, whether it's as a separate entity or by combining with the Black History Committee, which has been discussed. I've never really been too fond of all the different history months (Hispanic, Indian, etc.) because I actually consider it all part of U.S. history, which should be recognized and talked about the entire year long. I want people to leave the prayer breakfast with the goal of continuing to pray, whether it's for your family, community, or whatever your particular personal focus is. We just want everyone to come out to the prayer breakfast Jan. 18 and enjoy food, fellowship and prayer with everyone else who's there. Bring your friends and family so we can pack the place and have a great time. The church has been amazing to work with, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone out there and giving back to them. We definitely didn't want to not do anything for 2025, but this time around, we're just scaling things down compared to the past few years.”
Fuller said the community can expect to see the committee members being busy throughout 2025.
“As far as the near future goes, I can't really speak to that because since I'm stepping away from the president role, I want it to really be BethAnn's vision – I have a dream, but I know she has a dream too, so I want to give her the opportunity to spread her wings,” Fuller said. “I know we want to have at least some focus on education and teach young people about how to interview properly and how to do internships and in general be successful in life. I always tell young people to start building those relationships because you never know who knows who, and that someone might be the key to you getting your dream career. And a good part of that is treating people well because again, you never know who knows who – and also, it costs nothing to be kind. Volunteers are the army of our community and society, and they help make everything work on a whole different level than what's typically possible, and a good showcase of that is with the recent Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. It's all about teaching those soft skills, life skills, and other job skills, because they all add up and can transfer to so many different facets of life. We're hoping to be able to do more of that once everyone is officially healed and up and about. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with this committee and seeing everything take shape the way it has, and I'm excited to see things continuing to grow.”
