What a crowd of people who descended on the Church of the Holy Nativity in the Bronx, New York on Saturday March 26, 2016, when the Sandy Point Benevolent Society (SPBS) held it's traditional Easter breakfast. Scores of attendees consumed the sumptuous dishes, connected, reconnected and fellowshipped with each other. The festivities began at the break of day with a brief welcome by the vice president Mr. Vincent Hodge who also asked God’s blessing on the gathering and the food. The function lasted well past one o’clock in the afternoon. By all accounts, the 5th annual production of the SPBS Easter breakfast was a hit.
For the past five years, the SPBS, a not for profit organization based in the US has successfully hosted an Easter Saturday breakfast, offering patrons delightful and tasty choices of traditional Easter foods. The group of hard working citizens, have also met with great success at re-uniting hundreds of citizens, especially Sandy Pointers and others from the adjoining villages residing abroad. Steadily, the number of supporters to the annual breakfast has grown and those committed to the cause of public service also continues to grow. Once again we heard the cry that a larger venue is needed to host the annual breakfast.
Our guests treated themselves to boiled and scrambled eggs, salt-fish, johnny cakes, conchie, mashed and whole green bananas, mackerel, dumplings, salt-fish balls, pumpkin and banana fritters, fried plantains, tasty bread pudding and many other treats including the much sort after "Bull Foot Soup" (SPBS VPs creation). Most cried out for more local bush tea, ginger beer and sorrel.
Members from other New York based organizations were also in attendance to support the breakfast and to promote their various community outreach initiatives. Thank you.
Later in the proceedings, President & Founder, Stewart Williams expressed heartfelt gratitude to the members of SPBS and to the entire team of workers and donors, who continue to immerse themselves in planning, organizing and delivering a successful event year after year.
He also offered special thanks to patrons who attend the much talked about breakfast annually, including sister organizations who continue to uphold the nation's motto of country above self in the work they do abroad for their respective Kittitian and Nevisian causes in the federation.
Williams took the opportunity to remind attendees of the remarkable work of the SPBS. He further mentioned the repeating and new scholarships being offered to qualified citizens who attended the Sandy Point High School/Charles E. Mills Secondary and Verchild's High School. These scholarships can be applied for on www.spbsinc.org. He also excited the grouping by announcing that the annual SPBS Banquet for 2016 only, will be held in St. Kitts on December 26, 2016 instead of in New York as is customary on Labor Day Saturday. For this year's Labor Saturday, there will be a "SPBS Scholarship Dinner" in New York on September 3, 2016. So save those dates, September 3, 2016 and December 26, 2016. Follow SPBS to St. Kitts for December 26, 2016 as we bring the curtain down on the SPBS/CEMSS 50th anniversary celebrations.
In the end we heard comments from our patrons like: "Wow", "Another smashing Easter Breakfast", "You guys could host a function", "You guys need a bigger place".
The SPBS breakfast chairperson, Mrs. Paulette Mills-Smithen thanks all who continue to contribute to the various fundraisers of the organization and looks forward to continued support for the annual Easter Breakfast. To those who donated dishes, THANK YOU. To Mr. Bernado Phipps, thank you for supplying the music.
Save the dates for the organization's Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony, this time in St. Kitts on Monday, December 26, 2016 and the SPBS Scholarship Dinner to be held on Saturday, September 3, 2016 at Maestro's in the Bronx, New York.
Thanks again to all for supporting the SPBS Easter Breakfast 2016.
