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.”
Pugh said she is excited to see what happens with this year.
“The most exciting part is just still being able to have those flags flown for four days. That is the most important thing we have done,” Pugh said. “And like I said, there are a few other things we're trying to plan out – it didn't seem like MLK Jr. Day was coming fast, and now it's coming fast. The most important thing right now that we are focused on this year is just getting those flags flowed and getting people to understand we are still trying to keep the dream alive and how we have come a long way.”
The MLK flags are still rather new to the community, and Pugh said she is proud the flags have already made such a big impact in just a few years.
“It's great how the flags have already gotten to be such a big part of our celebration, and the feedback that we get from it is awesome, especially since we were able to get those flags donated to us,” Pugh said. “I will say though, the wind's messed with them somewhat – there were some flags that had some tears in them from the wind, and there was a lady here in town who mended those and got those back to us. With that in mind, what we're going to do is get some zip ties, and we're going to tie the loops to hold them, because we want them to last and as we all know, that Kansas wind is brutal. The goal is to get those flags up and show people that the dream is still alive. We are also going to be talking to the counselors at the high school for the seniors to try to get them involved in writing the essay, because I know $500 is a lot of money to students looking to go to college, so we are really working on encouraging students to apply for that scholarship. And that application is open to everyone, it doesn't matter what race you are – the main point is keeping the dream alive, and keeping alive what Martin Luther King Jr. did for us in this country.”
Pugh added it is more important than ever to continue spreading Dr. King’s words and work.
“The world keeps changing. We keep changing everything, whether it's changing for the good or whether it's changing for bad. Dr. King wanted peace, he wanted equality, and he wanted us to get along. There are times when we can agree to disagree, but I think keeping the dream alive just shows people how we all want we bleed the same blood and how we all ultimately want the same thing in the grand scheme of life,” Pugh said. “And that if we keep that dream alive like he did, I think we'll have a better country. And we're really excited to continue the scholarship work, one of Dr. King's best quotes is 'The time is always right to do what is right,' and I think it's important, when it comes to education, for us to encourage young people to go to school and pursue higher education, because education is the ticket to the world whether you're 18 or 40. Dr. King was all about education himself his whole life, and we want young people to pursue that, whether it's becoming a lawyer or medical professional, or even learning a trade. We want to encourage young people to follow their heart – don't work just to pay the bills, work because it's something you're passionate about and have fun doing, because you don't want to pop around from job to job.”
Pugh added the committee is currently accepting volunteers and members.
“If we are able to pull the breakfast off, we will host it that Saturday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day – but, like I said, we're still working on that, and as soon as everything gets finalized, we will definitely spread the word,” Pugh said. “We've had people step down and move away from the committee, so we're working really hard to recruit people to work with us, and if anyone does want to be part of the committee, they can contact me by phone at (620) 417-4782 or by email at
