Dr. Lonnie Randolph Jr., president of the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, will be the featured speaker at the Camden/Kershaw County Branch NAACP’s 25th annual Freedom Fund banquet Saturday.

The program will begin at 6 p.m. at Bethlehem Baptist Church’s family life center, 19 Ward Road, Lugoff. Ticket donations are $25 each. For more information, contact the Rev. Eddie Moore at 273-9938, Sylvia Springs at 432-5702 or Virginia Wylie at 438-2536.

A native of Columbia, Randolph attended public schools and graduated from Dreher High School. He attended Benedict College, where he studied biology, and later graduated from the Southern College of Optometry with a Doctor of Optometry degree in 1977.

Randolph has maintained a private practice in Columbia during the past 31 years. He is a former president of the South Carolina Optometric Association and has been recognized as Optometrist of the Year. While managing his practice, Randolph also volunteered his services as the physician for Palmetto Health’s free eye clinic which provides care for students in grades K-12.

Now in his eighth year as president of the state NAACP, Randolph has had a longstanding interest in advancing human and civil rights for all people. He was recently elected as a member of the NAACP Special Contributions Fund Board of Trustees. He is a former chairman of the State Consumer Affairs Commission and was a member of the commission for more than 30 years. He is active in several community organizations, including the University of South Carolina Citizens Advisory Council, Education Equity and the Columbia Branch NAACP, where he serves as president.

Randolph’s prior service to the community has been through his involvement with organizations such as the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, Columbia Free Medical Clinic Board, and the South Carolina Commission for the Blind’s Diabetes Task Force.