Proud parents, teachers, dignitaries, community leaders and corporate sponsors crowded the BellSouth Auditorium to congratulate students in the 2nd Annual “Celebrating Your Gift” Youth Awards Program. University of South Carolina Cross Country, Field & Track Coach Education urged the teens to set high goals in life–dare to dream–and work hard.

The Millennium Magazine established The “Celebrating Your Gifts” Youth Awards to honor young people between the ages of 11 and 14 who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, academic excellence, community service and perseverance. Calvin Reese, Millennium Magazine?s President/Founder, believes that all children are capable of achieving their dreams. Recognizing accomplishments early in a child?s life is crucial and can prove to be positively life changing for our youth.

Mr. Reese was honored and encouraged by all the community business leaders and other volunteers who have offered to support this project. The distinguished group serving on the Steering Committee includes: Rosena R. Lucas (Chair), Tracie Young Cooper; Rev. Charles B. Jackson, Sr., Brookland Baptist Church; Johnson Jeffcoat, Regions Bank; Mike Kelly (Co-Chair), Suggs & Kelly Lawyers, P.A.; Stephanie Cooper-Lewter, MSW, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Columbia; Pelham Myers, P & B Promotionals; Charles Noble, Noble’s Fine Art Gallery; Clyde Shepard, Brotherhood of Grand Masonic Lodges; Martha Smith, BellSouth; Jacque Freeman, KISS-FM and Robert Wells, South Carolina Bar Association.

Pictured above from left; USC Track & Field Coach Curtis Frye, keynote Speaker, Mike Kelly, youth awards chair and Hannah Nelson, WIS-TV, program host.

Several committee members shared their thoughts on The Millennium Magazine Youth Awards. Also more photos from the event:

Every opportunity to be a part of an event which has the potential to make a positive impact on the lives of our youth is a rewarding experience. The establishment of the Millennium Magazine Youth Awards for Lexington and Richland school districts says to these young people that they are not invisible…we see them; their voices are not silenced…we hear them; their passions, desires and challenges are what we want to share with them on their journey toward the most fulfilling future possible. We, therefore, take this opportunity to reward their achievements by “Celebrating their Gifts”. Rosena R. Lucas ? Chair, Steering Committee

“I am always excited when our youth are given special consideration. We who have been blessed by God in some measure have a responsibility to pass our blessings on to the succeeding generation. Recognizing and encouraging our youth is both inspirational and motivational. It enables and empowers them to continually pursue the highest good. I believe that the greatest good we can do for our youth is not just to share our riches, but to reveal to them their own.” Rev. Charles B. Jackson, Sr.

“I have had the privilege of helping people as a lawyer for the last 25 years; Millennium Magazine and its Youth Awards Program sets a new standard for helping our community by promoting the ideal that we live to serve.” Mike Kelly

?I support the Millennium Magazine ?Youth Awards Program.? Our young people are our community?s future leaders. Community recognition of their leadership and service is vital in encouraging young people to continue to reach their full potential as they pursue their dreams.? Stephanie K. Cooper-Lewter

Above from left; Calvin B. Reese, President/Founder, Millennium Magazine, Coach Robert Reynolds, retired educator, Margaret Thomas Land and Bobby Guider, Fashions II Gentlemen’s Consignment and USC Coach Curtis Frye.

?I am extremely pleased to have been selected by Mr. Reese to be a committee member of the Millennium Magazine’s Youth Awards Program. As a native of Columbia, I feel it is my personal responsibility to do what I can to be of service, especially, to the youths and senior citizens of our community. My expertise and experience consists of the following: a business owner for over 12 years, a devoted husband of 33 years and father of two adult sons, 13 years of military service, a graduate of The University of South Carolina with a Political Science Degree, a Mason, and I am guided by a strong spiritual background.?

?I truly feel that if more adults become directly involved in the well being of our youth, less and less incidents of juvenile destructive behavior would be realized. Our youth are like diamonds in the rough, but like a rough diamond in the hands of an expert jeweler they too can become like precious jewels with our help.? Charles Noble

?It’s truly an honor to have been chosen to serve on this committee. I feel that the “Youth Awards Program” is most fitting and long overdue. So many times we tend to focus on the negative impact that our youth are having on our communities. This program will no doubt change the hearts, minds and shed positive light on their accomplishments. I commend Calvin for bringing to the community the positive deeds of our young people.? Clyde Shepard

The next “Celebrating Your Gifts” Youth Awards Program will take place in the spring of 2005.

