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2021 MLK Community Stand Up

Design by Morgen Alcala, see contest results here.

5th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration
Stand Up for Justice, Love, and Equality

(A public health-conscious alternative to the MLK Parade of previous years)

January 18, 2021, 10:30 a.m.
Downtown Lexington, Virginia!

Stand Up T-Shirts Available Now! Order Early! Makes a great holiday gift. We also have a selection of CARE themed Winter Hats!
Go to CARE Store.

Due to pandemic health concerns, this year’s celebration is designed toallow community members to find and maintain a distanced space to demonstrate public commitment to an equal and inclusive community. For the health and safety of yourself and others please wear face coverings. We will Stand Up for Justice, Love, and Equality in the streets of our Community!

We will simultaneously use a rectangle of streets at the heart of our parade route. The Stand Up will begin at 10:30 and finish at 10:45. Participants should begin taking spaces in the street at 10:15 a.m. and no earlier than 10 a.m. We will finish before 11:00 a.m.

Participants will be directed to open spaces with assistance of our Marshals. For the health and safety of yourself and others please wear face coverings. All participants not dependent on the physical assistance of others will stand as single individuals. We will direct participants to find spots that are isolated by a minimum of 6 feet on all sides.

Distancing is not only for safety. It is also our attempt to symbolically occupy community space and hold up all the lives, especially black and brown, lost to Covid and to racist violence this year. So we are creating empty spaces amongst us as an important part of the event.

We will use photography, professional drone imagery, and individual selfies (bring your phones!) to capture a images of a community that is claiming its streets for nonviolence.

For further details, please read our participation and safety guidelines here.

For updates, visit our facebook page.

Join CARE Rockbridge for the Say Their Names Vigil, 5:00 pm, Hopkins Green, Lexington, VA June 14, 2020

#CARERockbridge #SayTheirNames  #GeorgeFloyd  #BreonnaTaylor  #AhmaudArbery

Please join us this Sunday, June 14th for a Say Their Names Vigil to collectively honor and mourn the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. We will gather in Hopkins Green at 5pm for a collective reading of names for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Then, members of Rockbridge Interfaith Mohamed Kamara and Annette Green will offer a benediction and CARE President Reginald Early will lead us in singing “We Shall Overcome.” If you are able, please bring a sign bearing the names of those lost to police brutality and white supremacy. We will wear masks and do our best to maintain social distancing.

CARE is an entirely volunteer-run organization of people who care about creating an inclusive and equitable community that celebrates diversity and resists racism.

CARE Rockbridge is now officially a registered nonprofit having received our 501(c)(3) status in the fall of 2019.

Lexington/Rockbridge’s First Ever Pride Festival!

Lexington is hosting its first Pride Festival. This festival to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community will take place on Hopkins Green (22 W. Nelson Street) in Lexington and will begin at 4:00 PM, lasting until 8:00 PM. Festivities will include music, food, activities for children, a photo station, and informational booths about LGBTQIA+ resources in Rockbridge County.

This event is free and open to the public.

Multiple organizations serving Rockbridge County have come together to celebrate LGBTQIA+ folks and show that they have a community that supports and appreciates them. Organizers and sponsors include 50 Ways Rockbridge, Rockbridge Alliance, CARE Rockbridge, NAACP, and Project Horizon.