Since 2009 represents a milestone year for the NAACP, its 100th anniversary, local officials of the organization wanted to secure a special speaker for their annual banquet.

After being unable to schedule the Rev. Sir Walter Lee Mack Jr. of Winston-Salem for a Martin Luther King Jr. event earlier this year, leaders of the Surry County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were undeterred.

Their persistence paid off when they arranged to have Mack lend his oratorical talents at the annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the local NAACP. The event will be held Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Central United Methodist Church fellowship hall on North Main Street.

“Some members of the organization have heard him and said he was a dynamite speaker,” Surry NAACP President Faye Carter said of Mack, who is the pastor of Union Baptist Church on Trade Street in Winston-Salem.

Mack, a graduate of Duke University with a doctoral degree in the ministry from United Theological Seminary, has been a leader in education, economic development, drug abuse prevention and other areas in addition to his work in the pulpit.

“We tried to find someone who would be a drawing card,” added Carter, who said that the Surry NAACP attempted to have Mack speak at the annual MLK event here in January, but “he was already booked.”

The national organization was founded in 1909 in New York City and Carter said this year’s banquet has special significance due to occurring during the centennial year. “We’re looking forward to it,” she said.

About 80 to 100 people are expected to attend the event, for which the ticket deadline has passed.

In addition to music from The Russell Family and Melva Houston, the banquet will include special recognition’s and awards along with a catered dinner.

The Surry NAACP branch holds the freedom fund gathering every May in an effort to raise funds for the area operating capital and defense fund. Each NAACP branch throughout the nation typically has such a banquet, which is largely responsible for securing money for local defense funds, which are used when someone asks a branch for assistance with legal representation or other needs.

At the 2008 banquet the keynote speaker was the Rev. William J. Barber II of Goldsboro, the leader of the state NAACP, who wowed the crowd with his address.

This year’s speaker is expected to be just as dynamic, Carter said.

Mack is known for a strong commitment to outreach efforts that attempt to meet the educational, spiritual, social, economic, educational and physical needs of his congregation and region. This has included creating the Urban Ministries food and clothing bank.

During his tenure at Union Baptist Church, the congregation has grown from 300 to more than 3,800 members, with three different services required to meet the attendance needs.

Mack also has been a guest lecturer at Oxford University and engaged in global mission work that includes trips to Haiti and Israel. He was named among the top 20 preachers under 40 by the African-American Pulpit Journal.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.