AUBURN - Booker T. Washington Community Center's 80th anniversary dinner and dance at the center Friday night was a smashing success.

The event was held to honor those who had contributed to the center's progress since 1927, including an induction ceremony of the honorees for 2007.

Gwen Webber-McLeod, board president, who welcomed the 200 guests attending, said, “It's very, very important to pay attention to the legacy of this organization.” She credited Monique Wright-Williams, executive director, with the inspiration for this event.

Wright-Williams said when she arrived during the 75th anniversary, nothing was planned to commemorate it. “I couldn't let a number like 80 go. I wanted to do something that was celebratory, that looked like a celebration.”

This celebration included a $25-per-plate dinner with dancing to music by the Syracuse jazz band SoftSpoken.

The gym was decked out like a dinner club, with six glowing lamp posts, and round, cloth draped dinner tables. Middle- and high-school waiters in T-shirts made to look like black vests with black ties ushered guests to their seats from under a white canopy.

“Let's give Booker T. a hand-clap,” pastor Alberta Whitaker said, before she invoked God's blessings on everyone.

State Sen. Mike Nozzolio then kicked off the festivities, wishing Booker T. happy birthday. He reflected on the center's beginnings in 1912, when Mrs. Martin J. Lower and Mrs. Henry T. Johnson met and began the first steps toward the creation of the center established in 1927. “I guess it took women to have the better idea and make it happen,” Nozzolio said.

He called up Assemblyman Gary Finch to present a resolution to Booker T. Center. “Gary is the only one that I know was around when Booker T. was founded,” Nozzolio joked.

After Finch read the resolution, which will make its way to the state Legislature, Nozzolio and Finch presented a $25,000 check to Wright-Williams in response to an earlier request for funds to get the center a new van.

“It was a pleasure to secure this funding and invest in the successful futures of our kids,” Nozzolio said. “The youth programs provided by the Booker T. Center go a long way to help keep our kids and our entire community safe.”

The new van will allow more access to the center's comprehensive programs and services.

Auburn Mayor Timothy Lattimore then addressed the guests. “Booker T. Washington believed people should rise above poverty and be self-reliant,” he said. He reminisced about playing ball at the old Booker T. Center, which formerly stood in the parking lot across from the current building. “That's where I learned how to dance,” Lattimore said. “I learned a lot in those days in the old Booker T. It's these institutions that make this community so great.”

Lattimore presented Wright-Williams with a plaque bearing the key to the city.

Youth performances by BTW Explorers, Tweens & Leslie Walker, Moravia Advantage, and BTW Steppers entertained the guests.

A slide show presentation, “BTW-80 Years in Review,” was shown while dinner was being served.

After dinner, the Booker T. Washington 80th Anniversary Lena M. Johnson Award was presented to the Cayuga County Youth Bureau and United Way. The Naomi P. Fletcher Community Service Award was given to Ella Mae Humphrey, Mary Robinson and Bessie Williams for their volunteer work.

A wall of fame was rededicated as the Booker T. Washington wall of fame. The 8-by-5 foot area in the vestibule displays pictures of many who had contributed to the success of the center. Past directors, fundraisers, volunteers, and those who helped expand the educational scope of the center were honored.

Along with Sojourner Truth and Mohammed Ali, the new wall includes Collins Hinton, 1970s chairman of the board and instrumental fundraiser for the new building's construction; Allen McLeod, executive director in 1981 when the building was completed; past directors Fred Richardson and Paul Richardson Sr.; Joanne Reddick, former chairman who expanded the sports program; Hazel Jeffries, who extended activities beyond sports; former director William Jackson, Mr. NAACP, who facilitated the center's inclusion into the Auburn community; Gwen Webber McLeod, who developed the outreach program to local schools and established Auburn and Moravia after-school programs; preschool teacher Gertie Richardson and volunteer Justine Copes; Carrie Canady, director of the center's largest preschool program; and former executive director Eleanor Hardy, who became the Auburn's social services supervisor. Joy Richardson, Leslie Walker, and Bill Kufs were also inducted to the 2007 Wall of Fame.

Festivities ended with the benediction by the Rev. Robert Wilson.

The Booker T. Washington Community Center is a not-for-profit agency which provides services to assist the community in promoting civil liberties, justice, and equality, without regard to race, creed, color, sex, national origin, sexual preference, religion, disability or socio-economic status by offering families and individuals recreational, educational, developmental and cultural programs for all ages (mission statement). The center's outreach program serves about 100 children in Auburn and Moravia schools, with preschool and after-school programs.