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The We Care Committee will once again be sponsoring their annual march and day of remembrance for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, on Monday, Jan. 16 at C.D. Stamps Community Center, located at 810 S. Jackson Street.

Celebrations will begin at 8 a.m. with a march, but participants are encouraged to gather at 7:30 a.m. Following the march, breakfast will be provided at 9 a.m., and prayer and a program honoring the legacy of King will take place after the meal.

Community member Royce Massengill, Jr., will be speaking and presenting the program. All members of the community are welcomed and encouraged to participate in this memorial celebration.

The annual march, which is hosted by the We Care Committee, has been ongoing for close to 10 years. The We Care Committee is a small, local organization that supports charities for the needy. According to member Paul Cooley, the organization was formed with the goal of helping those in need “about 20 years ago in response to a child being killed in the community on the south side of Tullahoma.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday of January each year honoring the late civil rights leader’s birthday – Jan. 15. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. Tennessee recognized the holiday, along with 44 other states, in 1989. South Carolina and Utah were the last states to officially recognize the day by its official name.