Alexandria NAACP to Honor Mayor Gaskins, Black and Missing Foundation at Oct. 1 Dinner

Thursday’s Freedom Fund Dinner will celebrate leaders breaking barriers, raise money for local civil-rights work and look toward the next generation.

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Alexandria NAACP’s Freedom Fund Dinner will put familiar city leadership and a national search-and-advocacy organization in the spotlight Thursday, Oct. 1. Mayor Alyia Gaskins and the Black and Missing Foundation are among this year’s “Breaking Barriers” honorees, while Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones is scheduled to speak.

The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. at The Satire, 625 First St. The theme, “Breaking Barriers for the Next Generation,” fits a dinner that is both a celebration and the branch’s major annual fundraiser: the money supports its work on voting rights, educational access, community safety and leadership opportunities for young people. The program includes dinner, awards, remarks from guests and live entertainment.

Who Is Being Honored?

Gaskins is Alexandria’s first Black woman mayor. The event sponsor’s program preview names her and the Black and Missing Foundation as honorees and says Jones will give remarks.

The Black and Missing Foundation, founded in 2008 by Derrica Wilson and Natalie Wilson, works to bring attention to missing people of color and give their families tools and support. Its campaigns seek to make sure cases too often overlooked by media and the public receive attention. Honoring that work gives the evening’s theme a very concrete meaning: opening doors also means ensuring that every family’s plea for help can be heard.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger is also expected to attend Thursday’s dinner.

A Long Alexandria Tradition

The branch traces its beginnings to a meeting at Alfred Street Baptist Church on Oct. 10, 1933. Walter White, then the NAACP’s national secretary, spoke at the gathering, and the Alexandria branch received its charter in January 1934, according to its history. Its early members pressed for equal school facilities for Black children. Nearly a century later, the dinner ties that history to the work still ahead.

The city’s Alexandria Community Remembrance Project newsletter describes the Freedom Fund Dinner as the local branch’s major fundraiser. It also points to the practical stakes behind the celebration: protecting voting rights, expanding access to education, strengthening community safety and preparing future leaders.

Trailblazer admission is listed at $200 and includes a seated dinner, open bar, entertainment and the awards program. Valet parking is available for an additional charge. Those unable to attend can make a gift to the Freedom Fund through the same page; the donation option does not include dinner admission. Check ticket availability before making plans.

If You Go