Pastor Frank Griffin of the African American Pastors Alliance speaks at a past event.
The 25th Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast that was set for Monday at The Commons has been postponed until at least late February, organizers said.
The local African American Pastors Alliance plans the gathering that was originally going to be limited to 200 people at The Commons. But now the group has decided to change its plans because of the ever-growing numbers of COVID-19 omicron variant patients locally, especially at Columbus Regional Health.
“We realize that, because of the COVID numbers, everyone else is being cautious,” said Alliance member Frank Griffin. “And so we feel that we need to be cautious, too.”
Griffin said a new date probably will be selected within a couple weeks.
“And we’ll probably lean toward something (exclusively) virtual, unless something drastically changes,” Griffin said.
If organizers feel more comfortable with the level of coronavirus numbers later, there is a chance it would be an in-person event, Griffin said. Pastor Jane Sims of Calvary Community Church in Columbus will be the keynote speaker.
Pastor Johnnie Edwards, president of the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area Chapter of the NAACP, also is rescheduling the NAACP’s King Day-related event that was set for Monday afternoon at The Commons along with IUPUC and the African American Fund of Bartholomew County. Dr. Woody Myers, the former recent governor candidate, is the keynote speaker for that event.
“I am notifying all of our speakers now,” Edwards said Wednesday afternoon.
He said he would announce a new date soon.
Pastors Alliance member Fred King said a February date for the breakfast and the NAACP event still can be a fitting timetable since that will be Black History Month.
