Manson one of 4 recipients of MLK, Jr. Distinguished Community Service Award

(Sponsored content) – Rev. Zynora D. Manson was one of the four recipients of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Community Service award for 2022, presented by the Henrico MLK Commemoration Association Jan. 17 in a virtual commemoration program. The other recipients were Dr. Emanuel Harris, Rev. Tyrone Nelson, and Dr. Angela Moseley.

"I am deepy humbled and grateful to God for this esteemed honor,” Manson said. “I’m appreciative for the village that has helped me reach and touch over 75,000 students, their families, and thousands of adults in various music ventures.”

Manson, a second-term president recently re-elected to serve again by The Henrico Ministers Conference, is no stranger to community service.

"I believe if we strive to love one another, we can see the need and meet the needs of each other,” Manson said.

As a retired 40-year music educator, Manson is the recipient of many awards, including the National PTA Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at Ward Elementary School in Varina. Her after-school choruses performed for Henrico County School Board and for four governors. She served as VCU Cooperating Teacher for four student teachers, was a recipient of the R.E.B. Fellowship to Egypt and Italy, was named the Henrico County Music Educator of the Year and earned the Distinguished Communicator Award and Telly Award for the documentary "Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

"I have had many life experiences that have called for the need to help others, including strangers,” Manson said.

Manson served for 18 years as the first female pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Sandston, where involvement in community health outreach, mobile vacation bible school, Henrico Because We Care Adoption, student scholarships, and missions outreach were operationalized.

As president and vice president of the Henrico Ministers Conference, Manson has spearheaded Missions Ministries, transporting and distributing county and community donated food and PPE supplies to the Connect Program residents and homeless people in four local hotels, as well as undergarments to inmates, hundreds of books, hats, gloves, socks, supplies and amenities to Henrico students in 14 Henrico County public schools. She also has assisted pastors and community in coping with COVID-19, advocated for HMC churches to serve as host sites for vaccinations, advocated for the abolishing of the execution law, advocated for community residents to register and vote and engaged in vital community issues.

Currently, the Henrico Ministers Conference is spearheading a literacy drive, collecting African American and multicultural books for K-5 students in at least three districts. (Make donations to Henrico Ministers' Conference through Givelify.)

"I am most grateful for my parents, husband, immediate family and the village of mentors who helped me along the way, to include the Henrico Ministers Conference, Dr. Lloyd Jackson, Dr. Milton Hathaway, and Dr. Joyce Foster,” Manson said. “I love the quote from Dr. King which states, ‘Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.”

Manson is the wife of Rev. Isaiah Manson, Sr.