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THE 12th ANNUAL GRAY HOLIDAY PARTY

SATURDAY DECEMBER 16TH

Time: Details Coming Soon

Location: Details Coming Soon

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Felicia and I appreciate all the support over the years for this Party With A Purpose. More information will be coming soon regarding sponsorship opportunities,ticket packages, new location, entertainment, etc.

The 11th Annual Holiday Party Fundraiser will benefit 3 organizations that are making a major impact in the lives of our youth.

The Arts Empowerment Project

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West Charlotte High School

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The Y.E.S. Academy

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Official Party Hosts

Each year we select community influencers to join us as our Honorary Hosts. Take a moment to enjoy the impact that they are making in our society.

John “Sport E Odie” Adams

CEO of PME & Real Estate Changed My Life

John “Sport E Odie” Adams is known to many in the United States as a connoisseur of Entertainment/Night Life. Sport E Odie created Presidential Movement Entertainment which whom brought legendary acts such as Drake, Diddy, & Jay Z just to name a few. More recently the entertainment guru has dove head first into real estate adopting the phrase “Positioned To Position”. Mr. Adams most recent goal is to utilize his position in life to birth new business and homeowners putting his clients in the best position to win.

Kevin Poirier

Assistant Principal of Instruction
West Charlotte High School

Kevin Poirier is an Assistant Principal at West Charlotte High School. By way of Teach for America and after graduating from UCLA, Kevin moved to Charlotte to obtain a teaching position. Kevin has worked at West Charlotte High School for 10 years in a multitude of positions including science teacher, technology facilitator, instructional coach, and now as an AP. At his core, Kevin believes deeply that all kids ought to be able to live up to their God-given potential and ensuring that every child receives an excellent education is our best opportunity to do so. Kevin is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc and is active in a number of community-based organizations and advocacy work within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community.

Fred Shropshire

Fred is an Multi Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and WCNC Charlotte Main Evening Anchor, alongside Vanessa Ruffes. You can watch Fred and Vanessa Ruffes at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

Fred Shropshire is a news anchor at WCNC Charlotte, specializing in features and breaking news.

Fred anchors the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts for WCNC and you will often see him promoting station events and making a difference in our community.

Fred says it was important for him to establish trust with viewers as soon as possible when he first arrived in the Queen City. It’s why he hit the ground running on his third day on the job – field anchoring the station’s award-winning coverage of the Charleston church shooting. His anchoring from the field spanned several days from the location and allowed him to make what he describes as his first meaningful connections to viewers. Weeks later, he anchored the Confederate flag’s removal from the South Carolina State House, quickly establishing himself as one of the market’s lead field anchors. Fred has also field anchored the station’s coverage of the Keith Scott shooting and the Carolina Panthers Super Bowl 50 appearance from San Francisco.

Fred’s career began at WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina, and includes stints at WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and WGN-TV in Chicago.
Fred came to WCNC from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he anchored the 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. newscasts for WTVD-TV. He conducted more than a dozen sit-down interviews with then-Senator Barack Obama during his first historic presidential run for the White House. Fred has chased several tropical storms including Hurricane Ike when it made landfall in Galveston, Texas.
He’s also reported from major events, including the 2005 World Series in Chicago, the Jena Six Rally in Louisiana and Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles.

While at WXII, Fred covered many important North Carolina stories, including the Jennifer Short kidnapping, the Kinston chemical plant explosion, the Air Midwest Flight 5481 plane crash and the arrest of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.

Fred graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where he majored in journalism. In 2006, UNC honored him as a distinguished Nelson Benton Lecturer.
Fred loves to talk to students and emcee community events. He’s a former board member of Charlotte Pride Magazine’s PEEP (Pride Entrepreneur Education Program) – which awards scholarship and promotes education among youth ages 16-25.
Fred’s personal motto is, “to whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48)

Raki McGregor

Raymond (Raki) McGregor serves as the Senior Vice President of Digital Equity and Community Growth division at Novant Health. He works directly with Novant Health’s executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer to explore and deliver new business opportunities that are enabled through the digital and technology channel. Raki was requested by the CEO to lead the executive in residence program for the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC) partnering with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to improve 7 key focus areas within the 17 largest school district in the country.
Before transitioning to his current role, Raki led the organization’s consumer strategy and products division as chief operating officer. He was responsible for the strategy, operation and optimization teams for community engagement, business innovation, and corporate health. Under his leadership, Novant Health achieved broader community healthcare engagement, key business partnerships and greater alignment with community and consumer needs.


Raki has a long history of leadership within the healthcare and technology fields with senior positions at Independence Blue Cross, TIAA-CREF, Coca Bottling Company Consolidated, Pillowtex, Unifi, and partnership at Stone Laurel Consulting, Inc. just prior to joining Novant Health. His areas of expertise include general management with a focus on driving innovation and strategic direction, building high performing, cross-functional teams, analytics, customer intimacy, business continuity, business and cultural transformation, and change management to name a few. Raki’s strengths in the tech space include ERP applications, cloud computing and mainframe systems.

 
He is passionate about driving growth in both companies and communities and has excelled in developing the architecture to deliver on high demand outcomes. Raki brings visionary, strategic and tactical expertise to the table with a track record of delivering transformational change, effective relationship management, outstanding customer experiences and expert navigation of challenging, changing and volatile markets.

 
Raki earned his Bachelor of Science degree in management from North Carolina A&T State University and completed the Executive Education Program from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and he completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Wake Forest University School of Business. With a commitment to service, Raki is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and has held board positions with Charlotte Works, DreamKey Partners, One Charlotte Health Alliance (OCHA), JazzArts Charlotte, Young Black Leadership Alliance (YBLA), the North Carolina A&T State University’s Board of Visitors, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas, and a member of the board of trustees at Mary Baldwin University. He was also appointed to serve on the American Hospital Association’s Changing Workforce National Task Force and serves on two Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC) work teams (Workforce Mobility & Building Health Communities).
Raki currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina where he enjoys supporting the entrepreneurial endeavors of his wife and young adult children.