Mother’s Day Celebrated with Star-Studded Concert

By Journalist Dr. Ms. Jones

NEWBURGH – On Saturday, May11th The Cathedral at the House of Refuge International Ministries celebrated Mother’s Day with a concert and dinner. Gospel Recording Artist Wess Morgan headlined the concert. This was his second time performing in Newburgh.

“I love this part of the country. I travel so much and it’s so good to be in a place where people appreciate you back and reciprocate the love that you give…The hospitality is good, but more than anything is just the synergy that was in this room tonight. It’s a lot of things that’s transpired and so I’m glad to be back,” said Morgan who was especially excited to be a part of the Mother’s Day Celebration and recorded a video of the crowd saying hello to his mother. “I’m sold out to my mom. My mom has prayed for me and, good Lord, covered me so many times when it looked like everything was just going downhill, spiraling fast. And so, anytime I get to celebrate mothers, that’s a blessing to me. Because I understand their hidden pain and what they go through not only to birth a child, but nurture a child and make sure he gets into his destiny. So, for me, it’s amazing to be here with all these wonderful mothers and be able to celebrate them and for that to mean something to them.”

The concert also featured John Thorpe and Truth. Thorpe, affectionately known as “Kermit,” sang for years in Newburgh with several groups before moving to North Carolina. He sang his planned songs as well as some requested from the crowd.

“It was very nice to be here. It was very nice to see so many people that I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years since… Covid…. So, I didn’t get a chance to come back. So, it’s just really nice to see everybody and everyone seems to still remember me,” said Thorpe who is in the studio working on a Christmas CD. He will also be back in The Hudson Valley on July 27th in Monticello and would like to start having the Gospel tent at the Dutchess County Fairground again but is in need of a sponsor.

The celebration was organized by Bishop Jeffery C. Woody, pastor of The Cathedral at the House of Refuge International Ministries, and Promoter Leslie Mathis.

“Les and I have developed a relationship bringing concerts to Newburgh… We don’t have much to do here… We just want to kind of continue to bring this kind of event to advance or enhance the culture… We were talking the other month and we were talking about having a concert here for Mother’s Day, so I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” said Woody who decided to have a dinner with the concert this time since it was Mother’s Day weekend and they also sell dinners at the church every weekend. “We started in March selling every Friday. We sell fried fish, fried chicken, barbecued chopped turkey, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, yams, green beans, and most importantly, Bishop’s collard greens!”

Mathis was the emcee. He is originally from Newburgh. However, he lives in North Carolina and Los Angeles.

“It’s a blessing to actually be around the celebrities. And then to be able to have a relationship, not just booking, but to have a relationship, a personal relationship with them is a beautiful thing. And for them to come into a place where I grew up… And none of them don’t even know Newburgh. They be like, ‘What’s that? Where is that?’ You know. ‘That’s the sixth borough.’ Because as we grew up that’s what it was called. It’s a blessing to see them and the excitement on the people’s faces when we bring them into town. A lot of people don’t get a chance to come out of Newburgh or see a celebrity like a Wess Morgan, like a Le’Andria Johnson, like a Kierra Sheard, like a James Fortune. They don’t get a chance to see it [except] on TV. So, to bring it here and see their smile and then try to make it affordable for our city for people to come because they’re not coming for free, though they’re your friends, they’re still not coming for free, but they’re not charging you like they would normally charge,” said Mathis. “Sometimes they give it back to us… Like tonight, Wes gave it back. He donated everything that we gave him back.”

Journalist Ms. Jones