Governor Ajamu Baly and the eight persons who received Royal Decorations on Friday evening.
DAWN BEACH--Coach Tom Burnett, the Sports Editor at “The Daily Herald”, who is also instrumental in moulding many young minds on the island, was amongst eight persons in St. Maarten who were honoured with a Royal Decoration for their prolonged outstanding service to the community, during the King’s Day reception at J.W. Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort and Spa on Friday evening.
The ceremony was part of the King’s Day celebration themed “Community Unity: The diversity of volunteerism”.
Honoured as Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau were Burnett for his services in youth welfare and Claudette Labega-Forsythe for her services in the field of education, youth welfare and culture, while Memberships in the Order of Orange Nassau were granted to M.N. Arrindell-Simpson for her work in the field of elderly welfare and reading promotion; Bregje van’t Hof-Boetekees for her services in the field of healthcare; Pamela Sims for her services in the field of animal welfare; Garth Steyn for his work in the field of shipping and youth welfare; Mercedes van der Waals-Wyatt for her work in the field of preventative health care; and Louis Wever for his service in the field of charities, care and health.
In remarks at the ceremony Governor Ajamu Baly said the varied community work of those who were decorated touched and impacted the lives of many in society, resulting in enhanced positive community development and ultimately community unity.
He said community unity is important for social, economic, political and the overall well-being and progress of a society. A united community encourages persons to work together towards common goals and the common good. “As the gap between the haves and the haves not grows larger worldwide and within our community, if we do not do anything about this, societal problems will only get worse. When a community is united the people within that community are more likely to extend a helping hand and assist the most vulnerable within the community,” said Baly in elaborating on the theme.
“This act of community awareness and unity is not unfamiliar to St. Maarten. Traditionally our society has always been one characterised by support, encouragement, empathy, understanding and goodwill towards one another. colloquially termed as ‘jollification’.
“And although traditionally seen when building homes and other physical structures, I encourage you to be inspired by the commendable citizens who will be honoured … because they have transcended from that traditional focus of Jollification to many different areas of society where a helping hand is needed to build character, self-confidence, pride, our community unity and therefore our nation. We are thankful for the added value they provide to our community and their contribution to the enhancement of community unity and St. Maarten’s overall well-being.”
Baly said he was delighted, on behalf of King Willem-Alexander, to recognise the eight individuals for their contribution to community unity through their diversity in volunteerism and to present them with their Royal Decorations.
“Our recipients this evening have portrayed continued exemplary work in and for our community with an impressive display of selfless service ranging from filling a void and lack of quality service; encouraging and providing a skill-set, therefore creating and expanding the possibility of job opportunities for our youth; promoting and aiding the development of a compassionate community; transforming lives; transformative youth empowerment; championing for awareness; relentlessly providing selfless care and providing vital support to the vulnerable in times of need," said Baly.
“With this extensive list of achievements as just mentioned, one would think it to be an easy task to find and spot these individuals within our society, but it is not … because these persons do what they do without looking for any recognition. Except for the individuals and lives of those impacted by their work, their work usually goes unnoticed and they function under the radar of recognition,” said Baly.
