By Keysha Drexel
Journal editor
Two Over the Mountain cities will host special faith-based events in April and May in an effort to bring dignitaries and local residents together.
Vestavia Hills and Hoover will host their Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast events to gather city and elected officials, religious leaders, business leaders and members of the community together to offer prayers for the world, the country, the state and the cities.
The 24th annual Vestavia Hills Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is set for April 29 at Vestavia Country Club.
This year, Lisa “Roxanne” Richardson, a longtime radio and television personality in the Birmingham area, will be the keynote speaker at the Vestavia event.
Richardson is the co-host of 93.7 WDJC-FM’s morning talk show. She is also the founding board member of The Wellhouse Inc., the state’s only 24-hour shelter for women seeking refuge from human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The faith-based nonprofit agency has received the FBI’s Distinguished Leadership Award.
Tickets to the Vestavia Hills Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast are $20 and must be purchased in advance. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit vestaviahills.org.
On May 6, the Hoover Beautification Board will sponsor the 32nd annual Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham-The Wynfrey Hotel Grand Ballroom.
Doors will open at 7 a.m., and the program will begin at 7:30 a.m.
This year’s speaker will be Gen. Dick Burleson, a retired Southeastern Conference referee and vice president of Neel Schaffer, one of the leading engineering and aviation firms in the country.
A native of Alabama, Burleson was inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame and rose to the rank of major general in the U.S. Army Reserves. He graduated from the Army War College and was the commanding general of the largest Army Reserve Command in the world.
Burleson was an SEC football official for 25 years and served as the chief referee and president of the SEC. He wrote a book about his years as a referee in a book called “You Better Be Right!”
Tickets to the Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast are $25 per person or $250 to sponsor a table for 10. Seating is limited, and reservations are due by April 30. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.hooveral.org.
Several mayors of Jefferson County cities will attend the 50th annual Greater Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast May 1 at the Sheraton Hotel Grand Ballroom on Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard in Birmingham.
In 1964, the first Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast was sponsored by a small group of businessmen who met weekly to pray for a city that was being torn apart by racial tensions, according to the event’s website.
The speaker at the first Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast was Bobby Richardson, a star second baseman for the New York Yankees.
Since that first prayer breakfast, the scope of the event has been widened to include mayors from cities in Jefferson and Shelby counties.
Tickets to the Greater Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast on May 1 are $25 per person or $200 for a table of eight. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.mbtsal.org.
