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Antoinette Essa surprises mentor for Month of Giving

Posted at 7:05 AM, Dec 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-16 07:05:32-05

RICHMOND, Va. -- Antoinette Essa surprised a prolific scholar and longtime professor as part of the CBS 6 Month of Giving.

Dr. John Kinney, who  served as Dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University for 27 years, retired in June.

Kinney, who served as the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Beaverdam, Virginia, for more than 40 years, has mentored hundreds of students at VUU and throughout the country.

Although he retired, he is still a professor of theology at the university.

"This is one of those moments that catch you and you don't quite understand,"  Kinney said. "I was pulling your files and records."

Essa, who surprised Kinney with some gift cards to his favorite restaurants, is a graduate student at the school.

"Dr. Kienny... is my mentor and has stepped in as an advisor," Essa said. "So it was even more poignant for me to do this."

Kinney has paid it forward through his teaching and preaching and is admired for his guidance, wisdom, creative thinking and leadership.

He and his wife, Dr. Quentina, are the parents of seven children. They have twelve grandchildren and several Godchildren.

Every day through December, a CBS 6 team member will surprise someone in the community with a random act of kindness.

The CBS 6 Month of Giving is possible due to a partnership with Union Bank and Trust.

Watch CBS 6 Month of Giving segments each day or catch up online.