HUAC NYC Scholarship Fund to Raise $5,000 March 31, 2008

Each year, HUAC NYC holds a variety of fundraisers to award scholarships to deserving high school seniors in New York City who plan to attend Howard University in the fall. While the program helps in attracting quality students to Howard, the eligibility requirements include acceptance and admittance into the university during senior year at a New York City high school, applying for financial aid and housing, and the completed HUAC NYC scholarship application along with a copy of a high school transcript.

This year HUAC NYC has set the goal of raising $5,000 in scholarship funds to award incoming freshmen for the Fall 2008 semester. With the May deadline to raise the $5,000 one month away, it is imperative that each Howard Alum donate to the scholarship fund immediately. All donations are tax deductible, and a number of fundraisers have been held in order to facilitate reaching our goal. Last year, HUAC NYC was only able to award $500, and considering the 3,000 alum in the greater New York area we certainly are able to increase that amount to $5,000, even if every single person gave above $1.25! Certainly we are capable of raising more than $500, and we are charging you with the task of putting your money where it counts TODAY!

Consider these easy ways to immediately donate to the scholarship fund:

Maybe you’ll decide to take leftovers for lunch this week and use that $50 towards the scholarship fund?

Why not donate $40 to the scholarship fund in lieu of getting a few cocktails at the weekly happy hour!

How about skipping your weekly nail salon appointment and donating that $25 to the scholarship fund?

Perhaps donating $20 to the scholarship fund instead of playing the NY Lotto this week will increase the chance you’ll win next week!!!

Okay, you definitely can’t skip on filling up your gas tank…or can you? Weekly MTA Subway cards are $25, which is significantly less than filling up your tank! Maybe the rest of this week’s gas money can go towards the scholarship fund!!

However you decide to find the money, there are viable ways to cut back on the things in which we splurge to find extra dollars for the scholarship fund.

What better way to show our BISON LOVE than by helping the next generation to successfully get through their experience at Alma Mater with a little extra something that counts, LITERALY!!!!

MAKE YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO THE HUAC NYC SCHOLARSHIP FUND TODAY and send someone to HOWARD with a few extra dollars in their account for books!!!!!

Bison Broadway-Fundraising Event: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof March 4, 2008

On Sunday March 2, 2008 the New York Alumni Club gathered in large numbers at the Broadhurst Theater to attend the first ever all-African-American cast of Tennessee William’s Broadway classic, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. In total, HUAC NYC sold 119 tickets for this in-demand event which featured an EXCLUSIVE Talk Back session with Stephen C. Byrd, the producer of the play who was joined on stage by Debbie Allen (’71), Phylicia Rashad (’70) and the entire cast of the production. A portion of each ticket sold was donated to the HUAC NYC Scholarship Fund who raised over $1000 with this fundraising effort. Also, couture brand Jimmy Choo provided a wallet valued at $450 which was raffled off to one lucky guest following the talk back session. Noted audience members included HUAA National Officers M. Sandra Brown, President; Kim Singleton, Vice President; Keith Benn, Treasurer; Candice Jacko, Alumni Trustee; Alice Dear, former HUAC NYC President; and Andrea Hogans, HUAC NJ President.

To witness “Black theatre” royalty, live and in full color, on the main stage is always a touching experience; yet, to watch a stellar African-American cast on the Broadway stage breathe life into the embittered characters of the Tennessee Williams classic, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is to witness Black history unfolding in real time. On Sunday March 2, 2008, members of the HUAC NYC witnessed the first ever all-African-American cast of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Broadhurst Theater. This historic performance currently casts incomparable thespians James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad as the larger-than-life tycoon Big Daddy Pollitt, and the robust matriarch of the family Big Momma. Film star Terrance Howard makes his Broadway debut as their troubled alcoholic of a son, Brick, while Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose is his hot-blooded, gold-digging wife, Maggie-The Cat. Directed by iconic entertainer and Howard alum Debbie Allen, additional cast members includes; Giancarlo Espocito as the elder son, Gooper; Lisa Arrindell Anderson as his wife, Mae who is expecting for the sixth time; Lou Myers as the Reverend Tooker; and Count Stovall as Doctor Baugh. Also marking her Broadway debut is the daughter of Terrance Howard, Heaven, as ill-behaved Dixie, the eldest daughter of Gooper.

A Stephen C. Byrd and Front Row Productions in association with Alia M. Jones, Walk Tall Girl Productions and AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. (founded by alumnus April Silver ‘91), the entire cast was gracious enough entertain the HUAC NYC group during the exclusive Talk Back session hosted by Fine Arts alum Mo Beasley (‘91). With opening night on March 6, make it a point to witness history in the making by catching this breath-taking performance, which has limited engagements through spring.