Why We Celebrate R. Sonny Driver

I think the main reason that SCOOP USA Media Newspaper publisher and owner Sherri Darden decided she wanted to host an annual “Sonny Driver Community Day” is because R. Sonny Driver was a visionary who was always about the business of helping other people in need. Sonny Driver was the kind of man who would give his shirt off his back to someone else if they needed it. He would often utilize his newspaper to help up-and-coming wanna-be elected officials, up-and-coming small business owners, and up-and-coming charter school leaders. Anything that was about community and was positive, R. Sonny Driver would be right there, using the power of his newspaper to help tell a good news story.
This Saturday, August 19, Sherri Darden, Publisher and Owner of SCOOP Media, which includes newspapers, a weekly radio show on WWDB/AM, a YouTube channel, a regularly updated website, a smartphone SCOOP App, a nonprofit arm of SCOOP USA and so much more, is inviting the public to come out and pay respects to the memory of R. Sonny Driver and in the process, do what he loved to do, and that’s network and be around people. The event is called the Sonny Driver Community Day, and it will start at 12 noon and run until 7:00 p.m.
In terms of some of the entertainment, let me just inform you that the award-winning, amazing, so cool, and smooth musicians from The Philadelphia Clef Club Band will share some of their musical talents on August 19. They’ll be around to help kick off the event starting at 12 noon. There’s going to be a bouncy house for the little ones, as well as some arts and crafts and other attractions.
One of the things that people should know about Sonny Driver was that he always wanted to shine the spotlight on people and/or organizations who do good work. In his absence, Sherri Darden is continuing that tradition. During the event this Saturday, many people who do great work in the community will receive awards from SCOOP Owner Sherri Darden. The award winners in the Lifetime Achievement category are City Council President Darrell Clarke, Ducky Birts, Founder of the Ducky Birts Foundation, Joan Myers Brown, Founder of Philadanco, Lovette Hines, Executive Director of The Philadelphia Clef Club, and Carla Washington.
Those who will receive awards for their Community Service are Michael Coard, Jahzir Davis, William Morgan, Rev. Tom Merrill, and Marlisa Brown-Swint.
From 2020 until now, every year during Women’s History Month, several outstanding Queens from our community have been spotlighted. The goal was to have all the women together in one location at the same time to give them their flowers. The pandemic made it impossible to do so. Thus our SCOOP Owner will celebrate these outstanding women on August 19 as well. They are:
2020 Awardees: Joanna McClinton, PA State Representative and Speaker of the House; Keir Bradford-Grey, Attorney-At-Law, and Activist
2021 Honorees: Dr. Lisa Dennis; Dr. Lucille Ijoy, Motivational Speaker and Family Therapist; Tiffany Beauford; retired, PA State Senator Shirley M. Kitchen; Mama Akousa Ali-Sabree (Posthumously); Candice Thompson, and Catherine Hicks, Publisher of the Sunday Sun Newspaper and President, Philadelphia Branch NAACP
2022 Awardees: Vivian VanStory (posthumously); Phyllis Sims (posthumously); the Honorable Doris Smith Ribner, retired PA State Judge; Dr. Ellen Jo Waller, Educator, and Activist; and Regina Rhea Smith, R.N. and President, Allegheny West Civic Association of Philadelphia
2023 Awardees: Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, Archbishop Mary Floyd Palmer, and Linda Richardson, Founder Uptown Revitalization effort and community activist (posthumously).
The awards program will start at 3:30 p.m. and will conclude by 4:30 p.m.
There will be free food and other refreshments while supplies last. The public is welcome!
Come on out and help the SCOOP Staff and, of course, our publisher celebrate R. Sonny Driver. After God made Sonny…He broke the mold.
For those of you who perhaps can’t join us on August 19 but still want to celebrate Sonny Driver’s legacy. You can do so by helping Sherri Darden keep rising in terms of the SCOOP Newspaper. Help her keep taking the SCOOP to the next level. There are little things you can do, like taking out an annual subscription to the SCOOP. Have it mailed right to your home? If you own a business or a nonprofit that has a budget, place advertisements in our newspaper. That’s how newspapers survive, you know, on ads. It’s easy to talk about how much we love someone or how much we appreciated someone who did wonderful things for us. Sometimes it’s nice to demonstrate by actions rather than words. The SCOOP Management and Staff appreciate all our readers. We welcome you to continue supporting the SCOOP.