MLK Breakfast to celebrate 20th Anniversary with “Tapestry of Unity”
Members of the MLK Prayer Breakfast committee take a group photo at last year’s event. The group will host its 20th annual MLK Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 16 at the Reed Conference Center. (File photo)
For two decades, the tone-setting kickoff event honoring the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been a spirited early morning Prayer Breakfast in Midwest City. Community leaders and admirers of Dr. King, of all faiths and strata of society, enjoy a meal and an uplifting program together on Monday, January 16th , the national holiday in his honor.
The Midwest City Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast Committee, chaired this year by Vivian Woodward, says the group has lined up an outstanding program for this 20th Anniversary event. The Prayer Breakfast, envisioned by the former Midwest City Police Chief Thomas Michael Jahn, started in 1996. It has grown each year since, drawing crowds of 450 to 500 participants filling the ballroom at the Sheraton Midwest City Hotel – Reed Conference Center, despite the early 7 a.m. starting time. This year’s theme is “Tapestry of Unity”, indicating the rich beauty and cohesion of a society interwoven with the strengths, resources, backgrounds and stories of all of the people included.
Special guest speakers this year will be Representative Gary W. Banz and Senator Connie Johnson.
As a term-limited legislator, Representative Banz completed his 12th and final legislative session in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in November 2016. He represented portions of east Midwest City, Nicoma Park, Choctaw, Harrah, and southeast Oklahoma County. Banz served in several legislative leadership roles, and in 2009 co-founded Oklahoma Honor Flights to escort senior veterans to Washington, D.C. Senator Johnson recently retired after 33 years in the Oklahoma State Senate, representing Oklahoma City’s predominantly African American “Eastside,” where her leadership on health, mental health and human services issues that disproportionately affect the economic and social well-being of the poor, minorities, women, children and people with disabilities was game changing. Johnson served on several crucial senate committees, was the author of numerous criminal justice reform proposals, as well as programs to assist the families and children of incarcerated parents.
Tickets for the 20th Annual Midwest City Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast are $10 each, and are available from the Midwest City Community Center, 200 N Midwest Blvd (M-F 9-5) or from Prosperity Real Estate by calling 405-623-1957. It is highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance, as the event is sometimes sold out prior to the event. For more information, or for purchasing table sponsorships, contact committee chairperson, Vivian Woodward at 405-623-1957.
