The MLK Holiday Planning Committee will host a banquet this weekend to honor four local heroes and fund-raise for Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations across Bowling Green.

The fifth annual Black Achievers Banquet will take place at 5 p.m. Saturday at State Street Baptist Church for an evening of food, recognition and an address by 11th Street Baptist Church pastor, the Rev. Carl Whitfield.

Felicia Bland, chair of the planning committee, said the four honorees to be recognized have “demonstrated excellence in business, education or community service.”

“All of our honorees are very unique in their own way,” Bland said. “They all stand out in such a way that we wanted to honor them – they’re all very active in the community.”

Angela Stephens, Rick Starks, Danny Carothers and Ryan Burnam will each be recognized with a plaque at the event.

Stephens has served as a senior wage and hour investigator for the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet for 27 years. She was appointed to the COVID-19 Task Force by Gov. Andy Beshear in 2021, when she helped address unemployment and federal mandates.

Starks is a retired economic development manager who worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority for 28 years, serving as the primary contact for TVA Economic Development Program’s 26-county service region.

Before, he served as project manager for the Barren River Area Development District for eight years and was later vice president of Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation’s member services department from 2010-14.

Carothers is a resident service coordinator at the Bowling Green Housing Authority and helps secure goods and services for elder citizens. He is also a public service coordinator for the West Side Camp, works with the Boys to Men program at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School and advises area coaches in various youth leagues in Bowling Green.

Burnam is a major in the Logistics and Research Division in the Bowling Green Police Department. He has held the positions of sergeant, captain and commander of the Critical Response Team.

Burnam is also a third-generation funeral director and embalmer at Burnam and Son Mortuary, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Claude E. Burnam Jr.

Bland said Whitfield will offer “words of encouragement and congratulations” before the recipients’ award ceremony and that “everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate our four outstanding individuals.”

Tickets cost $30 and are available at the door, at the Housing Authority of Bowling Green, 247 Double Springs Road, and at the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission, 491 Double Springs Road.

Proceeds will help fund the committee’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day kickoff celebration, a commemorative breakfast at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary and a march to the Justice Center in January, among other events.