Brooklyn group supports Penn Relays initiative
By Nelson A. King
Realizing the huge financial
burden in hosting Vincentian
athletes participating in the
prestigious Penn Relays at the
University of Pennsylvania in
Philadephia and wanting to help
defray the cost, a Vincentian
group in Brooklyn has been
making extraordinary efforts
in raising funds to help support
the athletes.
Since 2015, Club St. Vincent,
Inc., regardless of the weather
conditions — cold, blustery,
rain or snow — has every
year hosted a walkathon at
the expansive Marine Park in
Brooklyn in supporting the
initiative.
The cultural and educational
club held its fifth annual
walkathon on April 6, just a
couple weeks ahead of the Relays
Carnival, which takes place
annually, over three days, during
the last weekend in April.
Ancilla Friday, vice president
of Club St. Vincent, Inc. and
walkathon coordinator, told
Caribbean Life earlier this
week that club members
and members of the public
enthusiastically support her
group’s efforts.
“It was the best weather we
have had since we started this
walk,” she said of the April 6
walkathon. “The temperature
reached the 60s, which boosted
the spirits of our enthusiastic
supporters.
“We had a few new faces
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(walkers), who assured us they
are coming again next year,”
she added. “We began the
morning with prayer, followed
by a warm-up session with
Michael Hadaway.
“Members and supporters
then took off for the five-lap/
five-mile-walk around the
park,” continued the former
Club St. Vincent, Inc. president.
“Some even did a little more.”
After the walkathon, Friday
said participants “enjoyed a
back-home Saturday morning
breakfast / brunch, which
included bakes and saltfish.
“This was done with the love
and support of our people –
one people coming together to
promote our youth,” she said.
“Our yellow T-shirts were so
outstanding that heads were
turned; and we explained
to a few the reason for our
efforts, and we picked up a few
donations from passers-by.
“We encouraged our
supporters to take the trip to
the games at the end of the
month (April),” Friday added.
“We gave out water bottles,
etc.”
She said the walkathon,
which takes place on the first
Saturday in April every year,
is still “going strong” since its
inception.
“For many years before the
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Penn Relays program began,
Club St. Vincent, Inc. has always
represented St. Vincent and the
Grenadines with interest, pride
and dignity — from exhibitions
to expositions,” said James
Cordice, the Philadelphiabased
pioneer and coordinator
of the overall St. Vincent and
the Grenadines Penn Relays
initiative.
Ancilla Friday, second from left, vice president of Club St. Vincent, Inc. and coordinator of
the walkathon, fl anked by, left to right, Sandra Millington, president of Club St. Vincent,
Inc., Nollie Walkin, and Crispin Friday, Mrs. Friday’s husband, at a reception, in late April,
for Vincentian and Belizean athletes, at the Calabash Restaurant and Lounge on Lancaster
Avenue in Philadelphia. Photo by Nelson A. King
/BayRidgeNissan.com