2019 Jacksonville Leaders’ Luncheon a Huge Success

The 2019 Jacksonville Leaders’ Luncheon, presented by UNCF Orlando and held Dec. 12, was a huge success, featuring keynote Speaker retired captain and former astronaut Winston Scott. Champions of Education honored were Nat Ford from the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

The event was hosted by Tenikka Hughes and John Bachman from Action News Jax and the invocation was given by Pastor Frederick Douglas Newbill of First Timothy Baptist Church. Pastor Newbill was also honored later in the program as his church raised the most dollars during 2019’s UNCF Sunday’s initiative.

Following the invocation the audience was welcomed by Leadership Council member and City of Jacksonville’s Dr. Charles Moreland, and statewide sponsors AT&T, Publix and Wells Fargo.

Asia Cheek from Jacksonville’s own HBCU Edward Waters College [a UNCF member institution] spoke of the role UNCF played in her college success and during lunch everyone was entertained by the Edward Waters College Jazz Combo. Dr. Pamela Wilks then introduced our keynote speaker. Captain Scott energized the audience with a message about the importance of education but also about his time and training to become an astronaut.

Finally, UNCF honored two amazing Champions of Education, Andrew Gillum and Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., for their lifelong contributions to education. The benediction was led by Pastor Ron Rawls.

We are pleased to say we raised nearly $70,000 towards funding the UNCF mission.