This past Friday February 5, 2016 the members of Soroptimist Club of Grand Turk hosted its main fundraising event under the theme” A night of Culture: Food, Dress and Entertainment”.
The event was well supported by members of the community of Grand Turk, in attendance were many senior officials of government and the community. The moderator for the evening was Ms. Angela Freites.
There were a number of dishes representing a majority of the nationalities residing in Grand Turk, such as Jamaica, Guyana, Nigeria, Barbados, Haiti, Dominican Republic, USA, Philippines, Cayman, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands, and the evening’s musical entertainment was provided by Mr. Dudley Been.
Following the opening prayer by Sister Agnes Kendal, President, Alexa Cooper-Grant in her welcoming remarks enlightened the audience on the history of SI Grand Turk, noting that Soroptimism (the longest serving women’s organization in the TCI), was introduced to these islands in 1978 by Mrs. Ena Collymore-Woodstock, who was at the time President of the Caribbean Area Network (known today as SICN) and Magistrate of the TCI. In 1979 the first Soroptimist club was chartered on the Island of Grand Turk under the leadership of Mrs. Cynthia Astwood the first President and the Patron of the Soroptimist Daycare center, and is still today a very active member of SI Grand Turk.
President Alexa spoke on the importance of this fundraising initiative, noting that all proceeds raised will be used for the much needed repairs to the Day Care center building which has sustained roof damages during the passage of Hurricane Ike in 2008. She mentioned that the pre-school (Ena Woodstock Preschool), named in honor of founding member Mrs. Woodstock, operated well over 30 years, catering to the underprivileged children in the community of Grand Turk. Despite the closure of the preschool, much strides are being made to repair the building.
The Entertainment for the evening was centered around culture. There was a demonstration by the moderator who is also a Culture Officer at the TCI Tourist Board, on the significance of the ‘Duster and Florida Water’ in the TCI, and also a display of the National Dress. She highlighted the colors in the national dress and explained the colors each island represents. Mention was also made of the brainchild of the national dress, Mr. David Bowen and Ms. Valarie Jennings-Forbin. There was also a Nigerian fashion and dance performance depicting the dress of our African sisters. The performances from other nationalities such as Jamaica, Haiti and the TCI were thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd. We were honored with the presence of Little Ms. Summa Jam 2015- Renee Myers, who also performed a skit entitled ‘The Salt Raker Man’.
The evening was one spent embracing culture through the three pillars; Food, Dress and Entertainment. There were giveaways complimentary of Lime TCI and Sister Michelle Fulford-Gardiner.
In moving the vote of thanks, President Alexa expressed thanks to the many persons for donating the various dishes and special thanks to Mrs. Jenny Canahan of Osprey Beach Hotel for her generous donation of various dishes for which we were grateful. Thanks were also expressed to our fellow sister Soroptimist for their participation in helping to make the evening a very successful one. Lastly, special thanks was given to the audience for being participative and supportive of the International Evening, and she encouraged them to continue to support our future fundraising initiatives of the club and assured them that their contributions are very much appreciated and vital to the sustainability of our continuing community based projects.
