Winifred A.R. Bama Way (Bronx)
Present name:None
Location:At the northwest corner of East 169th Street and Fulton Avenue
Honoree: Winifred Bama (1955-2021) was a role model for girls in sports in Sierra Leone. She ran the 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1500 meters (Middle Distance), events in which she won many gold medals. She also won a Bronze medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. In the 1980s she came to the United States as a missionary of the United Gospel Crusade in Philadelphia. She then decided to settle in the States to continue her mission. She was the first member of the Christian Community Deliverance Church, opened in June 1974 by the late Overseer and Senior Pastor Reverend Druscilla Warrington. Through her work there, she provided poor women and their children food, clothing, and shelter in Ivory Coast, Senegal, and all of West Africa. She was a friend of George Manneh Oppong Weah, the 25th President of Liberia, and saved his two daughters by adopting them during the Liberian Civil war of 1989-1991. In 1992, she started working at St. Barnabas Hospital as a CNA in the nursing home and later continued on to the Pediatric Nursery caring for newborn babies. In 2007, she retired from St. Barnabas Hospital to focus on her foreign mission and community outreach. Through Christian Community Deliverance Church, she opened Churches in Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Liberia. She was also an active member iof the Fulton Avenue Church of God where she led the outreach group in conducting coat, toy, and food drives for those in need as well as gathering clothes for the Salvation Army. She was an active member of the Community Board, qas a CERT (Community emergency response team), and a community partner at the 42nd Precinct. She later became an active member of New Covenant Dominion Cathedral where she continued her foreign mission activities. (Gibson)
LL:2022/54