African American Cultural Society recognizes 11 awardees

Palm Coast Observer
Your Town

The African American Cultural Society, Inc. recognized 11 members with awards during a Dec. 10 gala.

Seven AACS members received meritorious awards, and four received long-term service awards, according to an AACS news release.

The awards gala had returned after a hiatus due to COVID-19.

Meritorious award recipients must have been a member of the organization for at least five years and have made a significant contribution to the organization in a leadership capacity, money saved or raised, and/or their service must have made a positive impact on the organization.

This year’s meritorious award recipients were: Kurt Bottoms, Imani Kinshasa, Victor Krause, Joseph Matthews, Melinda Morais, Robert Whiting and Janice Williams.

The seven will join the fifty-three others who have received the meritorious award since the program was started in 1997.

Long-term service award recipients must have been a previous meritorious award winner and must have continued to contribute skills for at least five years since they received the meritorious award.

This year’s long-term service award recipients were: Richard Barnes, Edmund Pinto, Jr., William Seeney and Jean Tanner.

There have been six previous long-term service awardees since the program began in 2013, according to the news release.

Awardees each received a trophy, a Christmas ornament with AACS’s logo on it and a congratulatory letter from Rep. Barbara Lee, who was AACS’s 30th anniversary guest speaker.