Christmas Concert Featuring Willie Kitchens & The TriOctaves

7 North Tuxedo Avenue,Chattanooga TN 37411

17 December, 2021

Description

Christmas Fundraiser Benefitting The Mary Walker Foundation The 19th annual Tri-Octaves Christmas Concert, featuring former Impressions member Willie Kitchens Jr., will be held on December 17 at 7 p.m. and December 18 at 7 p.m., at Hope City Church, located at 7 N. Tuxedo Avenue in Chattanooga. This event is sponsored by the Chattanooga News Chronicle. The Tri-Octaves, a group formed of Tennessee natives and lifelong musicians Willie Kitchens, Jr., Doug Richesin and Michael Rodgers, each mastering a different genre of music. Their voices combined create a unique harmony celebrated by audiences across all musical tastes. Concert admission is a $25 donation benefitting The Mary Walker Foundation, a 501(c)3 with a mission to help bring social and economic justice for all Chattanooga citizens through literacy. Space is limited. Attendees may RSVP on the Chattanooga News Chronicle and Mary Walker Foundation Facebook Pages and on Eventbrite.com. The event will be simulcast via Facebook Live on the Chattanooga News Chronicle and Mary Walker Facebook Pages with donations kindly requested. Event sponsors are welcomed, and interested organizations may contact [email protected] or call (423) 267-2313 to learn more about sponsorship opportunities. About The Mary Walker Foundation: Mission: To help bring social and economic justice for all Chattanooga citizens through literacy. Vision: To measurably increase literacy and journalist training over the next three years and then strategically manage its outcomes to promote poverty relief and social and economic justice. --- Mary Hardway Walker accomplished an incredible feat despite being born into slavery and having to endure almost a century of persecution. She learned to read at the age of 117. Walker was born in 1848 in Union Springs, Alabama, and was enslaved until she was 15 years old when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. She was married and had her first child by the age of 20. She had worked a variety of occupations by the time she was 68, including cooking, cleaning, babysitting, and selling sandwiches to earn funds for her church. Walker and her family then relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1917. By the age of 114, she had lost all three of her children as well as her husband. She enlisted in the Chattanooga Area Literacy Movement (CALM) in 1963, where she was taught by Helen Kelly, a volunteer teacher. She learned to read, write, add, and subtract in a one-hour lesson two times a week for more than a year, according to WRCB-TV. Walker received a number of medals and accolades for her endurance and determination, including the key to Chattanooga. She was also designated Chattanooga’s Ambassador of Goodwill twice and was certified as the nation’s oldest student by the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In addition, she was honored by two US presidents, dignitaries from around the country and Canada, and even an aircraft flight in 1966. Following her death in 1969, the city of Chattanooga renamed her retirement home and built a memorial to honor her life. To learn more about The Mary Walker Foundation, visit marywalkerfoundation.org. "A Progressive Voice in the African American Community" Celebrating 30 years of African American achievements