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NAACP Recognizes Black History Month; Honors Local Heroes
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
The NAACP is well known
for a rich history of working “to ensure a society in which
all individuals have equal rights without discrimination
based on race,” as the organization’s Vision Statement says.
On Thursday, February 25,
the NAACP Toledo Chapter recognized Black History Month by
honoring four local individuals whose contributions to the
community have been just as important to this area as the
big national names of the past – a Thurgood Marshall or
Fanny Lou Hamer, for example – have been to the country.
Newly elected president of
the Toledo Chapter, Rev. Willie Perryman, opened the
ceremony at the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority by
praising this year’s Black History Month’s honorees for
“their accomplishments and dedication to our community.”
This year’s honorees are:
Gwendolynn Gregory, RN, director of Nursing with the Toledo
Lucas County Health Department; Robin Reese, executive
director of Lucas County Children Services; Claudia Sebree
Pressley, co-founder and owner of Aunt Minnie’s Food, Inc.
and Thomas Winston, president and CEO of the Toledo Lucas
County Port Authority.
All four honorees were
present for the ceremony and received their plaques
acknowledging the occasion and their achievements.
Gregory, who earned both
her masters in business administration and master’s degree
in nursing from Spring Arbor University in Michigan, worked
many years as a floor nurse in the Medical Intensive Care
Unit at the University of Toledo Medical Center before
moving on to nurse manager.
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L to R -
Thomas Winston, Gwendolynn Gregory, Rev. Willie Perryman,
Robin Reese, Claudia Sebree Pressley, Micheal Alexander
Ray Wood, Rev. Willie Perryman, Micheal Alexander
Thomas Winston, center, and his staff
at the Port Authority |
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She served as the Chief
Nursing Officer at the State Hospital in Toledo overseeing
about 136 employees during a time when the hospital was
taken out of immediate jeopardy status and passed its Joint
Commission Accreditation under her leadership and direction.
Reese, who earned her
undergraduate degree in sociology from The Ohio State
University and her masters in social work from the
University of Toledo, has been with Children Services since
1984 rising from case worker to manager of the Placement
Department and eventually up the ladder to executive
director in 2016.
Sebree Pressley, and her
mother Minnie Sebree, founded Aunt Minnie 29 years ago
becoming the first women of color to bring frozen food
products to USA grocery shelves. The task was never easy but
with passion, creativity and determination, the two women
kept pushing and kept driving forward, never being content
with “no” for an answer.
According to one testimony
to their determination, Aunt Minnie and her daughter Claudia
recipe for success included “dreaming big, creating amazing
products, being persistent, never accepting the word no and
always doing it with a full portion of love.”
Winston, a native of
Chicago, IL, earned his undergraduate degree in economics
and philosophy from Ohio Wesleyan University and his MBA
from Loyola University Chicago. After several leadership
positions in various business capacities with companies such
as Owens Corning; Pfizer, Inc. and Nuveen Investments, he
joined the Port Authority in 2010 as vice president and
chief financial officer.
Winston was promoted to
president and CEO in September 2019.
The national NAACP
organization was founded in 1909 and currently has
approximately a half million members around the world. The
Toledo chapter organization is led by Rev. Willie Perryman
who assumed the leadership role recently from Ray Wood who
had led the chapter for nine years. Micheal Alexander, the
first vice president, and Anita Madison, communications
chairperson, also attended the ceremony at the Port
Authority.
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