Isaac Samuel Leevy, a native of Kershaw County, South Carolina, moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 1907 to begin a career as a merchant tailor. Having been educated at the famous Mather Academy in Camden, South Carolina and later graduating from Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, he set his sights on the Capital City as the geographic location to begin his business enterprise. On June 23, 1909, Mr. Leevy married the former Mary E. Kirkland of the Westville section of Kershaw County in A.M.E. Zion Church of Westville, South Carolina. To this union, four children were born: Ruby Geneva, Isaac Kirkland, Carroll Moten, and Marian Naomi.

Mr. Leevy?s tailor shop blossomed into a full-service department store and at one time it employed more African Americans in South Carolina than any other business. In 1930, as a result of the depression, the Leevy Department Store went out of business, but Mr. Leevy?s hopes of business success were not hampered. After the depression, he opened the first black-owned gas station in the State of South Carolina and in 1932 he and his wife established the Leevy’s Funeral Home at 1831 Taylor Street, where it remains.

Mr. Leevy?s eldest daughter, Ruby, married a former employee of the funeral home, Ollie James Johnson. To this union, five children were born, Jamescina, Charles, Carroll, Isaac Samuel, and Andrena. The two youngest children, I. S. Leevy Johnson, (named after his grandfather) and Andrena Johnson Weston, were raised by their grandparents. As a result of an automobile accident, Mr. Leevy lost his sight around 1950, and his grandson, I. S., became his guide. Young I. S. traveled with his grandfather to political meetings, church gatherings, voter registration drives, and even to the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California. Since the 1940s, Mr. Leevy had been active in the state?s Republican Party, because he believed that all African Americans would benefit from a two-party system, and because the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln His young grandson was greatly affected by watching his grandfather?s political prowess and participation. Mr. Leevy ran unsuccessfully four times for Congress, three times for the state house and four times for the city council. Mr. Leevy died on December 9, 1968, without ever realizing his dream of becoming an elected political official.

Two years later, however, his grandson and prot駩, Isaac Samuel Leevy Johnson, made history when he was one of three African Americans elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. No African American had served in the South Carolina legislature since 1901. I. S. Leevy Johnson is a product of the public schools of Richland County, graduating from C. A. Johnson High School in 1960. He went on to receive an Associates Degree in Mortuary Science from the University of Minnesota and the Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Benedict College. In 1968, he was the first African American to complete the three year course at the University of South Carolina?s School of Law and in 1970 opened up a private practice. In 1975, he and his law school classmate William T. Toal and a former legislative aide, Luther J. Battiste organized the Johnson, Toal and Battiste Law Firm.

In 1985, I.S. Leevy Johnson reached the zenith in the South Carolina legal profession when he ascended to the presidency of the South Carolina Bar. Election to this office was the crowning achievement in a distinguished legal career, which has included service as a trial lawyer, legislator, bar leader, lecturer and community servant. He is the only lawyer in South Carolina who has received all of the top honors accorded an attorney. From the South Carolina Bar, he received the Durant Award. From the University of South Carolina School of Law, he received the Compleat Lawyer Award. From the Richland County Bar Association, he received the John W. Williams Award and from the Columbia Lawyers Association, he received the Matthew J. Perry Medallion. In 1985, Ebony magazine recognized him as a dynamic leader on the ?legal front? in the United States. In 1998, I. S. was inducted as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. This organization has been described as the ?Hall of Fame? of trial lawyers. In 1999, Governor Jim Hodges bestowed upon him the state?s highest civilian award, the Order of the Palmetto.

In 1995, I. S. Leevy Johnson became owner of Leevy?s Funeral Home, which was founded by his grandparents, I. S. and Mary Leevy. Under his leadership, Leevy?s Funeral Home has earned the reputation of providing superior personnel, superior service and superior equipment to all families entrusted into its care. With the help of his mother, Ruby Leevy Johnson, General Manager Ben Piper, his son, Chris Leevy Johnson, and a staff of over 30 persons, the funeral home continues to provide dedicated service. In 1997, Leevy’s Funeral Home opened its Lower Richland Chapel to serve our families in the Hopkins and Eastover areas.

I. S. Leevy Johnson was married to the former Doris Yvonne Wright on July 6, 1968. To this union two sons were born, George Craig Johnson and Christopher Leevy Johnson. Doris Wright Johnson is also a graduate of C. A. Johnson High School and graduated from West Virginia State University. She earned a Masters Degree from the Ohio State University and was a former public school teacher in Richland County School District One. She currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Benedict College. Their eldest son George is a 1988 graduate of Dreher High School and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1992. In 1995, he earned the Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and is a partner in the law firm of Johnson, Toal and Battiste, P.A. He is married to the former Michelle Manigault Hurley. The Johnson?s youngest son, Chris, is also a product of the public schools of Richland County School District One and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1996. He has an Associates Degree in Funeral Service from the Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service and is currently completing his requirements for the Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the Managing Director of the Leevy?s Funeral Home and an Adjunct Professor of African-American History at the University of South Carolina.