DeKalb County will hold its annual festivities commemorating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend — and plans include a parade, a food distribution and giving away about 10,000 at-home COVID tests.
The events will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, when six local churches will distribute a total of 3,500 boxes of chicken, eggs and produce.
The food giveaway, the latest in a monthly series the county has hosted since the start of the pandemic, will take place at the following locations:
- Rehoboth Baptist Church (2997 Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker)
- Shy Temple CME Church (2030 Wesley Chapel Road in Decatur)
- Big Miller Grove Missionary Baptist Church (3800 Big Miller Grove Way in Stonecrest)
- Berean Christian Church (2201 Young Road in Stone Mountain)
- The Covenant Church (1700 Corey Blvd. in Decatur)
- and New Life Church (3592 Flat Shoals Road in Decatur).
That event will be followed Sunday by a “countywide day of prayer for healing and restoration” led by the DeKalb Pastors Christian Alliance.
At 9 a.m. on Monday, the county will set up at three different locations to distribute a total of 10,000 free COVID-19 test kits. They will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis and limited to one test per person.
Distribution will be held at The Gallery at South DeKalb (2801 Candler Road in Decatur), North DeKalb Mall (2050 Lawrenceville Highway in Decatur) and Plaza Fiesta (4166 Buford Highway in Atlanta).
Residents can stay in their car while picking up their test. Walk-ups are also welcome.
The event will be DeKalb’s second foray into giving away COVID tests. The county commission ratified Tuesday nearly $790,000 that helped purchase 5,000 tests that were distributed late last month.
It also approved another $1 million that will go toward the tests distributed this weekend.
The testing giveaway will be followed by the DeKalb NAACP’s 20th annual King Day Parade. The parade will start at noon at Green Pastures Christian Ministries (5455 Flat Shoals Parkway in Decatur) and end at MLK High School (3991 Snapfinger Road in Stonecrest).
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