For five years, the Los Angeles NAACP Youth Council visited the Veterans in the The Directions Program housed at the Sawtelle Site for Veterans. The youth enjoyed visiting the Heroes but most of all, they enjoyed having a hot breakfast and entertaining the Heroes.
Since 2008, the Youth Council has honored “Heroes” in our community. Ms. Wilson remembers her four uncles in Texas, they served in four branches of the military; the Navy, Army, Air Force and the U.S, Marines. After visiting the heroes in the New Direction Program, she decided that we should honor Heroes in our community and this is how our “Heroes Breakfast” got started. Each year we honor our heroes for sacrifices that they made to protect our freedom.
We honor our heroes because they understand the purpose of human life is to serve, to show compassion and to help others. They realize that it is not flesh and blood but the heart that makes a hero. These heroes are ordinary African Americans that rendered extraordinary service with immeasurable dignity and without prejudice. While protecting our freedom, they never considered race as a barrier, in fact it became an asset because it allowed them to have broader prospective of the real meaning of freedom and justice for all.
This was a memorable moment for our community, especially our youth. This celebration allowed our youth to see and understand that; this time the African Americans were part of the solution instead of being a part of the problem, as we are often portrayed. We are so thankful to all Heroes that we honored, have honored and will honor for what they did for America.
We give equal praises to our heroes. However, we would like to let our readers know that we honored a ninety-six-year-old female hero, Mrs. Marjorie Wolfe, Mr. McKinney Ward who is ninety-five and we also honored two Tuskegee Airmen; Mr. Levi Thornhill and Mr. Jerry T. Hodges . The Youth Council offers sincere thanks to “members of the village ” that supported our efforts. We thank the heroes for accepting our sincere thanks straight from the heart.
The Los Angeles NAACP Youth Council invites youth ages thirteen to eighteen to become a member of this unit. We have open membership for additional information, please call (310) 397-1171 .
