Roland Parrish
Hammond Branch NAACP hosts Freedom Luncheon
Contributed By:The 411 News
Roland Parrish, Linda Lawson, and Kelvin Alcox are featured guests
A native son who climbed the business ladder to success, a state legislator, and a community leader will be honored when the Hammond Branch NAACP hosts its 2018 Freedom Luncheon on Saturday, September 22.
“This event is the branch’s most important fundraiser of the year,” said NAACP branch president Homer Cobb.
The guest speaker is Roland Parrish, founder of Parrish Restaurants, Ltd., which owns and operates 25 restaurants in Dallas, TX and surrounding areas. The Dallas Business Journal awarded Roland its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. His company is the 7th Largest Minority Owned Firm in North Texas. Parrish Restaurants Ltd consistently makes Black Enterprise Magazine’s BE 100 as one of the Top 100 Black owned businesses in the United States.
Parrish is the native son whose academic and athletic abilities at Hammond High led to studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette.
Roland received his BS and MBA from Purdue’s Krannert School of Business. As a scholar and athlete, he consistently made the Dean’s List and was a 2 time MVP of the Purdue track team. While competing, he set school records in the 600, 800 and 1000 meters. He still holds the 1000 meter indoor record. Parrish was inducted into the Hammond Sports Hall of Fame and the Indiana Track and Field Hall of Fame."
Roland’s $2M Leadership Gift supported the renovation of the former Management School Library at Purdue. It was opened and renamed the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics in 2012.
It’s the first facility at Purdue to be named after an African American. His gift of philanthropy led to the building of the Rev. John and Marie Parrish Medical Clinic in Fort Portal, Uganda. The clinic, which opened in May of 2016, serves 6,000 orphans yearly and is named in memory of his parents.
The other outstanding community members and leaders honored are Indiana State Representative Linda Lawson, the first female police officer in Hammond, and Captain Kelvin Alcox, Supervisor of Community Affairs Division, Hammond Police Dept.
Lady Sax will entertain guests.
Donations are $50 per person. The luncheon will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the Dynasty Banquet Hall, 4141 Calumet Avenue, in Hammond.
For more information, contact Homer Cobb at (219) 670-0883, nancycobb357@att.net, or eslaugh108@aol.com.
Story Posted:09/10/2018
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