Meet the Edwards Family

SUCCESS IS RELATIVE

The Edwards family’s last reunion was relatively successful, but they’d like to see even more relatives show up this year. And they’ve got some unique and creative ideas that should help accomplish that goal.

Two years ago, under the direction of Renardo Edwards, they had a solid turnout, as 85 people attended the reunion in Memphis, which was both fun and informative. Renardo says “we’re very proud of our Edwards Family Reunion 2023 book. My wife (Natricia) did a good job on this book, but an even better job for her family's Cunningham Family Reunion 2024 from last year. Her family reunion participants gave her and my son Cameron a standing ovation they were so pleased.”

Natricia Edwards says that in addition to her book, there were some other unique elements that made the 2023 reunion special. “We did cash prizes last reunion. The Kahoot game that we played. Gift cards for $25 or $50. We gave out a lot of cash!”

Speaking of cash, another unique and interesting thing the Edwards clan does is have a family fantasy football league. 14 people participated in the league last year, with the winner collecting $400.

The family is based in Alabama, but this year’s reunion will be held in Chicago. “One of the issues we’re going to discuss is renting a bus,” Renardo says. “The bus would be used to get people to the reunion. And we’re going to have a sneaker ball.”

While Renardo and his wife are still heavily involved in the planning, Janet Carr has taken over as the head of the committee, as the by-laws call for a new President every two years. Carr is hoping that they can get at least 100 people to attend this one, “just to explore Chicago, the pizza, the tall buildings and the great atmosphere.”

During the most recent meeting of the planning committee, Denise Edwards suggested a T-shirt design contest. And Franklin Gillette, one of the younger members of the committee, had some great ideas for attracting those who are even younger. “If there was a concert going on, they’re going to come. Even at an awards show, the people show up if they know they can possibly win something, or get recognized.“

While all families talk about how the older folks can get the younger family members to come out, Gillette suggests the opposite can happen, too. “I’m thinking they (the younger generations) can pull the parents out. I just came in 2023 from a Facebook post or I would not have known about it,” he says, reminding everyone of the role that social media can play. “Make this like something they don’t want to miss. They may want to take over and take it to another level in the future.”

For all of their unique ideas and thoughtful insights, the Edwards family has the same problem as most planners: they won’t know for sure how many are attending until it gets very close to the date. “A lot of people wait until like a month before the reunion,’” says committee member Leovetta Childrey. “We’ve got 98 that have RSVP’d, but only half of them actually sent money.”

Of course, it sometimes takes people awhile to make arrangements to take off work or plan their travel, but hopefully as many relatives as possible show up in Chicago for the Edwards Family’s 2025 reunion, because it’s going to be something special.

SIDEBAR: How to Play Kahoots

The game of Kahoots is played using cell phones or other electronic devices. Questions are displayed on a shared screen. Players answer on their own devices. You can create your own questions and answers so they can be tailored specifically for your family. Many people might get the right answer, but the game selects the first one to enter the answer in their phone as the winner.

Natricia Edwards says the game served as a great incentive for people to learn their family history. They do that BEFORE they actually play the game. “Basically, we post the oral history interviews on the Family Facebook page and draw the questions for Kahoots from the interviews. This motivates everyone to binge watch the oral history interviews before the Family Reunion if they want to be competitive in winning a prize."

She gave these examples of the types of questions that were asked once the game started: “We had several categories: Family History, Sports, General Trivia etc. Sample questions were...Name three Elders who met MLK. Name two of five people in our family who drive or drove trucks...Name the state flower of Tennessee.”

Since the game is played on electronic devices, many of the Edwards family elders didn't participate in answering the questions but Natricia says they “were tickled pink to have their names as answers to questions.”

SIDEBAR: How to play Fantasy Football

Fantasy football is based on real football, so you’ll need to know something about the NFL and its players. Each participant drafts his own team made up of NFL players. The standard draft goes in a predetermined order, then snakes back so the team with the last pick in the first round usually has the first pick in the second round, winding all the way back to where the last pick in the Round Two goes to the team that had the first pick in Round One. (Some leagues use an auction draft where each team has a given amount of money and has to decide how much to pay for each player.)

Once teams are chosen, they are awarded points based on how well the players on their team did in their real NFL games that week. Points are doled out for rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, number of catches and touchdowns. Some leagues throw in points for a great defensive performance or for sacks and interceptions.

There are a number of websites where you can set up a fantasy football league and they compile all the stats instead of someone having to do tons of work. These include ESPN, Yahoo, NFL.com/fantasy plus and the Sleeper App.

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MEET THE EDWARDS FAMILY