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The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund To Honor Charles & Shirley Sherrod on August 13

On Thursday, August 13, 2015 at the Birmingham Sheraton in Birmingham, Alabama, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/ Land Assistance Fund (Federation) will honor the Reverend Charles and Shirley Sherrod who will receive the Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award.


The Annual Meeting will be held on August 14 & 15 at the Federation's Rural Training and Research Center in Epes, Alabama; however, some events and workshops will also take place in Birmingham on August 13. Please consider attending both events and please see below regarding making reservations and regsitration.
 

This year's honorees, Charles and Shirley Sherrod, are a veteran civil rights couple, united in marriage and in mission, currently living in Albany, Georgia. They have worked tirelessly for civil rights, human rights, Black land retention and economically underserved landholders, community empowerment, and the economic development throughout the rural South. Their extraordinary work has spanned more than four decades.

 

Charles Sherrod was a civil rights worker with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who headed the "Albany Movement" in Georgia in the 1960's. He is featured in the civil rights documentary, "Eyes on the Prize" which ran on public television nationwide. He met his wife Shirley, from southwest Georgia, during the movement. Along with others in the Albany area the Sherrods developed the first rural land trust in the nation, New Communities, in 1970 that purchased and operated 6,000 acres in southwest Georgia. New Communities lost its land in the early 1980's due to discriminatory actions by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

 

Shirley Sherrod worked for the Federation for more than twenty years developing a nationally recognized agricultural outreach program in southwest Georgia. She left the Federation staff to become the first black USDA Rural Development State Director in Georgia in 2009 at the beginning of the Obama Administration. She was wrongfully dismissed based on the misunderstanding of a speech she gave to the NAACP in Georgia, on assistance she provided to a white farmer, when she was working for the Federation. She went on to write a book about her life and that experience.    

 

The Annual Meeting celebration at the Federation's Rural Training & Research Center in Epes, Alabama will include an update on the "Women and Hispanic Settlement" along with workshops and plenaries on cooperative development, land retention and other rural development programs. There will also be a fish fry and auction on Friday evening followed by state caucuses on Saturday.   

 

"We look forward to seeing you at our 48th Annual celebration to honor Charles and Shirley Sherrod in Birmingham and at our Annual Meeting in Epes," said Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the Federation. "Our theme this year is 'Growing Sustainable Partnerships'.  It is at the Federation's Annual Meeting that those of us from around the South and the Nation come together to strengthen and grow these partnerships. This includes dialogues and plans to enhance the opportunities for and by the farmers, rural  and urban residents, cooperative advocates and countless others who attend. We recognize that advancements can only be made effectively through strong  partnerships. We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham and Epes to , as we say, continue "Growing Sustainable Partnerships.."

  

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RESERVATION & REGISTRATION INFORMATION
 
Note: Reservations and registration can be made a numbers as in on the internet, by mailing, by faxing or at the Annual Meeting in Epes in person. See below:
 
Witherspoon Dinner - August 13
Reservations and payments can be made by ONE of the following: 
  
* At our "Witherspoon Event Site" where the reservation form can be filled out and a reservation donation can be made; 

 

The Reservation Form can  be printed, filled out and faxed to our office at 404 765 9178 and reservation donation can be made on our website on the Federation's website "donate" page or a check can be mailed to the Federation office at:   

   

Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund 

2969 Church Street, East Point GA 30344 

 

Annual Meeting in Epes - August 14-15

Reservations and payments can be made by ONE of the following:  
 
 * At our "Annual Meeting Event Site" where the reservation form can be filled out and a reservation donation can be made;
 

* The Registration Form for the Annual meeting in Epes can  be printed, filled out and faxed to our office at 404 765 9178 and reservation donation can be made on the Federation's website "donate" page, or a check can be mailed to the Federation office at:   

   

Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund 

2969 Church Street, East Point GA 30344
 
* The registration and donation can be made in person on the day of the event at Epes starting at 8AM on Friday, August 14, and 7AM on Saturday, August 15.

For any questions regarding the above please call Eboni Thomas at 404 765 0991.   

 

Note: The Federation/LAF, now in its 48th year, assists Black family farmers across the South with farm management, debt restructuring, alternative crop suggestions, marketing expertise and a whole range of services to ensure family farm survivability.  

 

2769 Church Street · East Point, GA · 30344

404 765 0991 · www.federation.coop

 

 

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