Page 31 - 31st Annual Freedom Fund Event Booklet

Patty and her husband, Tom, joined the Ozaukee
County NAACP in the year of its founding. Patty
and Tom are members of the Bahá’í Faith
Community of Cedarburg, whose central teaching
is the oneness of all humanity. Becoming

members of the new NAACP Branch was a natural
alignment. As a mother of five children, Patty
chose to serve on the Education Committee
which reached out to the administration, teachers
and students of Homestead and Cedarburg High
Schools, and ultimately, to all five high schools in
the county to invite students and teachers to come together for a day-long program
to discuss race-related issues in their schools. That first gathering was called
“Unifest” which became an annual, one-night, two-day retreat, and then a two-night,
three-day retreat for students and teachers from the five schools and which

continued for thirteen years. The students formed the first ever NAACP Youth Council
in April 2003 and sent a representative to the regional NAACP Conference. Patty is
currently an assistant secretary of the Ozaukee County NAACP and a charter
member of Women in the NAACP (WIN).

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