BOARD MEMBERS
Vanis Daniels
President
Vanis Daniels is a proud father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He has resided in the Tri-Cities since 1951. Vanis is a graduate of Pasco High School and served in the U. S. Army. Prior to retirement, he was employed as a fuel operator for Columbia Marine Lines. He also worked on the Hanford Site for Westinghouse and Bechtel as a manager in Decommissioning and Decontamination and was also employed at Battelle in Inhalation Toxicology.
Since retirement from Hanford, Vanis and his wife own and operate Uncle Brother’s Fish Fry (UBFF), a mobile food service specializing in fried catfish. UBFF has also been used to provide support for local education scholarship fundraisers. Vanis often honors requests to provide an African American historical perspective of life in the Tri-Cities to the Tri-City Herald, local high schools, college students, and other local organizations.
Shawn Fite
Vice President
Shawn is a life-long resident of the Tri-City area, raised in Richland and has lived in Pasco and Kennewick as an adult. He has served his country in the US Army and National Guard. He’s been volunteering/donating time, money and DJ services since the early 90s (YMCA youth sports and community organizations). He’s very proud of AACCES’s efforts to uplift and enrich the community over the years. Shawn encourages anyone with even a small amount of interest to come and check us out.
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Antoinette Fite
Secretary/Communications Chair
Antoinette has been volunteering in the area for 30 years. Longer than that if you count church-based community activities. Coaching YMCA sports was one of her favorite volunteer activities along with helping with the AACCES Sweethearts fundraising events. Antoinette started as a volunteer with AACCES in the early 00’s and soon became a member. She is proud of all the good things AACCES has done in the community and looks forward to continued contributions to the Tri-Cities community.
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Leonard Moore
History & Recognition
Leonard Moore is a founding member of AACCES. Since the organization’s incorporation, in November 2003, Leonard has served in different roles—first as Vice President, and now History & Recognition Committee Chair. Leonard and other early AACCES members spent countless hours conducting and filming interviews with former Hanford workers as part of a project to capture and preserve the experiences of African Americans who came to the area to work on the 1940’s era Manhattan Project at Hanford. Leonard’s ties to the Tri-Cities of Washington reach back to the early 1940’s when his father, Thomas Moore, worked on a railroad crew for the emerging Hanford Site and later established several private businesses in Pasco, WA. Today, Leonard still operates his family’s metal recycling business, Tommy’s Steel & Salvage, Inc.
Vanessa Moore
Treasurer
Vanessa Moore was born and raised in Richland, WA. As a Staffing Coordinator with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Vanessa plays an integral part in recruiting and hiring individuals for positions in various STEM fields. Vanessa holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Washington State University. Her entrepreneurial pursuits lead her to create two businesses and establish a charitable non-profit corporation. She has over 35 years of volunteer service in the local Tri-Cities community, including the United Way, American Heart Association, PTA, March of Dimes, and AAAS. She is an experienced event coordinator and project lead. Vanessa is currently serving as the AACCES Treasurer. Vanessa believes community is the key word in African American Community, Cultural & Educational Society.
Cecilia Randolph
Membership & Recruitment
Cecilia is one of the founding members of AACCES and currently serving as Membership and Recruitment chairperson. She is married with four children and 23 grandchildren.
She has lived most of her life in Tri-cities. She is a licensed Producer (funeral homes). She retired in 2023, She has been volunteering and helping several nonprofit organizations in our area.
Most of all she loves to work with and help the youth in our community get a better education with AACCES scholarships.
Her volunteer and serving efforts over the past 25+ years has reflected the AACCES motto, "Building Bridges and Bringing People Together".
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Hannah Bonham
Active Member
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Shantel Ealy-Perry
Clothing Drive Volunteer
Michael Henry
Active Member
Felissa Taylor-Woods
Active Member
Felissa Taylor~Woods’ love for history lead her to the founding of Peachtree Heritage Project Org.
She is a proud member of AACCES, as well as a blogger, an accomplished genealogist and historical researcher of enslaved peoples, free persons of color and the construction era.
Felissa, is the former Eastern Washington “New York Life” Afro American Ambassador & Producer.
In 2021, she was a guest speaker at Columbia Basin College.
Felissa enjoys challenging the common misconceptions of the early founding of United States social institutions.
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Damien Davis
Active Member
Dr. Denise Algood
Active Member
Stacy Estes
Scholarship Committee Chair