The Brooklyn-based Grenadian American Ex-Lecturers’ Affiliation (GAETA) on Dec. 28 honored the Grenadian cultural group Quake USA and 6 excellent people throughout its fifth Annual Yuletide Gala on the Nazareth Regional Excessive College in Brooklyn.
Cecily Mason, GAETA’s long-standing president, instructed Caribbean Life that the honorees had been acknowledged for his or her “excellent contributions within the Diaspora within the areas of tradition, neighborhood service and training.”
Moreover Quake USA, who had been acknowledged for his or her roles in tradition, Eudene Mason and Beverly Hood had been honored for neighborhood service, Hermelene Thomas and Dahrel Cadore for training, Carolann Perry for entrepreneurship, and Eugene McQueen as inspirational motivator.
Through the ceremony, the affiliation obtained recognition from a number of native elected officers, together with a proclamation from Sen. Kevin Parker, consultant for the 21st State Senate District in Brooklyn; and citations from Sen. Roxanne Persaud, the Guyanese-born consultant for the 19th State Senate District in Brooklyn; New York Metropolis Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants; and Metropolis Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse, the Haitian-born consultant for the 46th Council District in Brooklyn.
As well as, Mason mentioned the legislators acknowledged GAETA for its “steady service to the residents and communities that it serves.”
“The affiliation may be very grateful to the companies meted out to the group by the regionally elected officers, and we’re pleased with the present working relationship, which allows it to hold out its objectives of service to the neighborhood,” she mentioned.
“The affiliation additionally thanks all its supporters within the Diaspora who make this doable,” Mason added.
Cheryl Vincent, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn-based Quake USA Cultural Group, instructed Caribbean Life instantly after the presentation: “It’s an honor to be honored. Our cultural group has been doing this for 37 years.
“It says loads of the unity and our love for one another, and our love for preserving and showcasing our tradition,” she added.
Vincent mentioned the non-profit entity is “the embodiment of a dream, began in 1980 by Spice Island Youthquake (SIY) in Grenada – the distinguished mother or father folk-liturgical cultural group, touring England, Scotland, Eire, United States and Canada, and likewise gave delivery to Quake USA.
“Out of nostalgia and togetherness, members of SIY, who migrated to the USA bought collectively in 1986, shaped Quake USA – the longest repeatedly operating Caribbean-American folk-liturgical group within the USA,” Vincent mentioned.
Since its inception, she mentioned Quake USA has been “preserving and showcasing the people tradition of the Caribbean by varied staged occasions, which incorporate singing, choreographed dance, poetry, drumming and drama.”
Though the membership consists principally of Grenadians, Vincent mentioned Quake USA has opened its doorways to members from different Caribbean islands.
She mentioned one of many missions of Quake USA is “to provide again to needy causes in Grenada and overseas.”
“In an effort to increase our group’s impression and affect regionally and in our native Grenada and the broader Caribbean, we’ve got persistently raised funds to finance a medical help program, which supplies much-needed provides to nursing properties in Grenada,” mentioned Vincent, who can be a registered nurse by coaching.
“As we have fun the fortieth 12 months anniversary of Spice Island Youthquake, we’re extraordinarily proud to be part of this legacy,” she added. “SIY has left an indelible make within the lives and hearts of its members and all these whose lives we proceed to the touch.”
Hood instructed Caribbean Life that the award made her “reasonably particular.”
“What I do for the neighborhood, I’m appreciated,” she mentioned. “On the finish of the day, you understand that folks respect what you’re doing.
“As a Grenadian, when folks honor you, it’s a terrific honor,” Hood added. “It makes me really feel to do extra. It’s the start of a journey.”
McQueen additionally instructed Caribbean Life that she was “completely gratified for this honor.
“I need to thank the Grenadian-American Ex-Lecturers Affiliation, particularly Ms. Cicely Mason for all the time recognizing folks from the neighborhood,” she mentioned, additionally expressing profound gratitude to family and buddies for his or her unconditional help alongside her journey.
McQueen, who began working for town’s Division of Well being and Psychological Hygiene (DOHMH) at 30, as an assistant public well being advisor, retired as a supervising public well being advisor and operations supervisor on the Level of Shelling out (POD) in the course of the COVID pandemic.
Through the years, she mentioned she has obtained many awards, however added that the Yuletide honor touched her “deeply as a result of it’s from the Grenadian-American Ex-Lecturers Affiliation Inc. and politicians in the neighborhood.”
Cadore, was born on Could 16, 2001, mentioned he joined a S.T.E.M program in his senior 12 months in highschool, making a prototype for a prosthetic arm with two buddies.
He mentioned this creation led them to receiving severalawards and that he was offered with an enormous trophy at his highschool commencement in June 2019.
After enrolling in Metropolis School, Metropolis College of New York (CUNY), in August 2019, majoring in biology, Cadore mentioned he switched his main to structure in order that for his love for Math, Science and Artwork “might co-mingle.”
In December 2023, Cadore mentioned he attained his architectural diploma, “however had secured freelance architectural work previous to commencement.”
“His household, lecturers, mentors and buddies are very pleased with the younger man Dahrel has change into, for what he has already completed so far, and can accomplish in years to come back,” Cadore’s biography says.
“He actually is a task mannequin for the younger, in addition to the previous,” it provides.
Based in 1990, GAETA mentioned it focuses on selling scholarship and fostering cultural pleasure amongst younger folks of Grenadian ancestry.
Not too long ago, the affiliation held a Poetry and Essay Writing Competitors to mark Grenada’s fiftieth Anniversary of Independence from Nice Britain through which 10 college students, starting from ages 12 to 17, obtained money prizes and trophies for his or her literary works.
GAETA mentioned it additionally assists needy households within the Brooklyn neighborhood and in Grenada with college and different instructional provides, supplies tuition help to Grenadian college students learning within the US, and participates in a number of humanitarian efforts.
