Saturday, September 22, 12:00pm
information provided by the NAACP Hammond, Indiana, Branch
HAMMOND, Ind. (September 14, 2018) — The NAACP Hammond, Indiana, Branch will host its 2018 Freedom Luncheon on Saturday, September 22, 2018, 12:00–3:00pm at the Dynasty Banquet Hall, 4141 Calumet Avenue, in Hammond, Indiana.
Roland Parrish—president, CEO and owner of Parrish McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd.—has been retained as the keynote speaker. Parrish McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd. owns 29 McDonald’s franchises in North Texas and is the seventh largest minority-owned firm in North Texas. The company consistently makes Black Enterprise Magazine’s BE 100 as one of the Top 100 Black-owned businesses in the United States. The Dallas Business Journal awarded Mr. Parrish a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Closer to home, Parrish’s $2 million Leadership Gift supported the renovation of the former Management School Library at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The renovated library was renamed the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics in 2012, becoming the first facility at Purdue to be named after an African American. The library has received both national and international recognition.
Parrish also funded the building of the Rev. John and Marie Parrish Medical Clinic in Fort Portal, Uganda. The clinic, which opened in May of 2016, serves 6,000 orphans per year and is named in memory of Roland Parrish’s parents.
A number of outstanding community members will be honored at the luncheon, including Representative Linda Lawson and Captain Kelvin Alcox of the Hammond Police Department. Entertainment at the Freedom Luncheon will be provided by local musician and vocalist Lady Sax.
The Freedom Luncheon is the Hammond NAACP’s most important fundraiser of the year. Donations for the 2018 Freedom Luncheon are $50 per person. For additional information, email Elvis Slaughter.
About the NAACP
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The Hammond Branch NAACP is a catalyst in promoting improvements to increase opportunity for all people. The Hammond Branch continues to work with every segment of the community to remove barriers for a better quality of life.
