Redd to recognize 12 women for their work in Camden
Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd will host her second annual Women of Purpose celebration Saturday, the last day of Women's History Month. The event will honor a dozen women who have made positive contributions to Camden.
Redd to recognize 12 women for their work in Camden
Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd will host her second annual Women of Purpose celebration Saturday, the last day of Women’s History Month.
The event will honor a dozen women who have made positive contributions to Camden. Having attended the event last year at City Hall, I expect the event will inspire many women and especially young girls.
Those honored range from neighborhood activists to local politicians to a radiologist.
Here are the honorees:
- Sheila Davis, executive member of Lanning Square West Residents in Action, who through Center for Family Services also is involved in the Cooper Lanning Promise Neighborhood initiative.
- Gwen DeVera, Camden County Human Relations commissioner and an advocate of Filipino Americans.
- Dana M. Burley, Camden City councilwoman and state Assembly clerk.
- Carmen Rodriguez, Camden County freeholder and physics and chemistry teacher at Brimm Medical Arts High School.
- Meishka L. Mitchell, vice president of Neighborhood Initiatives for Cooper’s Ferry Partnership.
- Michelle Vaughn, founder of Pretty in Pink, a breast cancer support group in Camden.
- Dr. Kathleen V. Greatrex, Our Lady of Lourdes radiology and nuclear medicine chief and associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine.
- Sheila L. Roberts, activist in the Cooper Lanning Square neighborhood.
- Gladis Zambrana, volunteer and board member of the Camden City Garden Club and the Camden Children’s Garden.
- Andrea Ferich, director of the Sustainability at the Center for Environmental Transformation and cochair of the Waterfront South Environmental Network and of the Camden Food Security Advisory Board.
- Catherine A. DeCheser, president of the Community Planning and Advocacy Council, who has worked to develop and improve mental health and human services delivery systems, as well as advocated for welfare reform and worked with the homeless and poor.
- Shirley Peterson, community school coordinator for the Camden Board of Education and a member of the Mayor’s Youth Council, who is involved in various city boards and at New Hope Temple.
- Christine Tucker, Camden City business administrator and founding member of the Camden swim clubs Pink Towel Society and the Blue and Gold Towel Society.
A ceremony recognizing the women will start at noon Saturday at Antioch Baptist Church, 690 Ferry Ave.
State Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D., Essex) will be the keynote speaker.
Prior to covering Camden, Claudia wrote about South Jersey’s interesting dead as the South Jersey obituary writer. Before arriving at the Inquirer in 2010, Claudia covered crime in Rochester, NY, which, like Camden, has struggled to emerge from the fall of its industrial peak several decades ago.
You may contact Claudia at cvargas@phillynews.com and follow Claudia on Twitter here.
