NORWICH – Twenty-one area residents joined upwards of 300,000 Pro-Life supporters last week in Washington, D.C. to take part in the 35th annual “March for Life” rally.

The march takes place Jan. 22 each year in protest of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973.

Locally, the Knights of Columbus Council #211 sponsors the annual trip to the nation’s capital for the rally. There, the estimated 100,000 to 300,000 marchers attend masses, meet with legislators and descend on the Supreme Court building with the belief their protests will overturn the 35-year-old Supreme Court ruling.

“It’s quite a thing to see,” said Jim Reynolds, a Norwich resident and Knights of Columbus member who’s marched at the rally each of the past seven years. “To see the strength of this ... it’s not just a few people who believe in this cause.”

Reynolds helps organize the 24-hour round-trip bus ride to the capital, which often includes residents from Norwich, Sherburne, Oxford, Greene, New Berlin and nearby communities in Otsego County. Aside from the Knights of Columbus, funding for the trip relies heavily on private donations from churches and parishioners.