Credt: Bravo
Utah Foster Care has released a statement, confirming the late Cameron Williams‘ role within their company.
After Cameron became a hot topic on the second season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and was later caught in the middle of a war of words between Lisa Barlow and Meredith Marks, the organization looked back on the time Cameron spent working with them and confirmed he never officially joined the board, as Lisa suggested.
On March 7, after naming off Cameron’s accolades, including his background directing Domo’s diversity efforts, his position as a Chair of Utah County Black Chamber of Commerce, and his personal experience with fostering, Utah Foster Care’s CEO, Michael J. Hamblin, offered an official statement.
“I was introduced to Cameron Williams in February 2021, by a Utah Foster Care employee who was acquainted with him. After communicating with Cameron via email regarding his desires to help children and families, Utah Foster Care’s board chair and I met with him in March 2021. We were impressed and excited by Cameron’s desire to make a difference and invited him to join the Utah Foster Care board of directors,” Michael revealed.
“We planned for Cameron to attend the next Utah Foster Care board meeting, held in May 2021, where his joining the board of directors would be formalized by board vote. Note – while a vote is required, I do not know of anyone who has been invited to join and not received the votes to do so,” he continued.
Although Cameron was invited to become a part of the board at Utah Foster Care, he ultimately informed Michael in April 2021 that he would be moving to Chicago to tend to his health issues and his joining of the board was put on hold.
Two months later, in June 2021, Michael received an email from Cameron.
“If there is ANY WAY at all that I can be of service or help in the initiatives of Utah Foster Care this year, PLEASE let me know. I want to help in any way I can, and I have more love and appreciation in my heart than I ever have,” Cameron had written.
At that point, Michael replied to Cameron, informing him that he and his team were happy to have him join the Utah Foster Care board of directors.
Sadly, the following day, he learned Cameron had died.
“You can’t imagine how shocked and saddened I was to learn that he passed away the following day. Cameron had been excited to assist in training staff and foster families regarding diversity and inclusion. He was familiar with a number of resources that would be useful for families caring for children of color, to assist them in keeping those children connected to their race and culture. Our prayers are with his friends and family – he will be missed,” Michael added.
Following the statement from Utah Foster Care, Lisa responded to a fan on Twitter who said it was “so gross” that her RHOSLC castmates were “trying to discredit” the accomplishments of her deceased friend.
“It is so gross the ladies were trying to discredit your deceased friend’s accomplishments. Cameron was lucky to have your friendship and the organization was must have benefited greatly to have him involved,” the fan wrote.
“Thank you! He did so much for so many and those who knew him well; understood this,” Lisa responded, linking the article to Utah Foster Care’s statement.
Meanwhile, on Meredith’s Twitter page, she reacted to a fan who called her out for suggesting Lisa had gotten a blog posted to Utah Foster Care changed to cover her alleged lies about Cameron being on the board.
“Meredith, are you disparaging a black man’s accomplishments and legacy to prove some point? Does anybody else see how sick this is?” the fan tweeted.
“No love. I am just exposing continual lies,” Meredith replied. “Lisa did not have to post this. The original was all over twitter previously and not posted by me.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season two reunion concludes this Sunday, March 13, at 8/7c on Bravo.