This year, DeKalb County’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration will also include handing out boxes of food to residents struggling during the ongoing pandemic.
The traditional part of DeKalb’s King Day celebration — its 37th, making it Georgia’s longest running county-sponsored program, according to officials — will start at 9:45 a.m. Monday (Jan. 18). It will be aired on DCTV.
At 10 a.m., a first-come, first-served food distribution event will begin at four different sites throughout the county. A total of 3,500 packages that include 20-pound boxes of fruit and vegetables and 10-pound bags of chicken will be handed out.
“The biggest threat to the creation of a ‘Beloved Community’ throughout DeKalb County is food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis,” DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond said in a news release. “We will commemorate King Day 2021 as a ‘day on, not a day off’ by supporting our fellow residents who are being negatively impacted by this deadly virus.”
The food distribution is the latest in a string of monthly events that DeKalb has hosted since May. Officials said that, all told, the county has helped around 26,000 families battling food insecurity.
The food has been paid for with federal coronavirus aid money that the county received last year.
The locations for Monday’s giveaway are as follows:
- James R. Hallford Stadium, 3789 Memorial College Ave. in Clarkston
- Former K-Mart store, 5597 Buford Highway NE in Doraville
- Buck Godfrey Stadium, 2817 Clifton Springs Road in Decatur
- Big Miller Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 3800 Big Miller Grove Way in Stonecrest
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