The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams welcomed the first group of athletes that will be taken part in the wheelchair tennis tournament as part of the activities for Disabled Awareness Week. The Prime Minister also commended the Be Able Committee of Top Promotions Foundation for organizing a week that will do so much in bringing awareness to those living with disabilities in the community and participated in the opening march of the disabled week.
Since the inception of the preparations for the events surrounding disabled week the Prime Minister has thrown her full support behind the project, including putting on a chef’s hat to become Honorary Chef and Waiter at the Top Promotions Foundation Dine at Holland House Event Fundraiser for the disabled, where she showed her culinary skills in preparing various first course dishes for guests and personally serving those who pledged extra to the fundraiser.
The PM also presented a pledge and those of twenty-four additional individuals which she personally collected at the Holland House event on Saturday. In her comments the Prime Minister stated that from her side the pledge she made of one thousand dollars was a given. "The Be Able committee of the Top Promotions Foundation has broken new barriers by organizing the Disabled Week this and I would like to commend you on the excellent job which you have been doing with regards to the disabled here on the island", commented the Prime Minister. During the event the Prime Minister went from table to table where she personally collected twenty five thousand dollars worth of pledges which will go towards the organization of activities centered on disabled week.
The PM also supported the Top Promotions Foundation Cocktail Evening at the Rock House which was also held as a fundraiser for the week. Similarly the PM also supported an Art event and a Jazz Concert, all of which would go towards promoting the awareness week for the disabled. "This event is dear to me due to the memory of two of my siblings who passed away in 2010 and 2011 because of a very rare disease which caused them to be disabled during the last part of their lives. Before they passed they were able to have a good quality of life because of the care of the Sister Basilia Center and the caregivers that work there. I would therefore like to encourage St. Maarten to continue to support the activities of the Be Able Committee of the Top Promotions Foundation and the Disabled Week," stated the Prime Minister.
The PM also specially mentioned the positive spinoff the event will have for the disabled persons in the community of St. Maarten who had the opportunity to experience the strength and special talents many disabled persons possess, as the wheelchair tennis participants demonstrated during the international tournament which was held on St. Maarten on Saturday.