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GARYSBURG – For the first time since the chapter was founded, the Northampton County NAACP elected a woman, Rev. Dawn Daly-Mack, to be President.

She ran unopposed as the other nominee withdrew prior to the election.

Daly-Mack is no newcomer to advocacy or activism. She serves as an Associate Minister at Cool Spring Missionary Baptist Church in Gaston where she serves as the health lead. Professionally, she is Registered Nurse ACO Care Coordinator with Rural Health Group, Inc. in Roanoke Rapids. She is also a small business owner. Her company, Double D Health and Safety, has provided CPR instruction free of charge to several area churches and partnered with Enviva to deliver free Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to those churches.

In her role as Medical Director of EdensLyfe, she lends her medical expertise to the new family-owned vitamin, supplement, and health products company.

Rev. Daly-Mack earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Rutgers University in New Jersey and Associate Degree in Nursing from Halifax Community College.

Prior to becoming Northampton NAACP President, Rev. Daly-Mack served the chapter as the Health Director. In that role, she was tasked with keeping the membership up to date of the state of health in our community as well as partnering with other organizations to help bring resources to the underserved population. She also has been instrumental in helping to the lead the chapter’s Census Outreach and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts by partnering with other non-partisan local, state, and national organizations to encourage voter participation by hosting informational events and sponsoring rides to the polls.

Rev. Daly-Mack has spent the past several years being intentional with connecting with local, regional, and state organizations to develop relationships that will help improve the lives of the citizens of the Roanoke Valley. She was a member of the 27th graduating class of Leadership North Carolina, as well as NC Rural Center’s Homegrown Leaders and Roanoke Valley Community Voices. She currently serves locally on the boards of Hannah’s Place and CADA. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the North Carolina Museum of History Annual African American Cultural Celebration and Eat Smart Move More NC. Earlier this year, she was one of the recipients of the Roanoke Valley African American Heroes Award and the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award.

“When I joined the NAACP just four short years ago, it never entered my mind that I would someday become President,” she stated. “I only wanted to find out where I could serve my community. I was impressed with such a large group of engaged community members working together for the good of Northampton County and vicinity. It was a joy to meet monthly with civic leaders, pastors, educators, and community members at large to hear about the state of our county. I was taken by the sense of community, connection and cooperation found within those meetings. The meetings were so good, I didn’t want them to end.

“Over the past two years, we have become aware of, or reminded of issues that may have been buried,” she continued. “It is as if some scabs were removed, and we have fresh injuries. We must work together to heal the hurts and bind the wounds of all people that have been hurt, even sometimes unknowingly by we ourselves.

“I am grateful to the membership that has put its trust in me to lead. I do not take this lightly! Our past president, Tony Burnette, is a hard act to follow. I plan to build upon the initiatives that he started and form new partnerships to build the capacity of our chapter to increase our positive impact. I want to see younger members join because we “seasoned” members will not always be around. We must be able to pass the torch, or it will go out,” Rev. Daly-Mack concluded.