Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 8-28-18

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First Baptist Church Of College Hill Hosts ‘Abe Brown Legacy Walk’ In Honor Of The Late Rev. Abe Brown
REV. ABRAHAM R. BROWN ...Legacy Walk in his honor
Women Of ‘Color Of Change’ Do Last Push To Get Out The Vote
Women of Color Of Change who canvassed neighborhoods this weekend are, from left: Keren Moaney, Tierney Sims-Prewitt, Portia Christmas, Linda Dickens, Yasmin Aponte, and Sadie Dean.
First Baptist Church of College Hill invites the Tampa Bay community to sign up for their 7th annual Abe Brown Legacy Walk on Saturday, September 8, 2018, at Middleton High School’s Abe Brown Sta- dium. Participants can regis- ter online at www.eventbrite.com.
The Abe Brown Legacy Walk will benefit the pro- gram services at Abe Brown Ministries, including Food for Life Pantry, Family Re- unification, Transitional Liv- ing Program, and Ready4Work-Hillsborough.
The first 100 paid regis- trants will receive a free t- shirt.
The walk starts at 7:15 a. m. with participant registra- tion beginning at 6:30 a. m. Sign-up is at the registration tent. Middleton High School is located on the corner of 22nd St. and E. Osborne Ave., Tampa.
Rev. Abraham R. Brown was well known and highly esteemed in the Tampa Bay area. He worked in the Hillsborough County School System for 38 years, with the first 23 of those years being spent as both teacher and coach until re- tirement from active coach-
ing in 1972. He excelled as a motivator to young people, both on the playing field as well as in the classroom, turning men’s hearts to the Father.
Former Mayor of Tampa, Pam Iorio said, “Our city is a better place because he lived.” The city is encouraged to walk in loving memory of Abe Brown and his legacy. Following the event, partici- pants are invited to a compli- mentary breakfast after the walk at First Baptist Church of College Hill, 3838 N. 29th Street, Tampa, FL 33610.
For more information, to donate, or to register online, please visit www.fbcch.org/Events.
Rev. Brown founded Abe Brown Ministries in 1976. The ministry’s mission is to break the cycle of incar- ceration by renewing the minds of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated citi- zens motivating them to change their behaviors and achieve productive and ful- filling lives.
Rev. Brown also served as Pastor of First Baptist Church of College Hill from 1993 until 2007. He has been honored numerous times for his dedication and vision for the Tampa Bay community.
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Keren Moaney spent her weekend stomping Tampa neighborhoods for two campaigns: Amendment 4, which restores voting rights for felons, and guber- natorial candidate Andrew Gillum.
Walking in 90 degree temperatures to talk with voters about each was a per- sonal mission, said Moaney, of Riverview.
“I feel like I didn’t do enough in the 2016 election,” she said. “I was a Bernie supporter and I feel like enough people didn’t know about him especially in the communities of color. I feel like I needed to do something more.”
Moaney was part of a team of women with racial justice organization Color of Change who met and talked with voters on Saturday and Sunday in Ybor City and South Tampa as the Primary Election season headed into the home stretch.
The Hillsborough County Branch of the NAACP also
joined in efforts to get out the vote with its annual “Souls to the Polls” event that operated at two polling sites, the Cyrus Greene Community Center and the West Tampa Library Branch.
About 100 churches com- mitted to the event, in which more than 800 people were anticipated to participate, said Branch President Yvette Lewis.
“The goal is to get as many people as possible to participate in early voting rather than waiting until Election Day to cast their votes,” she said.
“We don’t want to wait until the last day. We fought hard to get these early days. We need to utilize these last days.”
More than 43,000 Hills- borough County residents have voted early, according to the Florida Division of Elections website. Early vot- ing ended Sunday.
With so much at risk on the ballot for people of color, there’s a sense of urgency with this election unlike pre- vious ones, said Yasmin Aponte, of Riverview.
Aponte, a canvasser with Color of Change, said the message of empowerment via the vote is critical for minor- ity voters, who often are tar- geted for voter intimidation.
“It’s changing that mind- set so people can see how im- portant it is,” she said.
Moaney agreed.
“You can tell they don’t have a lot of people come in (their communities) and hear about their issues,” she said. “The presence makes a dif- ference.”
Sadie Dean, Tampa Bay regional field organizer for Color of Change, said volun- teers with her organization have been out in earnest en- gaging voters and informing them about the issues.
But the outreach and en- gagement with voters won’t stop with Tuesday’s primary election. Color of Change and its volunteers will be active through November and be- yond, Dean said.
“We will continue to em- power this community and hold officials accountable,” she said. “We’ll be doing work to uplift our commu- nity.”
PAGE 10 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2018