Six hundred guests from around the country gathered at the New York Hilton Grand Ballroom last week to salute some of the country’s most dynamic civic and business leaders at the One Hundred Black Men, Inc. of New York City’s 31st Annual Benefit Gala.
Under the theme: Investing in Ourselves ─ Making our Own Tomorrow, the event raised $700,000 as national civic and business leaders were honored.
“We are delighted to be in the beginning stages of an alliance with Mentoring USA that will train Black male mentors for deployment at public schools throughout New York City and eventually throughout the country,” Phillip Banks, Jr., coichair of the Gala Committee noted.
The benefit awards dinner honored:
Former New York First Lady Matilda Cuomo, founder and chairperson, Mentoring USA, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Service in Mentoring;
Scarlet Pressley-Brown, director of external affairs and community relations at Delta Air Lines and vice president of the Delta Air Lines Foundation, received the Champion of Diversity Award; Glenn Rice, president, East Region, UPS, received the Corporate Citizen Award.
Myron Williams, UPS vice president for business development, and a member of One Hundred Black Men, was saluted as Mentor of the Year.
Diamond Award:
News Corporation, Walmart.
Platinum Award:
Empire BlueCross BlueShield.
Gold Award:
Pepsico, UPS.
Silver Award:
Anheuser-Busch InBev; Bloomberg, Turner Construction.
Bronze Award:
The City University of New York, Consolidated Edison, Inc., Entergy Corporation, New York Life Insurance Company, Scholastic Corporation
Patron’s Award:
Barclays Capital, Coca-Cola Company, Continuum Health Partners, Delta Air Lines, Inc., Democrats for Education Reform Foundation, ExxonMobil, Macy’s East, Morgan Stanley, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, NBC Universal Cable, Rubenstein Associates, Inc., Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC, State Farm, United Federation of Teachers
Contributors received gift bags, courtesy of WNYW/ Fox 5 TV.
Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of My9 News for WWOR-TV’s 11:00 p.m. newscast, Brenda Blackmon and Fox 5’s meteorologist, Mike Woods served as co-emcees of the Black Tie fundraiser that featured a sponsor’s reception in the Mercury Ballroom.
One Hundred Black Men
One Hundred Black Men, Inc. of New York City was founded in 1963 when a group of successful African-American men came together to pool their resources to positively impact the Black community.
One Hundred Black Men, Inc.’s service projects focus on youth mentorship, education, health and wellness, and economic development. The organization has a long and successful history working with its corporate and community partners to make significant differences in the lives of the communities it serves.
A celebrated example is the establishment of The Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, with a focus on academic excellence, leadership and character development; and more recently, Eagle Academies have opened in Brooklyn and Queens.
