Mother Easter Baptist Church Missionary Society will host a Women’s Conference starting Friday, Sept. 27, with a fellowship supper in the E.H. Hopkins Fellowship Hall.

The theme of the conference is “Daughter’s of the Legacy, Inspired by the Past, Motivated for the Future (Stir up the Gift).”

During the fellowship supper, there will be a panel discussion related to the theme. The panel members are Isabella Brooks, Lisa Hill, Tee Cee Daniels, Tonita Scott, Bernice Randall, and Patricia Merrit.

The conference will continue Saturday at 10 a.m.. with praise and worship. During this session the Rev. Zilphia Dorsett of Friendship Baptist Church will be the guest speaker.

Session two will consist of motivational stories and will conclude with a Legacy Walk. All are asked to wear African attire.

The conference will conclude with a luncheon in the E.H. Hopkins Fellowship Hall. Mayor Mary Jo Haywood of Camilla, Ga., will give the keynote address.

Haywood was born in the Oak Grove community of Mitchell County and graduated from Camilla Consolidated High School as class valedictorian. She entered Albany State College but had to withdraw, after the death of her mother, to care for her six younger siblings. Years later she returned as a part-time student, taking classes whenever she could. After 28 years, she graduated from Albany State University in 1995 with honors.

A former Sunday School teacher at her Oak Grove Baptist Church, she has served on the Mitchell County Board of Education; on the Mitchell County Board of Tax Assessors; as an officer in the PTA; and on a school advisory committee. She also served as branch and district secretary in the NAACP. She was on the founding board of the New Hope Childcare Center — the county’s first federally funded childcare center. She has also held offices in several other organizations.

She has received numerous awards in community service including two Congressional Service Awards, The Southeast Regional State and Local NAACP Service Awards, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Lambda Xi Omega Service Award, and the SoWeGa Chapter American Business Women Outstanding Leadership Award. She was also recognized by the City of Atlanta for her fund-raising efforts during its Missing Children Crisis.

She is currently a self-employed paralegal, specializing in handling Social Security disability cases and on Nov. 6, 2007, she was elected as the may of Camilla, Ga. — the first African-American and first female to hold that position.

The public is encouraged to attend and there is no fee to attend the conference.