41st Freedom Fund and Awards Banquet

The Marion County chapter of the NAACP welcomed hundreds of guests to the 41^st Freedom Fund and Awards Banquet on April 28 at the Klein Conference Center at the College of Central Florida.

The organization’s president, Bishop James D. Stockton III, bestowed the President’s Award to Loretha Tolbert-Rich, a local nurse who Stockton said was instrumental in helping coordinate efforts in the Black community in response to the threat of COVID-19.

Theresa Boston-Ellis accepted the Community Service Uplift award for the Alumnae Chapter of Delta Theta Sorority.

Cynthia Wilson Graham and Monica Bryant received the Positive Social Awareness Award for their efforts to tell the stories of the Black community through their “Town Talk Magazine.”

Local leaders from within the NAACP and different sectors across Marion County addressed the crowd before the keynote speaker, Monique Worrell, the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, took the stage.

To learn about the local branch, go to FB.com/NAACPofMarionCounty