Nelson T. Gant’s Birthday Celebration

One man’s legacy lives on through the work of a local foundation.

Nelson T. Gant was a former slave who became a millionaire through his hard work and settled in Zanesville . Today the Nelson T. Gant Foundation met for the 11th time to celebrate his birthday and to raise money to keep the Historical Gant House updated. Martha Mitchell is the Chairman for the Fundraiser and says she has high hopes for the future.

"Mainly for people to have fun and also for people to continue to be supporters and come to the Gant House and see what we have done, " said Mitchell.

During the event the foundation had dancers, food and a guest speaker. Pastor, Gloria Wade Dillon is a Zanesville native and spoke about how people like Nelson T. Gant gave her inspiration.

"I’m going to talk about the folks who shoulders I stand on and so there are a lot of Nelson Gants that don’t have a foundation named after them but yet they impacted the lives of so many people, " said Gant.

There was a silent auction at the event where they had African sculptures and other hand crafted items for sale. If you didn’t attend Saturday you can find a board member to take donations or visit the Gant House directly.