WILMINGTON — Three Bladen County leaders were recognized in Wilmington recently for their outstanding service.

Saturday night, the Countywide CDC Committee on the Humanities and the Arts presented “Celebrate the Dream,” an annual gala established to embrace the legacies of African Americans through humanities and arts projects and to strengthen socio-economic mobility for underserved, low-wealth urban and rural communities.

At the gala, three Bladen County leaders received awards:

— Rufus Lloyd, Bladen County Outstanding Countywide Leadership Award. Lloyd, who also recently had a park named after him in Elizabethtown, serves on the Elizabethtown Town Council and is the mayor pro tem.

— Dennis Troy, Bladen County Outstanding Community Leadership Award. Troy serves as chairman of the Bladen Community College Foundation.

— Margaret Lawrence, Regional Honoree for the Julius Rosenwald Education Award. Lawrence is an educator at Booker T. Washington Primary School.

Also recognized at the gala was the Kappa Rho Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., which received the Bladen County Outstanding Community Leadership Service Award.

The Countywide CDC Committee on the Humanities and the Arts, since 2013, has served Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Pender, and New Hanover counties by providing arts enhancement and educational and employment opportunities for youth, examining social justice and public policies affecting minorities and low wealth populations, developing a leadership academy to address and correct social issues, and working to create full-time employment opportunities.

The Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy presented the colors at the gala.

Chrysta Carroll can be reached by calling 910-862-4163 or emailing ccarroll@bladenjournal.com.

Chrysta Carroll

Bladen Journal