AWS 59th Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon

1125 Rosewood Drive,Columbia SC 29201

18 November, 2021

Description

AWS will honor professionals and volunteers from the law enforcement, criminal justice, veterans, and children's services fields. The Alston Wilkes Society will honor professionals and volunteers from the law enforcement, criminal justice, veterans, and children's services fields. If you, your business, church, school, or civic group would like to attend, donate a door prize, or become a sponsor, call us today! Your ticket purchase will help offset the cost of lunch for a deserving award honoree and their family. Please plan to join us as we celebrate 59 years of service in the Carolinas!  This year, our Annual Meeting will focus on the impact of trauma and on strategies to build resilience through trauma-informed practices. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Peter Mitchell, President Emeritus of Columbia College. Dr. Mitchell served as President of Columbia College from 1988-97 and returned in March 2020 to serve as Interim President. Highlights of his nine-year tenure were the establishment of Women’s Leadership Institute, construction of the Johnnie Cordell Breed Leadership Center and the Barbara Bush Center for Science and Technology, and his work in the community, serving on several boards and collaborating with Jim Solomon in securing a grant from the Knight Foundation to establish a nationally recognized program where Alcorn Middle School incorporated nurses and social workers to become a one-stop center for health, wellness, social services, and education. Like the Women’s Leadership Institute in 1990, in 2020 Peter created a new Institute for Building Resilience through Trauma-Informed Practices at Columbia College. This Institute will be a resource and advocate for building resilience in all populations with specific focus on marginalized groups and for the inclusion of trauma-informed practices in our efforts to eradicate all forms of systemic racism; promote economic equity and educational opportunity; and affirm human rights, human dignity, and mutual respect. Dr. Mitchell’s keynote address will describe the pervasive impact of trauma on all aspects of society and identify trauma-informed practices that will help individuals and organizations to build resilience and assist those who have experienced trauma. The Alston Wilkes Society (AWS) is a multistate (SC, NC) accredited nonprofit organization that provides those most at risk with hope for a brighter future. AWS gives hope and rebuilds lives through rehabilitative and prevention services. The agency was founded in 1962 as a nonprofit organization led by a group of dedicated volunteers working under the direction of the Reverend Eli Alston Wilkes, Jr., a Methodist minister who labored as a tireless and devoted worker in helping those less fortunate. Today, the Alston Wilkes Society provides direct services in South and North Carolina to not only offenders, but also the homeless, families in crisis, at-risk youth, and homeless veterans.   MISSION:  Rebuilding lives for a safer community. VISION: To provide offenders, former offenders, the homeless, at-risk youth, veterans, and their families the tools they need to become productive citizens. VALUES STATEMENT:  Our primary responsibility is to those we serve. The success of the Alston Wilkes Society is measured by how we meet our responsibilities to clients, volunteers, investors, other agencies, and each other.  We operate in the spirit of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.