Meet the Departmental Progressive Club's New Officers

Alexandria Social and Community Service Organization Enters Its 96th Year

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

 And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

The moving refrain of the hymn, “In the Garden” was heard Friday night, January 13, in the Gibbon Street headquarters of the Departmental Progressive Club (DPC) during the ceremony installing the club’s new officers.  “In the Garden” is the official song of the DPC, an Alexandria African-American fraternal organization with a long history of community service.

The new officers were installed before a gathering of DPC members, city and state political leaders, and city officials. Attendees included Delegate Charniele Herring, City Manager James Parajon, and City Councilors Canek Aguirre, John Taylor Chapman, Aliya Gaskins and Kirk McPike.

Front row, left to right: Merrick T. Malone, Vice President, Christopher J. Lewis, President, Elijah W. Griffin, Sr., Financial Secretary, Scott A. Price, Treasurer; Back row, left to right: Daniel Selby, Board Member, L’Allegro Smith, Assistant Financial Secretary, Donal Goff, Board Member, William E. Chesley, Recording Secretary, William E. Campbell, House Committee Chair, Lawrence P. Robinson, Board Member; Not pictured, Vaughn Ambrose, Sergeant at Arms

Former School Board member Christopher Lewis took over from former School Board member William Campbell as the DPC’s President.  Campbell moves to the position of Chair of the House Committee which oversees the club’s physical plant.                                      

William Campbell and Christopher Lewis

Lewis thanked the DPC’s members and new officers and vowed to carry on the DPC’s traditions.

A slideshow presented by longtime DPC member Lawrence Robinson depicted decades of activities involving club members.

Lewis and master of ceremonies Merrick Malone, the DPC’s incoming Vice President, emphasized the club’s heritage and recalled the many DPC members who held leadership positions in the city.

Referring to DPC members and community leaders of the past such as Ferdinand Day, Melvin Miller and Nelson Greene, Lewis said, “We stand on the shoulders of others.”