100s Turn Out For “Freedom Fund” Dinner

By Lisa Reisman 

“I grew up in hell a block away from heaven.”

Those are the words of the rapper 50 Cent. And that “lyrical poetic audacity,” in the words of Dr. Frederick Haynes III, senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, summed up the message of the 107th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner of the Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP. 

“There is no such thing as thriving for some and surviving for others,” Haynes, the keynote speaker, told a spirited audience of 325 at the Omni Hotel. “If we don’t thrive together, we’re going to be torn apart.” 

The dinner took place on Thursday night at the 155 Temple St. hotel.

Greater New Haven NAACP President Dori J. Dumas highlighted the night’s five honorees as “not just doing their jobs, but going over and above.” 

Sondi E. Jackson, a speech language pathologist for New Haven Public Schools for 31 years who in April was unanimously appointed the city’s new supervisor for speech and hearing, received the Community Service Award. “She is someone who goes into her own pockets to make sure her students never go without,” Dumas said. 

Gorilla Lemonade’s Brian Burkett-Thompson and Kristen Threatt watching video introduction before receiving 2024 Business Award.

Dumas praised Business Award honoree Gorilla Lemonade, the brainchild of entrepreneurs Kristen Threatt and Brian Burkett Thompson, for using proceeds from lemonade sales for initiatives to brighten holidays, raise up those in need, and serve as positive role models for youth. “They aren’t just businessman,” she said. “They uplift, they inspire. We see you and we respect you and we thank you.” 

Cornell Scott Hill Health Center CEO Michael R. Taylor accepted the Health Award on behalf of the community health center’s 750 staff members for their “steadfast commitment to the well-being of this community and to providing quality health care with compassion,” to the more than 55,000 people they serve. 

Dumas dubbed President’s Award winner Deborah Dyett Desir, M.D. “a powerhouse” for her distinction as the first Black woman appointed president of the American College of Rheumatology. Desir “has gone above and beyond to ensure she was there to take care of the community during Covid and in her commitment to nurturing Black and minority doctors,” Dumas said. 

Education Award recipient Dwayne Smith, Ph.D. credited his mother for his success in improving the graduation rate for underrepresented students as interim president at Southern Connecticut State University. 

“I believe in the transformative power of higher education to change the trajectory of a family for generations because of her,” he said. “She was the daughter of sharecroppers and did not have an education, but she was a brilliant woman who ensured her seven children had access to education.” 

Haynes, the keynote speaker, recounted a late afternoon in 1986 when he got to his bank just at closing. He ran to the door. There was an employee inside. “She saw me, and she flipped the sign that was open to closed, and to reinforce the fact that I could not get in, she flipped the lock,” he said. “I could see there were other people inside of the structure, they were transacting business. The same sign that said closed to me said open to them.”

He kept knocking at the door. “While I was knocking, it got the attention of a customer who happened to be my mentor,” he said. He told his mentor they wouldn’t let him in. “He turns to the same sister and tells her, ‘go let him in, y’all come on in.’”

“I got in the structure that was closed to me because someone on the inside heard me knocking and had the door opened,” he said. “A lot of us are on the inside of the structure and you’re not on the inside just for yourself, but to open up the door to all of us.”