A celebration of the life of Martin Luther King has been set for Saturday, January 19, 2019 from 7 to 8 pm at the First Presbyterian Church Great Hall, 57 Church Street in Saranac Lake.

After listening to Dr. King’s words on the need for social and economic justice, Joe Paparone will speak on the revival of Dr. King’s last project, the Poor People’s Campaign, and discuss continuing this legacy today. There will be music and refreshments.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is updating Martin Luther King’s last social action project. Planning began in 2017 to carry forward Martin Luther King’s campaign to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States.

In 1968, following Martin Luther King’s assassination, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy carried out the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign (the Poor People’s March) by establishing the 3,000 person protest camp on the Washington Mall where protestors stayed for six weeks in the spring of 1968.

The current effort broadens the agenda from Martin Luther King’s focus on jobs and discrimination to include poverty and economic inequality, voter disenfranchisement, ecological devastation, war economy and militarism.