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On the evening of April 17th, Manna’s Restaurant closed off their outside dining section of the located at 320 St. Nicholas Avenue in Central Harlem for two hours to greet five graduating seniors. The store’s scholarship committee chose these five seniors based upon the outstanding essays they had written about themselves, their goals, and dreams. They received funds that could assist them in pursuing their college education.
This year is the second year that Manna’s offered scholarships in the name of Betty Park’s deceased son, Charlton Park who passed away in November 2022. Charlton operated Manna’s Restaurant, formerly located on Lenox Avenue and 134th Street. As CJ, the oldest child of Charlton stated, “The committee was looking to choose people with something special about them, whether it was a passion for their interests, or community service, people we thought my dad would have a connection to because that was my dad’s gift. Wherever my dad went, he was able to meet new people and forge meaningful relationships. May these scholarships be a steppingstone as you graduate high school and head off to college.”
Bishop Carlton T. Brown, senior pastor of Bethel Gospel Assembly located in East Harlem was on hand to offer a prayer for the event, the high school students, and the restaurant. Bishop Brown went on to state how Manna’s has been working with his house of worship to feed the community on many occasions throughout the years and we are partners with Manna’s. Manna’s has been a part of the Harlem community going on forty-one years and God is glorified for all that Ms. Betty Park and Manna’s has done for the Hatlem community.
Betty Park spoke next, greeting everyone in attendance. “I am very honored to be here to give the scholarship funds to these deserving students. I thank God everyday for his blessings. As my grandson stated, I love my son who I lost in 2022 to a heart attack at forty-five years old and it was devastating. I prayed to God, and I know that Charlton is in heaven and his spirit told me that he was okay, so I stopped crying and started looking forward, no more being sad. I have four beautiful grandchildren, and I bring them to Harlem as often as possible so they can see and learn about our business where we earn our income here and experience the diversity of the people in the Harlem community.
The five scholarship winners are:
Marlena Syriaque – John Jay College in Manhattan, N.Y. to study law
Lamya Hand – St. Francis College in Brooklyn, N.Y. major undecided
Amiyah Anderson – Tufts University in Medford, MA to study English / creative writing
Gabriella Gilbert – Tufts University in Medford, MA to study Biology
Sierra Rios – not committed to a school yet but wants to study Psychology.
