Annual Thanksgiving & Reception Address - 2022
SJSSAA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Annual Thanksgiving & Reception May 2, 2022 Address of President
The theme for this thanksgiving was not a task taken lightly by myself or the executive team
– let me read it again for you:
2 Corinthians 13:13 – “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration,
encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be
with you.” When a few members reached out to me last November and asked me to return
to the association in a leadership role I was very hesitant because it was not on my radar or
even part of my plans, but I felt humbled. I am a planner by nature so a detour from my
life’s trajectory scare me – how dare they try to mess up my well laid plans of writing a
book, playing scrabble with robots online, traveling with my husband and sisters, spending
more time with my mother and 3 adult kids, or sometimes just staring at the ceiling for no
apparent reason but God had a different plan for me. Somehow, he did not think that
scrabble, writing, or traveling were all I needed to be doing because when I prayed about it,
I got my answer, and I accepted the call to serve again because I believe that he wanted me
here today right now. I want to thank all our members for entrusting me in this position and
for your vote of confidence. I made a promise that the legacy I would like to leave behind is
one of peace love and unity and if you know me even slightly, you will know that I live by 3
simple words – LIVE LOVE & LAUGH. The Association’s mission is to raise funds so we
can give financial support to help rebuild our alma mater and one of the main goals of this
association right now is to unify our mid-Atlantic Chapter and restore peace. I am proud to
say that since this team took office in December 2021, despite the tumultuous change of
guard, we have added over 60 new members, lead with love and positivity and still moving
onwards and upwards. We MOVE!
No family, team or organization can succeed or thrive without one-ness so for us to
be a successful team, we must move in solidarity, with one accord and in unison so
when others see us and how cohesive we are, they will covet what we have. Our
togetherness should be so unique, that others will begin to ponder how we managed
to achieve that, and your response then, should be simple – love and kindness to all,
even when you are not feeling your best. 1 Corinthians 16:14 says: Let all that you
do be done in love.” I almost feel like I am preaching but I wasn’t even asked to do
that so let us get back to the state of the association.
Historically, this association and all our other sister associations around the United
States and in UK and Freetown come together to raise funds to help sustain the
school and that includes the teachers and students. Over the years, with the funds we
have raised from members like you and donors like you and you and you and many
more others that are not here with us today, we have accomplished projects like:
1. Equipping the home economics room
2. Providing chairs to the school for students
3. Supplemental teacher salary fund to pay teachers during periods when the
government did not so we could keep the school running
4. Providing writing pads and whiteboards for students and teachers
5. Scholarships to those students who are faced with hardship
6. New building project and repairs to old structure
In 2020, the team before us pledged $60,000 to help with the new school construction
project which was projected to cost almost $250,000 at the time. So far, this Chapter
has donated the amount of nearly $65,000.00 towards the 2nd floor. The new building
project is on schedule and if all goes as planned, the ribbon cutting will occur in July
of this year. The Chapters have come together and done an amazing job with that
project. Once that is done, the work does not end – the new building will have to be
furnished. Our chapter would like to take on the project of financing the computer
lab. We believe that in order for our school to regain its high standards and once
again be ranked as top notch, we need to be able to keep up with the new trends in
technology and contributing towards that will help to see our dream come to fruition.
We have a lot of work to do so this team never sleeps as we are constantly thinking
of innovative ways to fundraise so that we can reach our goals and fulfil our promises
and obligations during our 2-year tenure.
Apart from the computer lab, we want to start to directly investing in the students
this year by mentoring and empowering them. We have spent a lot of money in
putting up new classrooms and now it is time for us to start ensuring that leaders
walk out of those new rooms and buildings. It is time to focus on nurturing our girls
in order to help them become better leaders of tomorrow so that when we are weary
and these knees are buckling and our hands can no longer steadily hold on to a
microphone and do fundraisers or thanksgiving services like this, one of those ladies
will be standing here in my place or in your place and building into other young lady
leaders of tomorrow. With that in mind, I am excited and proud to launch on this
day, our flagship project, the (“Dilly Empowerment Foundation.”) This foundation is
already lined up with members who share my passion for empowering young ladies and
helping to create future “Boss Girl Leaders”– not just smart women but one with high
standards and class - Dilly was all of that. The Dilly Scholarship program is going to be
three-fold.
- Cash Award
- Mentorship
- Volunteerism
We will be sharing more details on this foundation in the weeks to come. The Dilly
Foundation will be a co-extension of the Acelia Smith Book Drive that was launched last
year and is one of our ongoing projects. As adults, we must all encourage every child to live
by the 4 L’s: TO LEARN, TO LIVE, TO LOVE AND TO LAUGH –- these four words
will never do any harm to the world but simply make it better.” So please join us in our
pledge to build future leaders as we strive to empower and enrich our girls back home using
this simple method. We want to make a difference and we hope that with your continued
support we will be able to fulfill all we have pledged to do in our time so that we can
successfully, cultivate, foster and champion new leaders to take our places and continue this
sisterhood even after we are long gone.
It is your very support that brought us from zero dollars in January of this year to
$15,000 and counting – yes we are poor today but we will get there. When I took
over on December 12th, which is a day after my birthday, we had zero dollars in the
account so clearly that was no birthday gift. In January, when the Vice President and
I went to the bank to open our brand-new account, we used both our annual
subscriptions to open the account that day – a whopping $240. And then you ladies
started paying your dues and the restoration was rejuvenated – we got fired up and
thus my power rangers were birthed– that is an inside joke for only Conventonians in
the WhatsApp forum. A few months ago, we were not this poor but sometimes,
situations change, and you are faced with making tough decisions. You can either
wallow in self-pity or rise from the dust – we choose to rise and move and soar. We
move and we are moving. It hurts to have to start all over again after working so
hard to get to a certain level but sometimes, breakups are bad, and some parties
would like to burn the whole house down, but this house is being rebuilt and it is
going to be bigger and better than it was ever before. This time, we are going to
ensure that our foundation is strong and built in true love and trust so that it will
become unbreakable. Yes, we can disagree – that is part of growth, but division is not
an option – we are ONE! WE are one! We are One.
We hope you will continue to believe in us. We hope you will continue to support us every
step of the way in our strife to restoration of peace and unity and to rebuild our alma mater.
We need your moral, physical and financial support. We also need your love and prayers as
we march on towards our goals. You have helped us come this far, and we have no reason
to doubt that you will be there as we embark on our next projects. From my heart, I thank
you all deeply on behalf of my entire team. As we move to a higher ground…as we march
on today, please join us as we peacefully chant ESTO FIDELIS.
