Senior Services of Alexandria Announces 2024 Gala Honorees
Celebrating 56 Years of Service to Alexandria’s Older Adults!
Alexandria, VA – Senior Services of Alexandria (SSA) is pleased to announce its 2024 Gala honorees, who will be honored at its Annual Gala on Saturday, March 16, 6:00 – 10:00 pm at the Westin Alexandria.
The Annual Gala and Silent Auction will celebrate SSA’s 56 years of service in the City of Alexandria with an exciting evening featuring dinner, games, dancing, and our popular silent auction. SSA is honored to have Benchmark at Alexandria, Alexandria’s newest senior living community, as its Presenting Sponsor, and we thank them for their generosity.
The evening’s program will highlight SSA’s vital work and honor individuals who have dedicated themselves to making Alexandria a caring community for everyone. Our honorees are:
Debra R. Collins
Debra R. Collins is the former Deputy City Manager of the City of Alexandria who was responsible for the oversight of several crucial city departments, including the Race and Social Equity Officer, the Police and Fire Departments, the Departments of Emergency Communications, Community and Human Services, Human Resources, and Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. She oversaw the Offices of Human Rights and Pre-Trial and Probation and was the City Liaison to the Health Department, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the Court Service Unit, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Alexandria Libraries. While with the City, Debra functioned as the lead staff to the Alexandria City Public Schools and as Director of Human Services for the City of Alexandria.
Debra’s significant accomplishments include consolidating the Departments of Human Services, Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Substance Abuse and the Office on Women into the Department of Community and Human Services and the reconstitution of the City Schools Staff Group. Debra created the Center for Alexandria’s Children (Alexandria’s child advocacy center), the Alexandria Council of Human Service Organizations, and Spring for Alexandria in partnership with ACT for Alexandria. Debra also co-founded the nonprofit Equal Opportunities for Alexandrians, which provides scholarships to undocumented Alexandrian youth interested in attending Northern Virginia Community College.
During her impressive career, Debra was a member of the Council of Government’s (COG) Homeland Security Executive Committee, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, and the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA). She is a former Secretary of the Board for ACT for Alexandria, a former Advisory Council Co-Chair for the Center for Alexandria’s Children, and a past Chair of the Northern Virginia Human Service Officials Committee of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC). Debra has received awards from Allies in Prevention, Business First 40 Under Forty, Business and Professional Women’s NYS Young Careerist, and the National Association of Counties.
Brenda Levere Elliott and Lawrence “Lucky” Elliott
Both Elliotts grew up in Alexandria. Lucky is best known as a youth sports coach, activist, and advocate for teens and young adults in the metro area. He coached youth football and basketball for close to 20 years.
Lucky dedicated himself to fighting alcohol abuse among young teens as co-founder of the ‘We Care Organization,’ a group formed to combat alcohol and substance abuse. He led the first anti-alcohol and substance abuse march and demonstration through the streets of Alexandria to City Hall, as well as several other annual anti-alcohol marches. Lucky continued his work as an advocate as a certified clinician, teaching youth in the Get Away Clean program.
Lucky also planned and organized a clean-up program for public housing grounds with the help and support of community teens, young adults, ARHA, Southland Corporation, and City Services. He formed the Bulldog Connection, which hosted a program called Champions of Equality and Justice. The annual event was held during Black History Month to recognize and honor individuals who made outstanding contributions that improved the quality of life for City residents. The group hosted an award event called Sports Legend Night to recognize Alexandria athletes. Today, he organizes social gatherings of men that meet once a month for lunch. Some of this group of seniors, The Olds Dogs, have met for nearly 20 years.
During Brenda’s career, she was for a time assigned the position of Loaned Executive to the United Way, where she tackled challenges while working with private, public, and nonprofit partners. She has kept up the spirit of helping others and making things happen.
Brenda was pivotal in obtaining a Historical Street Marker Sign at the Parker Gray High School location. She was a member of the final class to graduate before it closed to de-segregate Alexandria. She has acted as the chairperson for her last three milestone class reunions. Brenda created a Birthday Luncheon three years ago to “widen the net” and capture more seniors. The group meets on the 3rd Saturday of every month to celebrate birthdays of that month, with over 50 seniors on the roster.
Brenda and Lucky have two children and, for five years, fostered a teenager whom Lucky met through coaching. Today, these proud grandparents spend their time traveling. They encourage people to travel, sometimes with groups, to ensure safety and aid with getting passports and visas when required.
Donnan Chancellor Wintermute
Donnan Chancellor Wintermute is a lifelong Alexandrian. After graduating from Saint Agnes Episcopal School, Donnie received her degree in political science from The College of William and Mary. During her 35-year career in real estate, she made over $1 billion in career sales. She was named the Realtor of the Year, selected from 14,000 realtors, the highest honor bestowed by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Washingtonian Magazine has recognized Donnie as “The Face of Alexandria Real Estate” for the last five years (2019-2023).
Donnie was named a Living Legend of Alexandria in 2014. She was honored as the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year. Donnie was the President of Wintermute, Jackson and Donatelli Realtors (WJD Associates). She sold the 100-agent firm in 1996 to a Washington-based firm, Pardoe and Graham (now Coldwell Banker Realty), where Donnie is Vice President.
Donnie has dedicated herself to many local charities and organizations. For the last fourteen summers, Donnie has traveled on a mission trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to volunteer in an orphanage for 72 needy young girls. The mission team takes the children clothing, books, games, and health supplies.
SSA is pleased to be able to honor these special members of our community and hopes that you can join us on March 16 at the Alexandria Westin. If you are interested in being a sponsor or purchasing tickets, visit SSA’s website at seniorservicesalex.org.
