Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Saving Our Youth Organization will host its 3rd Annual Scholarship and Pillar of the Community Banquet at 6 p.m. tonight at The Studio in downtown Troy.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling (334) 268-8021 or if more information is needed.

“The theme this year is ‘Praying while PUSHING THROUGH,’” said LaShondra Spikner Martin, who, with her husband Clyde H Martin, III, are the organization founders.

“With the pandemic placing us at a standstill for a year, God told me that we have been too quiet and it’s time to continue the work that He entrusted me with,” LaShondra Martin said. “We want our communities to know that we are only a phone call away.  Our aim as a mission is to save the life of children ‘One child at a time.’”

The keynote speakers for this year’s banquet are Elder Rena Ingram from Americus, Georgia. Ingram is the founder of Beauty for Ashes Women’s Empowerment ministry and Alana Williams of Montgomery, who is the owner of J.A. Investigative Services. She has a strong background in juvenile justice.

Special appearances will be by Pastor Tanya Reese of Americus, Georgia; Minister J.R. Shell of Elba; and Monica Denise Riley of the Pike County Democratic Party. Entertainment will include Kawastian Hunt of Montgomery and Nina Kinsey-Goshea of Troy. Special appearances will include the Saving Our Youth Organization basketball team and Youth Council members.

“We will honor 12 outstanding pillars of the Troy and surrounding communities,” Martin said. “They are: the late, Dr. Bishop W.C. Scott, Dequante Shockley, Darrell Kennedy, Caleb Dawson, Ebony Williams, Larya Fifer, Olivia Pearson, Dr. Rhonda Benton Banks, Glenda Fayson, Troy Councilwoman Sharon Mcswain-Holland, Troy Councilwoman Wanda Moultry, Deacon Mickey Deveridge, Alyssia Boswell, Angela Underwood and Jackie Patterson.