The best way to describe the 47th annual Need Benefit Dinner-themed “Leading the Way” is you had to be there.

SHINING STARS— Anthony Hawkins, Royce Tipper and Malik Johnson.

On March 15 at the Pittsburgh Hilton, more than 900 guests were there and witnessed 42 students receive over $200,000 in scholarships. The deserving students represented the region, not just the city of Pittsburgh.

This year’s recipient of the Rho Boule (Sigma Pi Phi) $20,000 ($5,000 each year for four years) scholarship was Armani Davis, a senior at Steel Valley High School with a 3.31 GPA. His activities included drama club, yearbook, school newspaper, the environmental club and captain of the football team for three years. Davis is the first member of his family to attend college.

The white doors of Zion COGIC Church at 8304 Frankstown Ave. were open to welcome the community of Homewood/East Hills March 28.

Formerly New Beginnings Church in Braddock, Rev. Gregory Greene, led his family and ministry to a higher ground, which happens to be the community where he grew up. Those who attended the inaugural service were delighted and filled with hope for the area’s future.

SOUL PROVIDERS—Reverend Gregory Greene and wife, Thera Greene; daughters Veronica Greene and Kezia Greene, Elder Mark Graves Sr., and wife, Yvonya; Joyce Todd and Elder Steve Todd.

The 56th NAACP Annual Human Rights Dinner will be held May 6 at 6 p.m. in the Omni William Penn. Guest speaker will be Rehema Ellis, NBC News correspondent.

Ellis joined NBC News as a general-assignment correspondent, based in New York, in December 1993. Ellis had been a news anchor at WHDH-TV in Boston, working on weekend newscasts and “Urban Update,” WHDH-TV’s weekly half hour news broadcast, since 1990.

While in Boston, Ellis provided live coverage of the Pope’s visit to Denver and anchored a half-hour special for WHDH on the Pope’s visit. She also reported on Coretta Scott King’s 1993 fight to bring the Martin Luther King Jr. papers from Boston University to the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, Ga. In 1991, she followed Nelson Mandela from New York to Boston on his historic visit to the United States.

With spring here, it’s time to dust off the grill (if you put it away, that is) and showcase your skills with an early start to one of America’s favorite family pastimes—charcoal grilling. An outdoor cookout is an inexpensive way to gather family and friends for great-tasting barbecue that celebrates the start of warmer weather.

Whether it’s a quick meal fired up for the family, or a big backyard cookout for the whole neighborhood, grilling gives you the flexibility to prepare delicious food that feeds a crowd without spending a fortune. Try these cash-saving tips: