By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
The 20th African American Festival presented by the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union took place this past weekend with a flurry of activities on Friday and Saturday as this 20th event proved to be bigger and better than ever. The traditional events brought out larger and more enthusiastic crowds while first time events added a new array of interests and activities.
This year’s schedule of activities included the usual Friday morning prayer breakfast and Saturday’s parade and music fest. In addition, however, a community day and mental health & healthy relationships panel discussion were added to Friday’s events.
The Friday morning prayer breakfast was held at Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church and about 250 guests listened to and prayed along with an array of prayers offered by local pastors or first ladies. Attendees also recognized the accomplishment of various honorees and enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast buffet presented by caterer Marla Oden.
The enthusiasm of the breakfast crowd was obvious from the start as Indiana Avenue MBC Pastor William Foster offered words of welcome, Bishop Pat McKinstry of the Worship Center presented an opening prayer and Minister Chris Byrd of the Worship Center thrilled the audience with a worship song.
Paster Chaz Boes of Compassion Toledo and First Lady Angela Savage of Lo-Salem Baptist Church offered prayers, respectively, for the city and leaders and for the churches before Ivana Butler of the Toledo Opera sang.
The highlight of the breakfast, as always, is the acknowledgement of the honorees and this year was no different. Indeed, this year’s acknowledgement was perhaps the most special and dramatic in the 20-year history of the prayer breakfasts.
Several of the Cowell family were among the honorees, including grandchildren Alex and Erika Cowell, along with Suzette’s son Eric Cowell, a TUFCU loan officer, who is the longest serving employee with the credit union.
Some longstanding friends and members of the credit union were also honored: Eduardo Adams; Dale Barnhill, Sr,; John Marcus Chapman; Alethea Easterly; Reginald Fletcher; Deana Marie Gardner. And community members were given their flowers: Deana Marie Gardner, Rev. Perry Harris, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Eddye Mabrey, Vincent Sample, Councilman George Sarantou and Harvey Savage, Jr.
The highlight of the acknowledgement of the honorees came at the end as Suzette Cowell spoke of the credit union’s quest to open a second branch and acquire the building on Monroe Street that had previously been a Fifth Third branch. The Fifth Third Corp had decided to close the branch and abandon the building, recalled Cowell. However, they still demanded that TUFCU pay $300,000 for the site.
With the help of honorees, Councilwoman Vanice Williams and Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, a solution was found. The mayor found a donor, an individual who was willing to donate the funds for the credit union’s expansion into a predominantly African American neighborhood that would have been left without a financial institution.
“I have the donor who wants to give the money to the credit union,” Williams recalled the mayor saying to her. That donor was businessman Patrick Trompeter who was in the habit of “allowing himself to be a vessel of God for so many people in this community,” said Williams of the Good Samaritan.
Trompeter, an entrepreneur based in Toledo, is the founder and chairman of Erie Home, one of the nation’s leading home improvement companies. Through the Trompeter Family Foundation, he supports a wide range of causes, including education, healthcare, senior services and youth development.
Kapszukiewicz expounded on Trompeter’s history of largesse to the Toledo community.
“This community will never know all of the things he has supported because he always wants to do so anonymously,” said the mayor. “He never wants to be honored … there are million-dollar donations spread around this community [from him]. I’m glad for once he has allowed us to recognize him.”
Kapszukiewicz also explained the humble start to life that Trompeter experienced. Born in Cork, Ireland, he was abandoned as an infant and left with nuns at an orphanage, eventually adopted by an American family.
A standing ovation and a cheering crowd welcomed Trompeter to the podium where, modestly enough, he deflected the praise he had received. He told the audience that he was more impressed with what had been accomplished by those in attendance than by his own achievements.
After the tribute to the honorees, breakfast was served. The morning concluded with prayers for TUFCU by board member Ray Wood; a prayer for youth by Pastor Roger Carson of the Worship Center; a prayer for families by Milton Williams of Hope Christian Church, a prayer for the festival by Elder Alisa Key of People’s Baptist church and the closing prayer by Sister Maxine Young of the Sisters of Notre Dame.