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| "Take A Shot for Education" Basketball Tournament. All proceeds will be donated to the Moore Means More Scholarship Fund (Foundation). |
The “All Star Weekend at
Evergreen” was originally found by LaCheston Moore of Evergreen, Alabama. The idea was generated from a fellow
fraternity brother that was met while attending Troy University in Troy, Alabama. One must give credit where credit is due,
therefore identifying Elder James Earl Cray as the motivation and inspiration
behind this event, kudos to you.
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| Elder James Earl Cray, Founder & President Annual All-Star Weekend at Hazlehurtst, Georgia |
As for Elder Cray
better known as “JE,” this marks his 10th year for the “All Star
Weekend at Hazlehurst” in Hazlehurst, Georgia.
Since its beginning, this weekend has become an event that “the Hurst”
and surrounding areas look forward to every year. Not only has the event grown and became one
of the main attractions besides the 4th of July in this small
city. JE’s ministry has begun to spread
throughout the Southern Region of the United States (Alabama, Georgia, and
Florida). A powerful man of God he is as
his ministry has encouraged him to be just that more active in his community as
he has become an icon in the Hazlehurst community.
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| Valerie Walton-Tolbert Director of Volunteers |
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| LaCheston Moore Founder & President |
While at Troy
University, when choosing a Fraternity to join, this can be a process of its
own. It is very rare that a member or
members of the fraternity will seek you out nowadays. Well I just so happen to be one person that
JE sat down and talked to personally about the life of a Sigma. During that conversation, I would have never
guessed that a couple years later that he would be talking to me about
God. When the people say that God makes
no mistakes when he places certain people in your life; I truly think that he
had JE and I in mind.
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| Brittany Jones Director of Finances & Publicist |
JE talked to me many
summers about coming to Hazlehurst to support his weekend and see if it would
be something that I would be interested in bringing to my hometown one
day. Well as it has already been noted
via the Facebook introduction of Moore Means More Scholarship Fund
(Foundation), I never went. But we
talked about getting everything started and now the “1st Annual
Weekend at Evergreen” has been born.
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| Shiquita Lee-Fulton Historian |
Considering the events
that would take place that weekend, some thought had to be put into what to do
with the funds that would be raised.
There was the thought of letting it remain in an account for general
operation of next year’s event and there was the thought of awarding it to some
high school graduate getting ready to pursue college. The decision was unanimous as there is always
a child that needs financial assistance in pursing their dream education at a
great university.
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| Sophia Johnson Chief Operations Officer |
The planning had
started and once people started getting involved, everyone was excited. I had been relaying information back to JE
about the progress that the foundation and the week was making and he was
excited as well. The events included: a
comedy show, a 5k walk & run, basketball tournament, a fun day for the
children, and a career day for the teens.
There was literally something for everyone in the city of Evergreen to
do doing the weekend extravaganza.
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| Rev. Kenneth Kidd, Pastor First Baptist Church Evergreen, Alabama |
But because it was in
its beginning stages, the weekend lacked sponsorship's, our manpower took a deep
turn, and it seemed as if the weekend would be a disaster. But GOD!!! I called JE up and told him about what was
going on and he told me the same thing had happen to him when he first started
off. He told me to stay encourage, trust
in the people that were dedicated to seeing the weekend through and do the best
that we could. And for that, I thank you
JE for the encouraging words; I thank you Bell Riley for making the process
easy with the gym and contacting Pastor Kidd of the First Baptist Church in
Evergreen; I thank you Valerie
Walton-Tolbert for sticking it out with me when it seemed like it wasn't gone
fall through; I thank you Brittany Jones for answering your phone every time I
call about something that I couldn't handle because I am not in Evergreen; I
thank you Shiquita Lee-Fulton for being committed and staying on the team;
Sophia Johnson, you’re the best, you came on board and have been a workaholic ever
since; Pastor Kidd, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to spread the
gospel at your church; And finally, to everyone in Evergreen that plans on
attending the events planned for this year, I want to say thank you in
advance. Just know that your spirit,
encouragement, and participation will not go in vain. Everything that the foundation is doing is
for the better good of the graduating students and our community. We are gone to make the best of this
experience as best we can and we look forward to seeing everyone that can make
it. God Bless and God Bless!
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