Their tradition of annual family reunions began in Kansas City, Missouri 53 years ago at Adriene White’s grandmother’s house.“People come to town, we used to stay at each other’s house but now with 500 people everybody can’t fit in the yard and everybody can’t fit in the houses so now we use hotels,” said White. Her family organizes hundreds of relatives to meet up in a different city every year on Labor Day Weekend. Together they go by the initials R.I.H.B.Y, which stands for the last names of the major branches of the family. Each year, they review their family history.“We all originated from the Ivory family,” said Cunnie Randle. “There were three boys and four girls. Those girls married off to Randle, Holliday, Young and Buchanan. That’s how the tree works and it just multiplied.”This year they planned to meet in Houston, Texas but decided to move the reunion online.“Our number one goal is to keep our elders healthy,” said Lisa Randle. “We know how important it is to them to keep the tradition going because you never know, you might not be here for the next one.”Over the years, the R.I.H.B.Y family has faced a number of challenges including a hurricane which prevented some family members from attending their gathering in Myrtle Beach a few years ago. White said they all contributed donations to help relatives in need of support. They also have a scholarship for graduating seniors headed to college. “If you don’t have anybody else, you have your family,” said White. She says there are typically five or six generations represented at their reunions. “God just had his hand on us all these 53 years and so we have to give him the glory,” said Connie Randle. They hope to reunite in person next year.