The wheel of social change and advocacy is ever turning, both here on the Hilltop, and in the surrounding greater Manchester area. And with how active Saint Anselm students are within the local community, it should come as no surprise that some of the clubs on campus have been extending their reach to make a bigger impact. This just so happened to be exactly the case with two clubs in particular: the school’s very own Women and Men of Color clubs, who attended the NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner on Saturday, October 19th. The event, held annually, served as a fundraiser for the prominent organization, and honored people and organizations that had stood out in their efforts to foster and support marginalized groups, and address pressing issues across multiple fronts pertaining to them. A number of students in each club were directly involved, both helping set-up the event, and directly participating in the planned programming for the night as well. 

WOC members arrived at the event early to help the staff prepare for the keystone event, which was held at the Bedford Event Center, in contrast to the college’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, where the event took place last year. As such, the catering service looked entirely different as well, being presented by the Soel Sistas, who provided chicken, mac and cheese, and sweet potatoes for attendees alongside other meal options and desserts. However, the real meat and bones of the event was the packed schedule, which boasted a number of notable speakers, updates on the organization itself, and a few St. A’s students also sharing words. Amongst them were WOC President, Paige Potts ‘27, who served as MC for the event alongside NAACP 2nd Vice President, Dr. Tracy Strombom. Paige was also joined by MOC President, Stephan Moise, who recited Stacy Abrams’ Primary Victory speech from May 22nd, 2018, albeit with slight tweaks to have a more direct focus on New Hamphshire rather than Georgia.  They were both accompanied by Israel Small ‘28, who served as the event’s spoken word. He presented a poem, America by Claude McKay, to the audience.

When asked about her experience MCing for the event, Potts commented that “At first, I was nervous to be the co-master of ceremonies due to the amount of people, but after meeting my other master of ceremonies partner, Tracy Strombom,  I wasn’t nearly as nervous. Being in the presence of his inviting personality put me at ease and I really was looking forward to being his partner.” Small also had similarly positive musings, stating that “The space was beautiful… It was good to see so many folks from St. A’s at the event, especially considering our school is a smaller campus, so that was nice.” He also noted that “Also, it was just really cool to be at an NAACP event, because from my childhood, they were like these shadowy figures that did so much for the community.” Both of them expressed eagerness to potentially work with the organization in the future, with Paige stating that “I think the dinner was a success and would be honored to collaborate with the NAACP in the future.”, with Israel adding “I would love to collab in the future with the NAACP, because I think we could be of a lot of value to them, due to NIHOP… and the Intercultural Center.” 

While the newfound visibility the dinner provided for the Women and Men of Color groups is significant, it wasn’t the only thing of note that occurred at the event. Attendees were treated to a yearly report about the status and progress of the NAACP Manchester Branch by none other than Mr. James McKim, president of the branch. He provided a number of major updates, some good, and some signaling some room for improvement. Namely, while the amount of recorded POC-owned business in the Manchester area had drastically increased in 2024 in comparison to the previous year, unfortunate, the amount of actively subscribing members of the organization had dropped from over 300 down to the 70, with Mr. McKim actively encouraging those in attendance to become members and inform others to do the same. This thruline of encouragement also lent itself to those who may have been interested in taking on a leadership role within the branch itself, as he announced he would not be running for another term as president of the Manchester Branch.

One pleasant surprise for event goers was the Keynote Speaker, Representative Ro Khanna of California. While he unfortunately wasn’t able to make it to the event in person, he did send a video over, where he spoke on a number of the pressing issues impacting African American communities, the need for collective uplifting and allyship amongst different marginalized groups and their efforts, and the importance of this year’s presidential election in particular, and the necessity of going out to vote to have your voice heard. This stressing on civic engagement was seemingly directly tied into the dinner’s overarching theme, which differs from year to year at each Freedom Fund Dinner. This year, “All In” was the thematic angle taken, highlighting the need not to withdraw from social justice work, despite its at times taxing nature, but do as much as you can on your part, to contribute, and utilize such a mindset. 

This theme also seemed to align itself with the awards given out nearing the event’s conclusion, with ‘Environmental Justice Champion’, ‘Legal Redress Criminal Justice Champion’, and ‘Youth Social Justice Champion’, being a few amongst others.