Members of the Emporia Eastside Community Group served up a delicious new fundraiser Saturday.
The Taste of Soul Food event, held at the Lee Beran Recreation Center, saw group members cook and serve a large menu of classic soul food items including fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes, green beans and potatoes, cornbread, corn casserole and much more. The event comes during Black History Month and the timing was planned and important for organizer Arthur Lorick.
Lorick spoke with KVOE News and says the dollars raised for the event will be put towards several group initiatives including its scholarship fund and continued improvements to the East Side Memorial Park. But more important than the money in Lorick’s opinion was the opportunity to put black culture in full view for the entire community to see and taste adding sometimes the best way to convey one’s culture to another is through food.
In Lorick’s opinion, the opportunity to display and convey the importance of Black History Month and black culture in general to the entire community Saturday was almost as important if not more important than the dollars raised.
In addition to longtime members of the group, several younger members were on hand helping to prepare and serve the food Saturday. Lorick says it does his heart good to see younger generations stepping up to continue their work noting the older generation won’t be around forever.
Lorick says plans are to continue the Taste of Soul Food as a regular event during other significant celebrations of black culture including Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Fundraising totals are currently pending.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon/KVOE NewsÂ
