San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation Recognizes Extraordinary Community Service and Humanitarian Individuals at Their Annual

This past Friday evening at the National Orange Show, the San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation held its annual 25th Annual Black Rose Banquet honoring the Humanitarian of the Year, the Commitment to Community Service Award and recognized seven other Black Rose recipients for their dedication to community service and humanitarian works. The Black Rose has always focused on volunteers, organizations, and individuals, regardless of their ethnicity or residency, for their lifetime achievement of doing good things throughout the local communities. Co-chairperson Margaret Hill of the Black Culture Foundation said, “It is important to pay tribute to our local service providers who work continuously and tirelessly to improve our everyday lives, and the each one of the recipients have made a difference in our communities and should be honored for those efforts.” The Black Rose winners on Friday evening were as follows: Arthur & Fredda Davis Foundation, Angela Brantley, Keynasia Buffong, Pastor Sam Casey C.O.P.E., Walter Hawkins, Patricia Nelson, and Dr. Gary Thomas. The Community Service Award winner went to Dwaine Radden, Sr., newly appointed CEO of The PAL Center and PAL Academy High School. He has been a community mentor for athletes for over 22 years. He re-established a defunct San Bernardino Pop Warner Little Scholars program in 1997, which combined athletics and academics through Football and Cheer leading, for ages 7 through 14. Also, before the Humanitarian Award was given, a new award this year called the Founder’s Award was presented to The California Gas Company, who has been a sponsor in support of the Black Culture Foundation since the mid-80’s. Jim King, a retired California Gas Company representative, was the founder of the Black Rose event as the Foundation’s president. King said, “I am very proud of this award because people are so overwhelmed to receive that award. They get very emotional, and it gets me emotional. It’s sustained for 25 years and when we first began, we were trying to make that happen.” To a crowded room, The Unforgettables Foundation founder Tim Evans accepted the San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation’s most prestigious award during the organization’s 25th Annual Black Rose Event as he was named 2014 Humanitarian of the Year. The award comes just weeks after The Unforgettables Foundation celebrated its 15th anniversary of receiving non-profit designation in 1999. Evans and his team at The Unforgettables, known colloquially by its board and staff members simply as TUF, have worked with more than 5,000 families throughout the Inland Empire and beyond to provide families dealing with the loss of a child in burial assistance and support. Grassroots and volunteer driven, Evans’s charitable organization is based in Redlands but has reached out to assist families throughout San Bernardino, Riverside and even Orange Counties. Reliant upon numerous and various fundraising and networking events including its annual Tom Pernice Golf Classic and its Little Lights for Little Lives walk in Loma Linda on New Year’s Eve to help grieving families in need, the organization has grown in both size and influence over the last decade and a half. To date, TUF has never turned away a single case or family request due to lack of funding, according to organization leaders. Evans said, “To have the San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation recognize and applaud our community contributions to black families in this region is very important and gratifying. We are honored that we could help well over 1,000 times in African American households when this terrible tragedy has happened. As a former pastor at a Washington D.C. congregation, I have always been blessed to have many healthy relationships and happy memories from my pastoral experience with black young people.” Evans joins a list of admirable past recipients of this award, including 2013 Humanitarian of the Year A. Majadi, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of San Bernardino; 2012 Humanitarian of the Year Frances Grice, who helped establish job placement and technological training programs; 2011 Humanitarian of the Year Dr. Harold Cebrun, former superintendent of the Rialto Unified School District; and the foundation’s inaugural Humanitarian of the Year, a San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation member and the founder of the annual Black Rose Awards, Jim King. The San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation also gave thanks to board member Margaret Hill, who also serves as the Black Rose Event chair, serves on the community Service Awards Committee and has been named as a past Humanitarian of the Year. “She returns like the phoenix from the ashes, more vivacious and determined to continue the tradition,” the board thanked her in their event brochure. “She spends countless hours getting the news out, selling tickets, and connecting with extended family and friends. She never ceases to amaze us every year. If she truly ever retires, know that she will be forever missed. There is no other that could ever imprint into our memory the dedication, commitment and love you have shown over the years. You are forever our Black Rose.”