Debra Jeffreys-Glass – Juneteenth organizer for all these years!
Ryan Gilliam FABnyc Team – Organizing for Honoring the African Burial Ground Memorial Project
Emanuel Oni – African Burial Ground Memorial Project!
Tenement Museum – All their efforts over many years.
M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden Members – and Bob Humber and Kate Fitzgerald
Music Man and band – Robert Bryan
Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
Que Chevere and The Market Line
Debra and Oni Juneteenth!
Debra’s thanks to the Host M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden:
“Happy Juneteenth folks!
A big shout out to all the hands, brains, and backs that pitched in to move, clean, sweep, weed, organize, wipe down, cover up, hand out, bring in, carry over, hide under, plug in, check out, unstack, stack, haul, seek, photograph, read, create, fold, unfold….
The list goes on and on. This event has always meant so much to me and to the garden, and having such a dedicated and “all-in” crew makes this even more soul-filling.
Big ups…by name, and if I’ve forgotten someone please let me know!
– Saturday Prep team who magically transformed our patio space to a welcoming performance space: Irit, Reiner, Irasema, Bud, Jennifer, Jim, Jessica, Prince, Dave, Ana, Shweta, Shannon, Steve, Ted
– The ‘go and get stuff’ folks: Laura and Alan – picking up the food (and having to adjust when it was more than a hand-truck full!); Shweta – flowers and missing hardware; Jim C – cool cat who picked up the ice; Irasema and hubby getting the beverages to keep us all hydrated
– ‘Day of’ shenanigans: Program readers: Sam, Shweta, Jim, Jane; Food bossing like a boss: Bud and Jennifer; Book curation and organizing Jane and Shweta; last minute set dressing and band support: Ted
– fabric flag refresh team: Ana and Shannon
– Clean up crew – Dave, K, Jennifer, Bud, Ted, Ryan and Co, Jane, Jim C, our pal Maria, Irasema,
– Colleen for bringing folks in from the gate
– Hideko for lending beguiling red begonias for a little bit of set dressing on the patio
– Finally, Ace partner in crime, Ted – for all the behind the scenes work and for being the one who has to see and live with the grumpy “Ms Hyde” who comes out when Dr Jeckyll is done, done, done.
If I missed your name and your contribution, my apologies.
THANK YOU ALL.
And, next year’s event…whew, y’all… we will hopefully be unveiling the Burial Ground Memorial Project on Juneteenth. Oni will be around, periodically conducting community sessions with interested folks, so please stay tuned for that. If you want to get a sense of the “feel” of the memorial, next time you’re in the garden, go to the patio and take a look a the art work that is inspired by Oni’s project design.
And Bob for being Bob.
With love and gratitude,
Debra
