Released on: October 7, 2008, 9:33 am

Press Release Author: Toi Troutman/GEM Public Relations

Industry: Non Profit

Press Release Summary: Middletown Area NAACP hosts Hollywood Stars for Their Annual
Freedom Fund Banquet.

Press Release Body: Middletown, OH, October 07, 2008 -- Today the Middletown Area
NAACP announced a host of Hollywood celebrities who will perform and attend this
year’s annual Freedom Fund Gala, appropriately titled The NAACP Freedom Fund
Celebrity Weekend. This year’s event will take place over two days, October 31, 2008
and November 1, 2008, opening with a Celebrity Basketball Game and culminating with
the annual banquet which will include a VIP and general reception, silent and live
auctions (featuring exotic getaways and jewelry, etc.), celebrity meet and greet,
and a red carpet celebration prior to the annual gala. NAACP President and City
Councilwoman, Anita Scott Jones, says “We are excited about the opportunity to bring
Hollywood to the residents of South West Ohio, and we are confident that this event
will help to raise additional funds for the operations of our chapter during the
year and allow us to facilitate even more youth programs. We are hopeful that this
will also increase membership in the NAACP.”

Both events will be held at Miami University Middletown Campus. Corporate
sponsorships are still available for red carpet media wall signage. Prices and
benefits are prominently listed on the event website.

Model and TV personality Toccara Jones will be awarded a key to the City of
Middletown (she is a native of Dayton, Ohio) and will be this year’s guest of honor,
while a host of celebrities will perform keynote addresses and musical performances.
Grammy Award Winner, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds will serve as this year’s honorary
chairperson and Cintas’ COO, J. Phillip Holloman will serve as the honorary co-chair
as well as perform this year’s keynote address. The topic of this year’s festivities
will be “Our Youth Is Our Tomorrow” and local middle and high school students will
have an opportunity to submit 500-word essays on the subject, with the winner
snagging two tickets to attend all festivities and a personal opportunity to meet
and greet all attending celebrities.

Scheduled Celebrities
The host of the Freedom Fund Gala will be comedian, Jay Phillips, who got his break
on radio as the co-host of Baltimore's successful WXYZ morning show and was soon
voted Baltimore Magazines' Comedian of the Year. Jay was introduced to the industry
at Laffapalooza and at the HBO Comedy Festival after becoming one of the top draws
in the urban and college markets. Delivering motivational speeches will be actor,
Gary Anthony Sturgis, known for his appearance in two of Tyler Perry's movies, Diary
of a Mad Black Woman and Daddy's Little Girls, as well as the 2007 movie Pride,
starring Terrence Howard. He also played the Venom Virus in Scooby Doo and The Cyber
Chase and performed the voice of Ebon on the hit Fox Animated series, Static Shock.
He is currently writing and producing films of his own and will soon be writing for
Tyler Perry’s television shows on TNT; and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, a two-time
participant on Donald Trump's television reality show The Apprentice.
Manigault-Stallworth was born in Youngstown, Ohio where she attended Rayen High
School. She has gone on to appear on various talk shows and other reality shows. A
TV Guide survey conducted in the summer of 2005 voted her as the most reviled
reality show contestant. This is a return to her home state.

Musical performances will be delivered by: Q Parker, of the Diddy-produced quartet
entitled 112, who confirmed that his début album is entitled "Real Talk" and is due
for release in this fall. He is currently in the studio working with Tim & Bob, The
Pirates, Jammy, Bryan-Michael Cox, Platinum Brothers and Crystal Johnson ("Touch My
Body" by Mariah Carey) amongst others. The album will be released under a
joint-venture between his own label NeWFAM Entertainment and Drift City Records. The
first single off the album is called "Crazy Crazy" and it features Rock City. Also
performing is Tanya Blount, best known for her role in Sister Act II, has signed a
new recording deal with Habakkuk Music with distribution through Universal Music’s
new Gospel music division in August 2008. One of the first appearances of Tanya’s
recent works “Right Here” is heard in the currently playing Tyler Perry Film “The
Family That Preys”. To diversify the musical selections, the gala will also feature
a performance by G. Tee Shotta, (formerly of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Protect Ya Neck
Records) is a well-known dancehall/reggae artist from Guyana. G-tee has performed
all over the world opening up for well known artist such as; Sceechy Don, Buju
Bonton, Bounty Killer & Shabba Ranks, just to name a few. G-tee's album was produced
by Gregg Hills, (member of the Grammy Award Winning R&B group The Delphonics) &
William Wright (President of 808 Records).

In honor of the youth theme of the program, the special guest youth celebrity will
be actor, Nathan Corbett, who auditioned for and became protégé of Linda Townsend
management. His credits do justice to a veteran performer as they include,
theatrical performance with the Baltimore Children's Theater and Patapsco High and
Center For The Arts, Appearance in national recording artist Li' Mo' Music Video,
Hilary Duff Barbie Commercial, Guest Appearance on CBS's, "Cold Case" and Think film
newly released, feature film, "Half Nelson" starring Ryan Gosling and is most noted
for his role in The Wire as “Donut”.

Tickets and Other Information
Tickets are currently on sale at the event website located at
www.celebrityweekend.co.nr and begin at a very reasonable $25 and $35 per event. To
purchase tickets off line (in person) please contact Anita Scott Jones at (513)
259-4203 or Kevin Aldridge at (513) 649-0149.

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For more information, press only:
Toi Troutman, (310) 359-0764, mtocelebrityweekend@gmail.com
Celebrity Interviews can be arranged for local television and radio outlets.

For more information on the NAACP Freedom Fund Celebrity Weekend:
http://www.celebrityweekend.co.nr




Web Site: http://www.celebrityweekend.co.nr

Contact Details: Contact Information
GEM Public Relations
Toi Troutman
888-575-1241
mtocelebrityweekend@gmail.com
www.celebrityweekend.co.nr
Anita Scott Jones, NAACP President (513) 259-4203