Ms. Marchelle Glover got the festivities started with a wonderful rendition of our National Anthem. Robert Styles touched our soles with heart felt poetry we can all aspire to. Roger prepared well and spoke from his soul to all of us and we appreciate him. Mr. & Pastor Dexter Scott took us to church and kept it very interesting. Dexter gave us eight (8) points or quotes from the good book to live by. Dexter & his wife drove to our event from Florida and we truly appreciate their effort and we'll certainly keep them in prayer and on our minds. Our first performer was Ms. Jamyra Bolden 13 year old singer and I'm putting you all on notice that this young lady is up coming and we are happy to have her as one of our own STARS member. Master Darius Sanford age 14 sang two songs and did so very well, again stick this name somewhere you can refer to in the future.
James Parrish age 16 was scheduled to play two songs on his acoustic guitar but as often times technical difficulty reared it's ugly head in the form of the lower string on his guitar being broken. Unfortunately the second selection depended heavily on that particular string and we only got one song out of him. This was a shame because the one selection was great and we anticipated the second one to be even better. Tara Coney female singer sang and sang very well a title track of Yolanda Adams. Here is where the show took off and I introduce all of you to Samuel Glass 13years old stage name (God's Prodigy).
This young man is absolutely a performer and perform he did. God's Prodigy took the stage and immediately brought the audience to life as he used his stage presence to reach out to all of us and got us to repeat after him with the song "Push The Devil Back". The energy of this young man was truly unmatched. He had us all dancing in the aisles when he showed us how to do the "Holy Ghost Slide". I would recommend you check out his latest CD "Push The Devil Back" and in particular the track titled "Stay Prayed Up". This young man is truly on the move up and I can't forget the fact that he is also (Middle Georgia Gospel Idol Winner).
The next performers were led by Joseph Blue and comprised of Rishawn Conerly, Rebecca McCloud, Kiara Parham & Tia Johnson. It was after this performance we scheduled an intermission and planned to announce the winners of the "Celebrity Auction". This segment involved professional volunteers from the surrounding community lending of themselves, in particular some special ladies from Robins Air Force Base; Keierrah Beasley, Candice Trigg, Brandi Randolph, Latiffany Watts & QuoVardis Williams. Our photographer Ephriam Billie took great photos of individual participants and those pics were placed on a poster board for viewing by our audience. There were male and female celebrities that were bid on during the evening. As a result STARS promised to provide for lunch for the winners to participate in what we call a "Meet & Greet".
After the break Derek Abron got us back and the second half resumed with L.O.C.O. Dance Group ages 16-19 and I would describe their moves/act as fresh, innovative and absolutely in tune with the present. LOCO took Hip-Hop and added an element of interpretive dance and high energy and made it fun to watch as most of the audience cheered while on their feet. This led us to Corey & Tony (Male Rap Group) & 2 True a female rap group. Next to take the stage was STARS own Jonathan Fulton who sang to the older heads and those older at heart. Jonathan's voice was a welcome difference regarding reference to "Old School" which helped round out the evenings performances. What followed can be described as no less than exquisite, Ms. Jazmine Scott also one of STARS own and winner of many individual awards as well as (Middle Georgia Idol Winner) graced us with an acapella version of "Listen" which literally reverberated throughout the venue. To close all stage performances Mr. Robert Styles came on once again and took us home and left us spell bound with more heart felt poetry.
To Derek Abron, all the participating performers, Pastor Dexter Scott & Wife, Ms. Norita Horne (CEO STARS) Mrs. Carmen Fulton (Executive Director STARS) Music coordinator Robert Alexander, helpers Tre McCloud, Jamal Sales, Rebecca McCloud, Kiara Parham, Ronald Major, Misty Maddox, Joy Osaghae, Daivion Osaghae, Gloria Oneal, Janet Toliver, Ivory Petties, Cardo Petties, Kenequia (KeKe) Andrews, Zaria Thomas, James Bolden, Kyra Osaghae, Stewart Michael, Mr. & Mrs.Glass, Chuck Miller, Marchelle Glover, D.J. Gregory Jackson, Gary Stiggers, Segunda Wilson & Hildred Jones we thank you.
I was also afforded the opportunity to address the audience to let all know why we do what we do. First and foremost we are a community base youth mentoring organization here to give back to our community in more ways than one. We are partnered with the Rainbow Push Coalition (Atlanta).
We are dialed into the Houston County Sheriff's Department, and the Juvenile Justice Department. We have access to the District Attorney's Office and thanks to Detective Karen Stokes we are connected with the local Gang Task Force. We are also connected with several churches. That being said we want our audience to know that we can afford help to those experiencing difficulties with everyday life decisions.
We want to emphasize the fact that we provide tutoring on a regular basis and we are also in concert with The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). This is a partnership that was developed for this summer and if it works we will develop the program further. We also want our audience to know that we are addressing the issue of "Adult Literacy". We also want to extend a debt of gratitude to Joe Bishop for allowing us to make an appearance on his radio show WNNG 99.9FM & 1350AM (Warner Robins GA) to promote what we do and opening a permanent line of communication.