Community News

Coalition of Concerned Clergy and Congressman Scott Assist Displaced Residents. 

NEWPORT NEWS
The Coalition of Concerned Clergy (CCOC) and Congressman Bobby Scott raised $20, 000 over the holiday weekend to deliver financial support to the displaced residents of Seaview Loft Apartments on 28th Street in Newport News.

  Dr. Tremayne Johnson, President of the COCC, said, “Assistance for our neighbors confronting this sudden housing crisis is an urgent priority”.

On June 30, over 200 residents at Seaview Loft Apartments were informed they had only 48 hours to vacate their apartments by 9 a.m. on Friday, July 1.

 The COCC,  Congressman Scott, and other community leaders are working with the City of Newport News to distribute funds to displaced residents

Each Assisted Resident will receive a debit card that they can use for whatever needs they may have.  Those who feel the compassion to join in to help these vulnerable residents can also donate to the COCC by check; mailed to Zion Baptist Church, 633 20^th Street, Newport News, Virginia, or by CashApp $COCC757.

  The Coalition of Concerned Clergy is an association of Pastors of the Peninsula dedicated to serving the Community.

Fourth Metropolitan Funeral Home Opens In Suffolk

SUFFOLK|
Metropolitan Funeral Services recently opened its fourth site in a newly renovated facility in Suffolk and plans to open a new location in the spring of 2023 in Virginia Beach, according to The Suffolk News-Herald.

Metropolitan, which celebrated its 56th anniversary on June 27, operates two full-service facilities in Norfolk and one in Portsmouth and now a fourth site in Suffolk that opened June 17 after undergoing more than $1 million in renovations. It is located in the former Suffolk Office of Motor Vehicles building adjacent to five acres of land along Moore and Finney Streets that the company purchased.

“Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander has been Metropolitan President since 1992,” The Suffolk News-Herald noted. “Alexander obtained a funeral director and embalmer license in 1987 to start business with his father, the former owner of the Metropolitan. Alexander took over the business after his father’s death.”

Metropolitan provides an array of services under one roof including  home service, floral arrangements, obituaries, memorials, memorial bookmarks, limousines, food, prayer cards, and arranging the final disposition. Metropolitan also provides certificates, permits, and insurance papers.

TAM Presents lst Julius E. McCullough Performance Award To Caden Hunter

HAMPTON ROADS
The Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. recently presented its inaugural $1,000.00 Julius E. McCullough Music Education and Performance Award to Caden Hunter. An extraordinary dancer, Caden is one of 24 dance majors from around the world to be admitted to Juilliard on a full scholarship valued at $84,000.00. He is a graduate of Great Bridge High School and the Governors School of the Arts.

Tidewater Area Musicians, Inc. is inclusive of individuals of all races, ages, and levels of musical interest. Members have opportunities for performance, education, scholarship, and networking, all while furthering TAM’s mission of promoting and preserving the musical legacy of African and African-American music and musicians.

Learn more about TAM by visiting www.tamnorfolk.org.  Julius E. McCullough is TAM President and a National Association of Negro Musicians Board member.

Fourth of July Gospel Praise Celebration

CHESAPEAKE
Rev. Dr. Brenda Boone-Smith & Higher Praise Community Choir held a Fourth of July Drive-In Gospel Praise Celebration on Sunday at the Hope Center in Chesapeake.  The event featured some of the top gospel artists and musicians in Hampton Roads and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Gospel vocalists Amelia Sears Goodman, Linda Porter, and Joan Bright kicked off the event with individual and a collective performance as the newly formed trio called “Because.”

The Gospel Harmoneers of Ivor, Danny Hill & Group Determination, and the Gospel Travelers of Garysburg, NC continued the worship and praise experience with energetic performances.

Local favorites, the Word Singers, Sister Carolyn Smith, and Elder Ronald Harper & the Harmonizing Echoes delighted the audience with renditions of their most popular songs in the Hampton Roads area.  The concert’s headliners featured Frankie Davis and the Legendary Soul Stirrers, Rev. Thomas Spann & the Brooklyn Allstars, and Rev. Luther Barnes & the Sunset Jubilaires of Rocky Mount, NC.

Brother Donald L. Eason of 1400 WPCE AM Radio and Gospel Impressionist Steven Alexander served as the event’s MCs.

Honoring the United Order of Tents

NORFOLK
Over a century and a half  (1867) after the United Order of Tents found a home in Norfolk,  The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR), in conjunction with the women’s organization and local

preservationists, was honored with the placement of a Historic Marker in front of the organization’s headquarters at 1620 Church Street.

The Tents found a home In Norfolk, thanks to the two founders of the group, Annette Lane and Harriet R. Taylor. They sought to do so in New York and Philadelphia via incorporation. But because they were Black women and had no legal standing, they could not.

        The two women landed in Norfolk and set up their organization and the state of Virginia officially incorporated them for operation in 1887, making them one of the nation’s oldest Black-owned and operated service organizations.

The United Order of Tents provided shelter and social assistance to Black individuals and families newly freed after the Civil War.