The Council of St Vincent and the Grenadines of Organizations of USA, Inc (COSAGO) climaxed its celebrations of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ 35th anniversary of Independence in Brooklyn, New York on October 26.{{more}}

A luncheon, held at the Tropical Paradise Ballroom, was their way of putting the lid on the celebrations.

Apart from the sumptuous food, fellowship and fun, which are a norm at such events, the function honoured the indefatigable Joanne Legair, for her untiring work with Vincentian organizations within the New York area.

Legair, upon receiving her honour, responded by giving special thanks to her mother and her family for being there for her. She said when she joined her first organization years ago, she never envisioned being honoured. She took the opportunity to encourage persons to become involved and join an organization.

“Everyone has an opinion, but opinion doesn’t change the world, action does,” Legair stressed.

Head of COSAGO Laverne Mc Dowald expressed the appreciation of her organization for the continued support of the Vincentian in the USA. She urged persons to “work together as patriotic Vincentians, as it’ s important that we come together and build our island.”

Mc Dowald listed sponsorship of the Penn Relays team, coordination of the annual Thousand Island trip, the disaster relief efforts following the December 2013 flood and a medical drive for the Milton Cato Hospital as some of COSAGO’s achievements in 2014.

Greetings also came from Consul General Selmon Walters. The consul general also read the Prime Minister’s message.

Sunday’s event was preceded by a church service and a Cultural Evening, both of which were well attended.

The Cultural Evening held at Friends of Crown Heights, saw the bonding together of persons as they travelled down memory lane with ring games such as 1, 2, 3, stop light, musical chairs, cards, dominos, a $100 concert, board games, local foods and many other activities that we did when we were in SVG.

The church service, held the previous Sunday, October 19, at St Paul’s Episcopal Church on 157 St Paul’s Place, featured an all-Vincentian clergy conducting the memorable afternoon function.

Meanwhile, an independence song competition, which was won by Dennis Bowman, was held on October 24. The competition was staged by the Dynamites Calypso tent.

While New York had their functions, members of COSAGO also joined the consul general to journey Boston to be with the SVG organization of Massachusetts for their dinner.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Nationals Association of DC also marked the 35th aanniversary of Independence with a Masquerade Dance.

Independence Day may be gone, but with so many places celebrating, it had to be extended, so the SVG Organization of Pennsylvania (SVGOP) had their grand dinner on November 8.