Evening Honorees: Dr Earl Richardson, President Morgan State University & Helene Gayle, President and CEO, CARE USA

Friday, May 28, 2010

On Thursday, May 27, 2010 AHEAD, Incorporated, hosted a majestic evening at the Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland, celebrating the valued achievements and selflessness of of two giants of our community, Dr. Earl Richardson, the 11th President of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD and an ardent supporter of AHEAD, Inc; and Helene Gayle, MD, MPH, President and CEO CARE USA, the International relief and development agency that helps people in developing nations through humanitarian programs. The evening reception was attended by some 120 friends of AHEAD.  Our host committee in partnership the Renaissance Group, a well as the Friends of Bahati, made the evening delightful for all of our supporters.  The evenings two honorees were recognized for their individual efforts in championing disparaties as it relates to access and delivery of resources and opportunities to communities in need.

Under the stewardship of Dr. Earl Richardson, over the last 26 years, Morgan State University has broaden access to achieving undergraduate and advanced degree education for thousands of students--many of modest means.  it has had dramatic growth and exponential increase in achievement of its students body and faculty; it has grown in degree granting programs and it as a new state of the art physical plant; and recently it developed a dynamic Schools of Public Health.  Dr. Richardson received the AHEAD award for Advocacy in Higher Education 2010.

Dr. Helene Gayle has establish herself as an expert on health, global development and humanitarian issues.  Having spent over 20 years in this arena, first with the Centers for Disease Control, then with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, working primarily on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Gayle is unique as  a world leader at the cornerstone of disease prevention, advocacy and development in resource-poor countries throughout the world. Graciously accepting the AHEAD award for Achievement in the arena of Public Health Advocacy in behalf Dr. Helene Gayle this evening, was her sister Alana Gayle, Assistant State's Attorney at Prince George's County, Maryland.

In their humble acceptance statements each recepient reflected their passion and committment to the work that they love and each paralleled that with the actiivities of AHEAD.  Their passion and commitment speaks, specifically, to the mission of AHEAD, Inc: to  provide hands-on, people-to-people assistance and partnerships with rural catastrophically distressed communities to combat malnutrition, disease, extreme poverty, technological deprivation and other conditions that have an adverse impact on the health and welfare of people; through culturally sound and sustainable educational, medical,  and economic development.

The high point of the evening was the rousing generosity of a host of friends of AHEAD, committing welcomed resources to the efforts of AHEAD and the people of eastern Tanzania and the Gambia.  AHEAD specifically thanks Westchester, Pennsylvania high school students Vincent Ross, II and Joshua Sherfield for their eloquence, industriousness, and philanthrophy in contributing to AHEAD.  Each scholar will attend college next year at American University and Norfolk State University, respectively.

Following the reception, AHEAD and our guests were delighted and engaged with the agile and silvery voice of the legandary Soprano Kathleen Battle and the Morgan State Choir at the Music Center at Stathmore, where Ms. Battle presented her new program, 'The Underground Railroad', a program celebrating the Negro spiritual. It was a tremendous evening of moving entertainment, and served up an excellent performance by Ms. Battle and her accompanyment.  All attendees, from our honorees, to our guests, friends, and Board members lauded this as a magnificant celebration, with demands to replicate the evening in future AHEAD events.