Deryck Toles

WARREN — The Trumbull County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute hosted its annual scholarship roast at DiVieste’s Banquet Center Saturday and Deryck Toles, founder and CEO of Inspiring Minds, was the center of attention.

The organization, with branches in Youngstown and Warren, as well as several other states, was presented with a Community Service Award. Three Warren G. Harding High School seniors — Trinity Walker, Natalie James and Sonia Pitts — were awarded scholarships at the event.

In addition to those being honored and ARPI members present, many local elected officials, as well as State APRI President Karon Waites and State APRI Representative Andre Washington, were present at the event. Saxophonist David Howard provided background music during the afternoon. The fundraiser included a 50 / 50 raffle as well as several raffled gift baskets.

Trumbull County APRI Chapter President and event chairperson, Tim Callion, said, “The main purpose of this event is to provide funding for scholarships. This year we selected three recipients based on various factors, such as scholastic achievement, GPA and community activities.”

Darren Caffie, Master of Ceremonies, said, “APRI hosts one other fundraising event each year, a brunch in late March.”

“The Community Service Award is going to Inspiring Minds for the work they do in the community, such as tutoring kids and taking them to visit colleges. We are honoring their CEO, Deryck Toles, and he is the person being roasted. We will have a little bit of fun,” Callion said.

Toles endured many jokes at his expense by a series of roasters, which kept both him and the event attendees laughing for the duration of the ‘Interrogation.” The roasters made it clear that Toles not only could take a joke — as he was roasted in a very affectionate manner – but the impact he has made in both his professional and social circles was evident in the many speeches made during the event.

Toles said that while playing for the Indiana Colts, an injury prevented him from returning to football. He started meeting with students from the Warren City Schools.

“I was going through a transition from my injury to what I wanted to do next and realized how many opportunities I had,” Toles said.

“I started out sitting with five kids at McDonald’s over on South Street. I started meeting with them for an hour, and then two hours. I started telling them to bring their homework. They started asking if they could bring their friends. Now, 19 years later, we have eight Inspiring Minds chapters across the country,” Toles said.

Inspiring Minds of Warren partners with and supports the other chapters to make sure they get the staff training, the right people involved and fundraising in place.

“I realized how many opportunities I had because of football. What about the other 99% who may not be able to make it out of their situation due to a sport? I wanted to use my platform to uplift all of those folks,” he said.