NAACP to celebrate centennial

The Monroe County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will be celebrating the national organization’s centennial anniversary with a banquet dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday at Chapman’s Restaurant and Banquet Center.

“For 100 years, we’ve seen a lot of success and advances,” Bill Vance, president of the Monroe County branch, said. “Better school systems, less violence and better communities are all a result of NAACP involvement.”

For the local branch, the event is as much a celebration of the future as it is the past.

“It’s a celebration that looks back on all that’s been accomplished in the last 100 years, but it’s also a look ahead to things that still need to be done,” Doris Sims, executive committee member for the local branch, said.

That future will continue to include the NAACP’s mission to “ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons,” according to its Web site.

“We know that we still have injustice and there’s still problems out there,” NAACP member Debra Vance said. “As long as people are not being treated fairly, the NAACP will be there to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.”

The “Celebrating a Century”  event is in conjunction with the Monroe County branches’ annual Freedom Fund Banquet dinner.

The 31st edition of the dinner will raise funds for the Monroe County branch’s Tell the Youth Scholarship Program.

The scholarship fund annually awards two $500 scholarships to high school seniors excelling in scholastics and community service. Vance  said education is the key to success and getting high school seniors some sort of funding is a good start on that road to success.

“Education is something the NAACP tries to advance for children of all color,” Sims said.