Community advocate Shar-Ron Buie will be honored with the Transformation Award and JustDane will be honored with the Community Impact Award at the 2025 MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala on Saturday, Nov. 22, 5-9 p.m., at the Brassworks building of the Goodman Community Center on Madison’s East Side.
At the event, MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equity, and Solidarity), a non-partisan interfaith organization that works to promote social justice and racial equity, will also acknowledge Eric Howland, one of the past presidents of MOSES, says Saundra Brown, the current president of MOSES.
“The MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala is an opportunity for people to come together and hear the uplifting stories of people who have been formerly incarcerated and are now in the community doing something very powerful that impacts the community,” Brown tells Madison365.
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“We are looking forward to honoring JustDane and Shar-Ron and listening to him talk about some of his life experiences and what led him to the work that he’s doing now in the community,” she adds.
Buie currently serves as the data and evaluation analyst for Dane County, where he staffs the Community Justice Council Behavioral Health and Racial Disparities Subcommittees. Prior to this position, he served as the associate director of JustDane. He is also a former teacher and associate director of the Education Preparedness Program (EPP) at Marquette University, and case manager/peer support of the Veterans Transitional Housing Program at Porchlight Inc.
JustDane, formerly Madison-area Urban Ministry (MUM), will be honored with the Community Impact Award at the Gala. JustDane was created as a social justice, social service organization in 1971 and offers an array of direct service programs for individuals and families involved in the criminal justice system.
The annual MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala will not only be an opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate accomplishments but also to look toward the future.
“At the MOSES Gala, I love to see the advocacy work. I love being able to advocate for those people who may not be able to feel comfortable using their own voice to speak up and share,” Brown says. “That’s so important.”
The MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala will start at 5 p.m. on Saturday. “We will have a gathering with music and heavy hors d’ouervres … that will go from 5-7 p.m.,” Brown explains. “And then at 7 p.m., we will start the actual program
“We host this event every year to bring the community together, but it’s also to uplift those who have been formerly incarcerated and have moved into the community and have made a great impact in the community either through a business that they’ve created, or some other leadership role where they’ve had a positive impact on the community,” Brown adds.
The mission of MOSES is to “build collective power to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and to eradicate the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them,” according to its website. Brown says that MOSES has been hosting the Transformation Celebration Gala since 2013, and this will be her third event as president. Prior to becoming president, Brown was vice president of the organization.
In addition to experiencing the inspiring stories of JustDane and Buie, the MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the transformative work of MOSES and meet and mingle with other people in Dane County who care deeply about reforming the criminal legal system. A raffle at the gala will raise money for the organization.
“We have a wonderful list of sponsors that we are appreciative of … some are returning sponsors who donate monies to support us financially,” Brown says. “Words can’t explain how people really love people at this event. The room is filled with cheer and laughter. It is filled with people meeting and greeting new people and reconnecting with people you haven’t seen in quite a while. It’s just wonderful.”
Individual tickets for the 2025 MOSES Transformation Celebration Gala cost $100 each and a table of eight costs $750. Additional contributions will be used to provide tickets for justice-impacted individuals. Brassworks at the Goodman Community Center is located at 214 Waubesa St. on Madison’s East Side.
