A celebration of nurses

Oct. 10—It was a proud night recently for nurses at Southern Ambiance in Clinton as many of them from all over gathered there for a celebration.

The reason for the occasion was the Southeastern Chapter of Carolina Nurses League's 1st Annual Nurses Ball, deemed "Shades Of Blue." Literal shades of blue filled the building as distinguished guests, colleagues, friends and loved ones attended the event in their best outfits to match that theme.

The ball wasn't just for looking fancy as it served another role — one that was very important to all in attendance, as it was meant as a night for honoring and giving back to nurses.

As the Mistress of Ceremony, and the founder of the Southeastern Chapter of Carolina Nurses League, Tonia Whitley-Gray shared the story on what made her want to hold this event. A story that also tied into the creation of the Southeastern Chapter.

"We got the idea for this Chapter of the Carolina Nurses League from the original Carolina Nurses League in Greensboro," she said. "I went to their ball one year and it was so beautiful, they recognized nurses and gave scholarships, that intrigued me. I give money to their scholarship but that's three hours away so I thought what are we going to do for our people around here."

Seeing as Whitley-Gray is the healthcare provider and owner of Destiny Total Healthcare in the small town of Burgaw, NC. That idea of wanting to give back to her local and surrounding nurses in southeastern NC led her to founding this chapter.

"After thinking that I said, you know what, I want to start one on the southeastern side so that I can recognize those that attend UNCW, Methodist College, Fayetteville State, James Sprunt and Sampson County."

"We encompass all of Southeastern, it doesn't matter what part of the medical field you're in," she said. "If you need help to go to medical school we're here to help with that. As for the ball, that just a little something extra special to recognize and thank those in this profession."

As part of that goal the Southeastern Chapter of Carolina Nurses League gave out many local and scholarship awards throughout the event.

These included the Florence Nightingale Award which went to a retired nurse, the Mary Eliza Mahoney Award, which honors the first black professional nurse, the Leadership Award which honored those that started the North Carolina Nurses League, the Support Staff of the Year, which was a board voted award for highlighting an individual that is a vital supporting member of the medical field, the Community Service Award which went to an organization with great presence in the community and the Edward T Lyon Award which honored the first male nurse.

The 2023 Inaugural Award Recipients were:

Support Staff of the Year — Jasmine Bowens

Community Service Award— Gamma Eta Eta Chapter of Chi Eta Phi

Leadership Award— The Carolina Nurses League

Edward T Lyon Award — Dr. Clifton Kenon Jr.

Mary Eliza Mahoney Award — Dr. Christy Swinson

Florence Nightingale Award — Barbara Brown

The recognition awards weren't the only gift granted that night as the members of the Southeastern of Carolina Nurses League also used this event to help build the future. That said, following the awards, they gave out $4000 worth of scholarships to aspiring nurses and nurse assistant.

Those recipients were Kaitlyn Beaver, Paula Becton, Shanita Randolph and Mary Goodman, each one of them received a $1000 scholarship.

Another major highlight from the event was that the Edward T Lyon recipient, Dr. Clifton Kenon Jr., was also the guest speaker. According to, breastfeedingrobe.org, Kenon is a public health professional working in international reproductive health and lactation. He's spoken worldwide on the importance of breastfeeding and the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. He has published in numerous journals and works actively with multiple domestic and international organizations.

He has been recognized by the Surgeon General, Former Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and former First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Initiative and much, much more. Currently he is the ranking Civil Servant in the Office of the Administration of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leading the largest and most awarded equity program in the country. Not to mention he's a graduate from James Sprunt.

As guest speaker he discussed many things is his speech but at the core of it was the importance of the nursing profession and it's need to continually grow more and more in the future.

Speaking of future growth, the Southeastern Chapter of Carolina Nurses League was only founded this year in January but has already reached this point. That success was even a shock to Whitley-Gray, feeling she'd share as she talked about what's next for the chapter.

"Honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed, this our first event and I didn't believe it was going to be this successful, I mean we sold out for the Ball," she said. "It's hard to put it into words but all of this is just like a dream because I didn't think we were going to do this well."

"We did though and my first thought was, well okay then, it's got to get bigger and better so what are we going to do next year," she said laughingly. "Either way, we're just excited for next year and to see what the future holds."

"We do take contributions because not only do we host this ball and raise money for scholarships, we also offer mentoring," she added. "So I'm a nurse practitioner, and I do precept students. Most of us most of the staff are nurses or educators, so we do all we do mentoring. Eventually I want to set it up where we help them with TEAs test for people that want to go to nursing school but have a hard time getting in because of that crazy test. So eventually we want to teach that test to them. Also CPR, if you actually go on our website it has a lot of things that we have coming."

To find out more about the Southeastern Chapter of Carolina Nurses League visit sccarolinanursesleague.org

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.