Gadsden was a Mission to Remember. Upon arrival Thursday, May 1st, Bobby Welch with the Cultural Arts Institute greeted all the Mom’s at Birmingham Airport and transported Moms about 45 minutes into Gadsden, AL. Once we all arrived in Gadsden, we were taken to the Hampton Inn Hotel where bubbling Judy Atkins, Belinda Reddick, and her beautiful daughter greeted us with nice name badges and a gift bag along with other members of the community there to thank us for coming to Gadsden on a Mission. That night, 3 – 10 passenger beautiful limousines picked us up and took us to The Gadsden Teachers Credit Union (TCU) for a wonderful mixer and dinner on the balcony of the TCU. After being served some wonderful cheese crackers, fruit, and Milo’s Tea the Host of TCU, President, Ron Summerall, Tammy Campbell, and Vicki Boyd took us to the other side of the building - again on the balcony we enjoyed a grand moon and candle lighted dinner (just beautiful). Once we got back to the Hotel we had a meeting where we picked Red and Blue Teams to Read and Inspire the Youth during our school visits the next day.
Later that evening the City of Gadsden gave The MOM Squad a Parade. We climbed aboard a huge Float made for the MOM Squad and floated through the city waving and smiling at the City of Gadsden. Afterwards, we ended our American wave at the Cultural Arts Foundation for a nice dinner. Later we walked the strip of Gadsden to view 1st Friday events. Some went shopping at the Boutique. Some went to view the old antique cars that were all lined up and down the strip. On the strip we met Downtown Grover Brown at the Lemonade Stand – the best lemonade you’ve ever tasted. Later we listened to the live music on the block performed by Caribbean Chrome Band where we danced and ate popcorn.
On Saturday, May 3rd, the limousines we onsite early Saturday morning to take the Moms to be pampered by Stylist and Artist at Trena’s Dzire Hair Salon. There at 7:00 a.m. we enjoyed a Fabulous Southern Breakfast along with warm southern hospitality. On the menu was Bacon, Eggs omelet mixture, Fried Red Potatoes n Onions, Hash browns, Sausage, Salmon Crocket, Grits, Rice, Fried Catfish, Fried Tilapia, Waffles, Donuts, Biscuits, Fruit, Apple and Orange Juice. I wanted more Apple juice – come to find out it was all gone. Jennifer would not hear of not going to the store to get us more Apple juice. Their level of hospitality was incredibly over the top. Boy oh Boy, I was nodding in my chair as I was getting a sew-in as my hair do. When we finished there, we went to The Imagination Place to interact with children. As I played in the playhouse making my imaginary cake and other Moms played in the construction site wearing hard hats and shoveling sand – there we expanded our own imaginations and enjoyed Pizza. That night we were invited to a wonderful Banquet Dinner and Auction. We were given a Key to the City of Gadsden from Mayor Sherman Guyton and we were given a warm welcome from the other Community Leaders, Pastors, and Bishop. The MOM Squad took a group picture with Mayor and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. As we went back to the Hotel to prepare for early AM travels we had our close-out meeting. There we decided to have a Conference Meeting since we are almost 2 years in existence.
This was an extremely wonderful event. Lots of Love was shared from the Mom’s into the City of Gadsden and More Love was shared from the City of Gadsden to the Moms.
