Phi Beta Sigma Partners with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service By Bro. Gerald Smith Executive Director Daryl Anderson, Deputy Director Steve Ballard, Sigma-Beta Club Foundation President Atty. Arthur Thomas, Director Dan Ashe, Sigma President Jonathan A. Mason, Sr., Noemi Perez and Kevin Davis Phi Beta Sigma was located for many years in the New York area prior to purchasing its first headquarters building in Washington, DC in the mid-1970s. There was a sentimental reason to locate our headquarters in Washington because Howard University (the place of Phi Beta Sigma’s birth) is located in Washington, DC. Another, and perhaps a more significant reason for location in Washington, was because our federal government is centered in Washington DC. Many of those who made the initial decision recognized that an organization deeply dedicated to public service should be in a place where public service programs are structured and funded. For more than a decade our headquarters and our officers played an integral part in the various congressional and White House briefings and meetings which helped to design public policy. And then, over the next two decades, our participation dwindled. On April 23, 2014, under the leadership of our current International President, Jonathan A. Mason, Sr., the relationship between Phi Beta Sigma and the federal government was reestablished in the form of an historic Memorandum of Understanding with the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service. This Memorandum of Understanding was orchestrated by Brother Kevin Davis (Iota Nu Sigma/ Chicago, IL) and Noemi Perez of the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service and signed by Brother Mason and Dan Ashe, the Director of the Fish & Wildlife Service. The signing of the MOU took on a more special importance when the decision was made to dedicate the signing of the MOU to the life of Brother Dr. George Washington Carver. Brother Dr. Carver, who joined Phi Beta Sigma in 1918 through the Gamma Sigma Chapter, was a world-renowned agricultural and industrial chemist whose expansive career is often diminished by calling Brother Carver the “peanut man”; when, in fact, Brother Carver developed in excess of three hundred products from plant sources in areas ranging from cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, to nitroglycerin. Director Ashe’s remarks expressed his joy that his agency and Phi Beta Sigma were formally joining their efforts. Director Ashe spoke so glowingly about Phi Beta Sigma that our International President Mason openly invited Director Ashe to become a member of our wondrous band. In his prepared remarks, President Mason indicated that Sigma is not focused or resting on our past achievements; but, instead, we are moving to contribute to the future – and the future particularly of our young people. Departing from his prepared remarks, President Mason spoke extemporaneously and passionately about our young people, many of whom he indicated “live in brick cities, have never gone ten miles from their [immediate] neighborhood; and [who must be taught and shown] that food comes from the ground [rather than] from a box”. He hailed the MOU as a first step in organizing programs to take young people from the inner city to the country areas where they can interact with fish, wildlife and agriculture – and where they can come to appreciate the life and work of Brother Dr. Carver. Attending this important and historic ceremony with President Mason were Brothers Jean B. Lamothe, International Director of Education; Past Sigma President & Current Sigma-Beta Foundation President, Brother Atty. Arthur Thomas; Past Executive Directors, Gerald D. Smith (#2) and Donald Jemison (#4), Current Executive Director Daryl Anderson, Deputy Director Steve Ballard, Kevin Davis and about a dozen members of Phi Beta Sigma. 16 The Crescent Magazine | Spring/Summer 2014 Centennial Celebration
The Centennial Founders Weekend January 9 – 12, 2014 By Brothers Steve E. Ballard & Dr. Kent Poindexter Sigmas from all over the disapora gathered in Washington, DC to commemorate 100 years of “Culture for Service and Service for Humanity” 1914-2014 The Crescent Magazine | Spring/Summer 2014 17
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