From left: Lions Club Secretary Oralie Boirard, Jeremiah David, Lions Club board member Jennifer Johnson, Jeremiah’s mother Amewsika Jones and Claudette Forsythe Labega last week Friday.
PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Lions Club presented young Charlotte Brookson Academy (CBA) for the Performance Arts student Jeremiah David with a cheque for US $2,500 on Friday. School Director Claudette Forsythe-Labega reached out to the Lions Club in May on behalf of her student, requesting a donation to assist Jeremiah to travel to the U.S. where he would attend the Junior Training programme at the world-renowned Broadway Dance Center in New York City.
The young dancer received a partial scholarship to attend the dance programme for a six-week intensive training from June 25 to August 3. He has since been trying to raise the additional funds he needs to travel and participate in the training.
Besides reaching out to government, businesses and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for assistance, Jeremiah and his mother started selling food and other homemade treats at the school and on his mother’s job.
The Lions Club annually organizes the Student Excellence Awards (SEA) project for recognising students who excel in other areas besides academics, such as social, artistically or in sports, just to mention a few. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the club was unable to execute the SEA project this year and took advantage of the opportunity to assist Jeremiah in accomplishing his dream.
At the presentation, Forsythe mentioned that Jeremiah not only excels in the arts, but academically as well. He is also a role model and mentor to the younger students at CBA.
“Jeremiah inquired as to how he could join the Lions Club, as he too would like to assist other persons in the community. We encouraged him to join the Alpha LEO Club upon his return home in August. The club challenged Jeremiah to assist them with organising a fundraising dance concert for the youth in the future. The Lions Club is happy to assist the young promising dancer a phenomenal opportunity to excel professionally and artistically, as he participates in the summer dance programme.
“Funding for the St. Maarten Lions projects is possible through fundraising events such as the recently-held Fundraising Bingo and Car Raffle, which we host annually to raise funds for our community projects,” stated the club on Tuesday.
The St. Maarten Lions Club is part of Lions Club International, the world’s largest service club organisation with 46,000 clubs and more than 1.4 million members in more than 200 countries around the world.
