Tuskegee Airmen to Host Annual Tuition Awards

NEW WINDSOR – In what has become a prime Hudson Valley Black History Month event, the Maj. Gen. Irene Trowell-Harris Chapter of the national Tuskegee Airmen organization will present its 22nd Annual Tuition Awards Dinner-Dance at Anthony’s Pier 9, in New Windsor, on Saturday, February 8th at six p.m. Honored participants will be the 12 recipients of $1,000 and $2,000 scholarships. They are the latest in a line of Hudson Valley high school seniors to whom over $230,000 has been granted by the Trowell-Harris Chapter during the last two-plus decades.

Some 400 guests are expected to attend, and the event is open to the public-to families and friends of the tuition-award winners, to Tuskegee Airmen and Air Force enthusiasts, pilots and veterans, members of the military from our sister organization the New York Air National Guard 105th Airlift Wing, to educators and local Civil Rights opinion-makers, and to all who wish to join the Trowell-Harris Chapter’s members in recognizing the striving of area young men and women who soar “On the Wings of Dreams and Education.”

The dinner gala’s special honoree will be Heather Howley, the founder, owner and chief pilot of Independent Helicopters, with a fleet of two- and four-seat helicopters based at New York Stewart Airport as well as at Saratoga Springs Airport. Howley is an active admired spokesperson for women not only in aviation but involved in many other Orange County businesses and endeavors.

For dinner tickets go to www.tai-ny.com or 845 838-7848 to purchase yours. Te dinner will be preceded by a cash-bar meet-and-greet cocktail and hors d’oeuvres period. Dinner will be followed by music and dancing. There will also be a silent auction of a wide variety of valuable arts, crafts, Tuskegee Airmen memorabilia, jewelery, wine and spirits, airline tickets and vacation packages.

Anthony’s Pier 9 is located at 2975 Route 9W, just north of Sportsplex. For further information, contact Col. Glendon Fraser at gaf4@optonline.net.