SXMElections.com

MARIGOT--Organizers declared the lunch and concert for senior citizens at Riviera One on Saturday a resounding success.

An unprecedented number of seniors, family members and caregivers from Bethany Home and St. Martin Home attended the event. With estimates of close to 500 for the lunch, the large hall was filled to capacity with extra tables set up outside.

This was the second edition of the annual lunch and concert organized by Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association and public works association Batiments Travaux Publiques (BTP).

President Aline Hanson and several elected officials were present for the event. Also spotted mixing with the seniors were former Mayor Albert Fleming, former President of the Collectivité Alain Richardson and artist Roland Richardson.

An interesting addition to the event was the showing of archive photos of St. Martin in the old days projected onto a flat screen TV.

“The objective was to get as many senior citizens as possible out for the lunch,” explained Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association President Etienne “Rocky” Andrew. “It’s our way of saying thank you to the older folk, who worked tremendously hard to make St. Martin what it is today. They have made the sacrifice for us, the younger generation, and this is the least we can do for them, to put something together that they can enjoy.

“I want to especially thank all the senior citizen staff from both sides of the island, because, as you can imagine with such a large number of people to manage it’s not easy and I want to congratulate them for their love, patience, courage, and the faith. That job has to be done with a lot of love, care and tenderness. When it comes to giving back to our seniors, there is no border. God forbid any restrictions are imposed in the future, as we would be just like a crab shackled in a cage.”

From 2:30pm onwards a concert was held with a large array of performers to entertain the seniors.

“You would think by the end of it the seniors would be tired and sleepy, but there was none of that,” Etienne added. “When it finished at 6:00pm, some of them did not want to leave. When Juko and the Boulogne Band played, it was very festive with dancing. They really enjoyed it.”

Etienne expressed a heartfelt thank-you to caterer Clement van Heyningen and his staff for the lunch, all the performing artists and the sponsors for making the event a great success.