Page 112 - The Crown 2015-2017

The campaign sent out a single Area II kicked off its first Thunderclap campaign on April
message to participants’ social 22 in an effort to raise awareness about sickle cell
media pages urging them to “stand disease.
with sickle cell.” The link directed
users to a video from St. Jude

Children’s Research Hospital,
where a teenager with sickle cell
shared her story. With more than
100 Top Ladies, chapters and
others participating, the
Thunderclap reached more than
61,000 people.

Area II also kept busy with two area conferences, one in Wilmington, Delaware in
2016 and one in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 2017. The Delaware conference
allowed TLOD to promote itself in an area where there is currently no TLOD
presence.

Dr. Pernessa C. Seele, founder and CEO of The In Delaware, in addition to the Balm in
Balm In Gilead, Inc., with TLOD Founder Lady Gilead, Blessings in a Backpack,
Ozell Dean, National President Lady Drema Lee HBCUs (historically Black colleges and
universities), and NAACP’s WIN
Woldman and National Area II Director Helena program took center stage at the
Dodson at Area II’s 34th Annual Leadership conference. The Top Teens delivered
Conference in Wilmington, Delaware in 2016.
100 backpacks as part of the Blessings
in a Backpack initiative to Sunday
Breakfast-Food Ministry in
Wilmington, Delaware, Head Start in
Virginia Beach, and the Richmond,
Virginia Housing Authority to be used
for their afterschool programs. The
TLOD workshops focused on Historical
Black Colleges and Universities and
the National Association for The

Advancement of Colored People’s
Women In NAACP (WIN) program.

Panelists Meta Johnson, vice president-DC market leader for the Thurgood

Marshall College Fund, Lord DeWayne Wilcher, member of the Norfolk State
University Alumni Association, and Steve Washington, a Norfolk State grad, owner
of Wilmington TV, stressed the need for HBCUs. Afterward, the Ladies, Teens,
Lords and guests donned their favorite UNCF/HBCU attire to attend a college fair
right at the conference.

Dr. Thelma Thomas Daley, director of Women in NAACP (WIN), spoke on why
there is still a great need for everyone to become a member and for women in
particular to become members of the WIN section of the organization. It was after
Dr. Daley’s rousing presentation that Area II first went on record as agreeing to
purchase a regular life membership in the NAACP.

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