A member of Union High School’s Football Hall of Fame and 1981 Ebony Scholar of the Year will be the keynote speaker at the 31st Annual NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet.
In a statement released earlier this week, banquet chairperson the Rev. Dorothy Jeter announced that Charles E. Hughes will serve as the keynote speaker at the banquet which will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. at Corinth Baptist Church. Jeter described Hughes as a Union native who now lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife and two children. She said that Hughes graduated from Union High School where he played on the football team and was later inducted into the school’s Football Hall of Fame. Hughes, who received a four-year athletic scholarship to attend Western Carolina University, holds a four-year degree in Physical Education with a minor in Psychology. He was named the Scholar of the Year by Ebony magazine in 1981.
Since graduating from college, Jeter said Hughes, who holds a North Carolina Teacher’s Certificate, has been nominated to Who’s Who Among American Businessmen and has been employed by CKE restaurants as a Corporate Trainer for the past 29 years. In that position, Jeter said Hughes oversees and manages educational business and leadership programs for the company. She described him as an “avid motivational speaker who inspires and educates people of all ages to help themselves so they can be successful in life.”
Back To The Basics
The theme of this year’s banquet will be “Back To The Basics” which Jeter said for her means a spiritual and moral renewal that begins with making prayer a part of every day life, especially family life.
“It may mean other things to other people but for me it means when you go back to putting prayer before everything,” Jeter said. “We need to start praying more. People don’t pray anymore, that’s why there’s so much violence.
“Parents don’t pray anymore and because they don’t pray their children don’t pray,” she said. “Families don’t pray anymore that’s why children are so wild these days and filling up the jails. We need to start praying more.”
Ministers And Music
The spiritual element will be very much a part of Saturday’s banquet which will feature the participation of several members of the clergy.
Jeter said that the Rev. Charles Jennings will have the invocation while the Rev. Malachai Rogers will say grace before the meal which is being catered by Miss Mary Ellis is served. She said the Rev. James Williams of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Newberry will introduce Hughes to the audience before he delivers the keynote address. The closing prayer will be delivered by the Rev. Michael A. Glenn.
Representatives of local government will also take part in the banquet with Union County Council member Dora Martin-Jennings serving as emcee and Town of Jonesville Mayor Ernest Moore will deliver the welcome.
No banquet would be complete without music and Jeter said this will be provided by local entertainer Rossi Hames who will sing throughout the evening beginning with a performance of “Lift Every Voice And Sing.”
Closing remarks will be delivered at the banquet by Union County NAACP President James R. Rice.
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