SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — South Orange and Maplewood have set their sights on making 2,000 luminary bags for the towns’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in January, and the road to that goal started Dec. 5 at the South Orange Public Library as residents gathered to put the paper bag and candle kits together. For the project, a fundraiser for the Community Coalition on Race, residents are invited to decorate a white paper bag that will hold a small candle and be placed in homes, businesses and at the ceremony. It’s the brainchild of Patricia Canning, a member of the CCR’s Schools Committee.
“We started six years ago with 200, and last year we had about 1,000,” Canning said of the luminaries in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “A lot of people know about it and are excited about it.”
The luminary kits consist of four bags and four candles and can be purchased for $10 at Sparkhouse Toys in South Orange and the Able Baker in Maplewood, in addition to other local businesses. Last year, students at the Montrose Early Childhood Center decorated luminaries.
“Some towns do it for New Year’s Eve, and I thought, ‘Why don’t we do it for something more meaningful?’” Canning said. “When students are decorating them, that’s the time they’re talking about Martin Luther King. It was a 20-year battle to make it a national holiday, and we don’t want it to ever go away and ever diminish.”
Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca and South Orange Village President Sheena Collum attended the launch, ready to put their own luminary kits together and one-up each other. Each joked that their own town would decorate more bags than the other.
“Last year it was so wonderful to see everyone get involved,” Collum said. “If you can get involved, please help out. Sign up as a volunteer and decorate a luminary.”
For more information about the luminary project, go to www.communitycoalitiononrace.org/2020_mlk_luminary_project.
“It is one of the best ways to shed light and hope in these times,” DeLuca said. “We’re going to do our part to do that.”
Photos by Amanda Valentovic
Towns prep for MLK Day by decorating luminary bags added by Amanda Valentovic on
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