The Montego Bay “Comets” Athletics Club will continue its 30th Anniversary celebrations with a Charity Gala later this month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Organized by the Comets Club International, its overseas affiliate, the event will take place on Friday, April 27, 2007 at the trendy Hibachi (Japanese) Restaurant at Penns Landing, 325 Columbus Blvd, on the scenic Delaware Riverfront.
Designed to capitalize on the bumper crowd expected in Philadelphia for the Penn Relays Championships of America in Track & Field Athletics, the Charity Gala combines, dinner, dancing and an awards ceremony which will recognize a number of corporate and community concerns and individuals for their years of unstinting contributions and dedicated service to the development of the sport in Jamaica.
Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB), a hospitality outfit that has managed to successfully bring together critical areas of the Jamaican communities in Philadelphia and New York to benefit the athletes along with Western Union Financial (WU), will be presented with the Comets Club International ‘Spirit of Jamaica’ Award for their caring and convenient packaging of those goods and services so vital to the athletes’ well-being while they are away from home at the Games.
Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), the former title sponsors of the new ‘Champs’ dynamic from 1990 to 2006, and the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), the governing body for scholastic sports in Jamaica and which benefited tremendously from the VMBS deep-pocketed alliance, will share the Comets Club International ‘Visionary’ Award for their futuristic approach to sports development at the first (youth) level.
Two other major awards on the evening’s program will be presented to community activist Barbara Wilson, president of the Philadelphia Caribbean Festival and newly appointed co-chair of the TJB/Philadelphia Committee and Wesmore Thomas, the former Montego Bay businessman and Sports Administrator who gave St. James soccer a major financial kick when it needed it most during the 1980’s and 1990s. Jamaica also enjoyed its best showing on the overseas Darts scene under Thomas’ stewardship.
Thomas and Wilson, both of whom currently reside in Philadelphia, will be presented with the Philadelphia/Jamaica Outstanding Community Service Award for exemplary service to the community through sports and arts.
The ceremony will also present a number of Restaurants and Grocery Store owner/managers with Certificates of Appreciation in recognition of their outstanding contribution to community empowerment and patriotism through their support of the annual Penn Relays hospitality programme.
The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Harold Mignott, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania – host of the century old Penn Relays Carnival – and chair of the Jamaica Diaspora Board/Northeast USA Region.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Montego Bay ‘Comets’ Athletics Club 30th Anniversary Scholarship Fund which will be launched during the 30th staging of the Milo Western Relays in Montego Bay, Jamaica, next February (2008).
