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Martin Luther King Jr. to be Celebrated with a March in Springfield

Springfield NAACP

An annual event is planned in downtown Springfield Monday (1/18) to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Unity March, with a theme of “We Stand as One,” will get underway at 9 am at Mediacom Ice Park, 635 E. Trafficway, and will end at the Gillioz Theatre on Park Central East. 

"And there will be a short program where we'll have praise dancing and some different elected officials speaking and whatnot, so it's going to be a  nice kind of culminating program,"  said Hannah Minchow-Proffitt, a graduate assistant at Drury University and a coordinator of the Unity March along with other local organizations, including the Springfield NAACP

"You know, Martin Luther King definitely always pushed that idea that every single person can do something, so this is kind of one of those ways that people can be more actively involved," she said.

The idea behind this year’s national MKL Celebration is to have a day ON, not a day OFF.  And Minchow-Proffitt says they’ll give participants in Springfield Monday a chance to make a difference to others in the community.

"One thing that people can do if they're wanting to become more involved is bring a pair of new socks or a nonperishable food item, and we'll be collecting those for Home at Last.  That's a program of The Kitchen, Inc.," she said.

The food that’s collected will go to Ozarks Food Harvest.

Doors at Mediacom Ice Park open at 8 am on Monday.

Click here for more information about Monday's event.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.