The Sigma Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. will host its 16th annual Community Kwanzaa Celebration at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 26, at Franklin Powell Park in Cruz Bay, St. John. The public is cordially invited to join the sorority members as they take time to celebrate Kwanzaa.
The program has grown tremendously from the first celebration held in 1995. This year promises to be festive and fun as in times past with local artists and students from the various schools, dancers and other performers such as the Love City Leapers, Love City Pan Dragons Youth Steel Orchestra, St. Thomas Majorettes, to name a few. St. John students who participated in Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Earn Set Potential (ESP) Kids Club will be recognized for their exemplification of the Kwanzaa principle, Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): meaning, to build and maintain our stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. Over the past four years the students have participated in workshops and other activities geared towards helping them learn how to save and invest money towards their future.
According to Laurel Hewitt-Sewer, president of Sigma Theta Omega Chapter, “Kwanzaa Celebration does not replace Christmas or other religious holidays; it is a time for us to come together to reaffirm our commitment in our African heritage and to focus on the goodness of life culture, community and family.”
The sorority continues to solicit participants for this program and invites anyone who might be interested in participating to contact the chapter’s Program Committee Chairman Elisa G. Hodge at eghodge@yahoo.com, or by telephone at 774-8675 or 771-5332 by Wednesday, Dec. 22. Certificates will be presented to all who participate.
Backround: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is an international community service organization of university women founded January 15, 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. At 102 years since its founding, AKA is the first organization of its kind for black women with over 250,000 members in more than 900 chapters around the world. There are four chapters in the Virgin Islands, two in the St. Thomas-St. John, Sigma Theta Omega Graduate Chapter and Rho Omicron Undergraduate Chapter at the University of the Virgin Islands.
