25th Annual Black Rose Award Winners Announced

The San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation is happy to announce the 25th Annual Black Rose, Humanitarian of the Year, and Community Service Awards Banquet. The Black Rose Awards focus is to annually recognize volunteers, organizations, and individuals, regardless of their ethnicity or residency, for their lifetime achievement of doing good things for the local community. “It is important to pay tribute to our local ‘Heroes’ and ‘Sheroes’ who work tirelessly to improve our everyday lives… Each one of our recipients have made a difference in our community and should be acknowledged for their efforts,” said Margaret Hill, Program Co-Chairperson of the Black Culture Foundation. The Humanitarian of the Year Award winner is Tim Evans, founder of the Unforgettables Foundation. Evans has been serving African American children and families in churches and children’s hospitals across the United States as a pastor and children’s chaplain for over thirty years. The Unforgettables Foundation was created to assist all families, many of them African Americans, who experienced hardships and lack of funeral funding. A sickle cell patient and a member of Temple Missionary Baptist Church was the first family that Evans assisted in the Inland Empire. The Community Service Award winner is Dwaine Radden, Sr., newly appointed CEO of The PAL Center and PAL Academy High School. He revived a defunct Pop Warner football program and established the California Raiders, a minor league football team in San Bernardino. He has been a community mentor for athletes for over 22 years. This program provided an opportunity for young men ages 18-30 from different backgrounds to continue their football aspirations while giving back to a community in need of hope. This year, the organization is presenting a Founder’s Award and the recipient is The California Gas Company. They paid for the first Miss Black San Bernardino crown and sash, provided a fundraising calendar for the organization, and paid for all the after parade volunteer luncheons for more than fifteen years, and has been a sponsor since the mid-1980’s. The Gas Company continues to provide scholarships to students in the San Bernardino area. Other long time sponsors being recognized on this silver anniversary are: the City of San Bernardino, Edison International, Arrowhead Credit Union, San Bernardino City Unified School District, Dameron Communications, Derrick Vasquez, Community Hospital of San Bernardino, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja. The Black Rose winners are as follows: Arthur & Fredda Davis Foundation, Angela Brantley, Keynasia Buffong, C.O.P.E., Walter Hawkins, Patricia Nelson, and Dr. Gary Thomas. The Awards Banquet will be Friday, Sept. 12, at the National Orange Show, Valencia Room, 689 South E Street (entrance on Arrowhead Avenue). Social hour is 6 p.m. with dinner and program beginning at 7 p.m. The cost for this event is $60 per person or $600 for a table of ten. Please contact Margaret Hill at (909) 864-3267 or (909) 991-6422 for tickets.