The Family Place Announces Texas Trailblazer Awards Luncheon Featured Speaker and Award Recipient
Actor and director Justin Baldoni will be the Keynote Speaker at this year’s Texas Trailblazers Award Luncheon, which will honor Dr. Opal Lee.
The Family Place’s 28th annual marquee luncheon is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 4 at the Hilton Anatole. Funds raised at the luncheon enable the organization to continue its critical mission of stopping family violence and empowering survivors through safe housing, counseling, and skills development, and helping families transition from fear to safety.
This year’s luncheon is chaired by The Family Place board members, Lauren Black, Nakita Johnson, Clarisa Lindenmeyer, Lauren McKinnon, and honorary chairs Lindsay and George Billingsley.
The program will include a keynote address by Baldoni, who directs and co-stars in the upcoming film It Ends with Us. He also hosts a podcast that explores the intricacies of masculinity and how men can develop into better spouses, fathers, and community members. Baldoni is the author of Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity and the New York Times bestseller Boys Will Be Human.
The luncheon will honor Dr. Opal Lee with the Texas Trailblazers Award. Lee boasts eight honorary doctorates, has been named the 2021 Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News editorial board, the 2021 Unsung Hero of the Pandemic, Fort Worth Inc.’s 2022 Person of the Year, and is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient. She is also the second African American to have her portrait hung in the Texas State Senate.
Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Lee culminated her decades long civil rights career with the petition to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
“Despite her humble self-description as ‘just a lady in tennis shoes getting into everyone’s business,’ we recognize her for her perseverance and devotion to preserving the history and timeline of the emancipation of enslaved Texans,” Tiffany Tate, CEO of The Family Place, said.
Sponsorships for the event start at $3500 and are available to purchase by visiting familyplace.org/trailblazer. Individual tickets for $350 will go on sale beginning August 28.
