Home Entertainment EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch set for Sunday

EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch set for Sunday

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Chef Angela Morgan of Food Junkies will cater EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch.

EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch: THE REMIX (Day Party Vibes) will be a jam-packed day full of entertainment, fun, and food as it raises money for Black men, Black fathers, and Black sons on Sunday, June 19, at 1:30 p.m. at the Goodman Community Center.

“During Juneteenth, it’s important that we think about Black liberation, not just from this idea of when the slavery officially ended, but what does it mean today to be Black and to be liberated and what do we all need to do to be part of that liberation.” Tara Wilhelm, the founder and CEO of EOTO Culturally Rooted, tells Madison365.

EOTO Culturally Rooted is a community recovery organization led by certified peer support specialists in Wisconsin that takes a holistic approach to individual and community wellness.

“We are looking forward to hosting this fun and positive event because our community has been through a lot of really sad events and some scary stuff happening to families whether they have been hit by the loss of somebody, or Covid, or even the storm that just came through and the property damage that followed,” Wilhelmi says. “So we do really still need to come together, whether we call it an observation of celebration, and it will be based on love and unity. We really want to try and bring that positiveness into the rest of the summer and the rest of this year.”

Antoine McNeail (Photo supplied)

EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch will be co-hosted by comedian Antoine McNeail of 1Motion Outreach and Enterprise and Jackie “Brodean” Morris. It will feature a performance by the Dairyland Dancing Diamonds and there will be spoken word from R.R. Moore and Sarah Branch as well as Sultry Shibon Patterson and Rob Dz.

Rob Dz. (Photo supplied)

DJ Dre will perform and there will be raffle prizes and the UJAMAA Juneteenth Market.

“We’re doing something a little different this year because it’s our 5th anniversary. We’re calling it a ‘Day Party Vibe,’” Wilhelmi says. “So we’re starting a little bit later than we have in other years and we’re doing something that we have never done before which is a cash bar.”

The soul food buffet will be catered by Chef Angela Morgan of Food Junkies and will include Caesar salad, Mississippi pot roast, a baked potato bar, roasted mixed vegetables, dinner rolls, and fresh fruit.

“Every year, we always have Sweets by Sweet [Dessert Shop] who offer us some of her cakes. This year it’s going to be caramel and chocolate cakes,” Wilhelmi says.

Sultry Shibon Patterson

It was at the 3rd annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch where the organizers pivoted to making the annual event a fundraiser to create an emergency fund for Black males. 

“I will be kicking off a fundraising campaign that will run from right now to the end of September to really help build some capacity and for us to get some funds together to do some Black male-specific programming and also to add to the little bucket that we have of emergency resource funds,” Wilhelmi says.

The Black Men’s Emergency Assistance Fund has been able to give out small-dollar scholarships and support some different Black-owned businesses in the Madison area with its modest budget, but Wilhelmi is hoping to raise money to do much more. 

“For the men in our community, we want to be able to keep giving the help that we are giving,” Wilhelmi says. “Right now, I’m really only able to offer it based on requests of individuals who are already part of our programming and our EOTO community. I would love to be able to expand that. “

The EOTO end-of-the-summer event is being planned for McPike Park on Sept. 17 and 18. 

“We’ll have a music stage and opportunities for community organizations to come out and connect with the community again,” Wilhelmi says. “It will just be a time for us to kind of highlight all of our programs and have a good old time. That will be the ending point for this fundraising campaign, and, of course, people can give to EOTO year-round.” 

In the meantime, Wilhelmi says that she loves that the EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch, which will raise money for fathers, will be held on actual Father’s Day this year.

“That’s just perfect,” she says. “Isn’t it?”

 

EOTO’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Soul Food Brunch: THE REMIX (Day Party Vibes) will be held Sunday, June 19, at 1:30 p.m. at the Goodman Community Center. For tickets to the event, click here. For sponsorship information, click here.