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ANNA M. SAMPLE IS REMEMBERED, HONORED AND CELEBRATED
Tears, laughter, and a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ marked the festivities as Volunteers of America Delaware Valley celebrated the life and legacy of Anna M. Sample on May 7.About 50 people, including 15 family members, gathered at our Anna M. Sample Complex in Camden, NJ to honor Ms. Sample on what would have been her 78th birthday. She died in 1984 and the family shelter that bears her name opened in 1988.
“This is a very special day for us,” said Daniel L. Lombardo, President and CEO of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley. “Leadership. That’s what Anna Sample represented.”
“Her legacy is such you can’t duplicate it. You can only hope to continue it,” said Arnold Byrd, executive director of the Camden County Council on Economic Opportunity, Inc. (OEO).
Ms. Sample began her career at OEO as a volunteer and served as executive director for the decade prior to her death. “I didn’t replace her,” Byrd said. “I just followed in her footsteps.”
He and other speakers fondly recalled a woman who was as comfortable chatting on the phone with politicians (and using plenty of salty language while doing so) as she was helping individuals who came to her Benson Street home. A tireless champion for needy people in Camden, she was the catalyst for home weatherization, summer job programs for young people and the establishment of a Camden campus for Camden County College.
A single parent, Ms. Sample also raised 10 children; her daughters Bernadette and Erica and her son Charles were on hand for the celebration, as were several grandchildren and other members of her extended family.
“The beauty of it is, I got to watch my mom help people,” said Bernadette, a community activist like her mother. “I got to learn from my mom. She paved the way.
“My mom was able to make miracles happen,” Bernadette added. “I ask God all the time to make me more like my mom. I know that she smiles down on me every day.”
Charles Sample called his mother “a great lady.” Among the grandchildren in attendance were Anna Hunter, Antoinette Sample, Tasheeka Sample, and Menka Milton.
Gina Williams Deas, chief operating officer of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley, said the idea for Anna Sample Day came from program director Tamika Levels’ desire to know more about the woman for whom the complex is named. “She searched and could not find much to connect the dots of what she knew about Anna Sample,” Deas said. “Her curiosity paid off and now the ASH complex is richer for it!”
Other highlights of the event included a rousing “Happy Birthday” sung by children from the nearby BPUM, Inc. day care center. Monique Reddick, social services coordinator at the Anna M. Sample Complex, read Maya Angelou’s poem, “A Phenomenal Woman” to close out the celebration.
Lunch was courtesy of Chick-fil-A at 400 Haddonfield Rd., Cherry Hill NJ.
Anna M. Sample Remembered Pictures
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