TelEm Group helping youngsters realize their steel pan dreams
- Published in Soualiga Newsday Top Stories
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Dow Music Foundation (DMF) member, Janice Wever, receives a check from Manager, Marketing & Sales Emile van der Weerd on behalf of TelEm Group management and staff to assist young steel pan students with a memorable trip to August, Georgia, USA next month.
POND ISLAND - TelEm Group has taken its support of youth in the St. Maarten community literally “off Island” with sponsorships towards a dream trip to Augusta Georgia in the USA, for a group of talented steel pan players.
The youngsters are all members of the Ebony Youth Steel Orchestra and will be leaving St. Maarten October 2nd to take part in Augusta’s Children’s Week Festival three days later, on October 5th.
They have been practicing hard and looking forward to their performance in the USA, ever since the family of the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, invited them to play at the annual festival.
The trip is being organized under the auspices of the Dow Music Foundation, which has also worked closely with the James Brown Family Foundation to secure accommodation for the youngsters and their chaperons while in Georgia.
“They have really be practicing very hard and thanks to donations from corporate citizens such as TelEm Group, they will be able to travel with their instruments instead of sending the instruments ahead early to cut their transportation costs. That means they can keep practicing right up until they leave for Georgia,” said DMF board member, Janice Wever.
She said the trip is also important for those travelling because next year they will have the honor of hosting a return trip of musicians from Georgia who will be coming to St. Maarten to play and to enjoy the hospitality of the island and their new-found friends.
“The trip will be a musical, cultural and social exchange between the Dow Music Foundation and the James Brown Family Foundation and we are all very excited about the outcome and the future collaboration between the two foundations,” continued Janice.
On behalf of the Dow Music Foundation she thanked, Manager Marketing & Sales, Mr. Emile van der Weerd for the kind donation from TelEm Group which she said would be well spent.
Mr. van der Weerd in turn wished the Foundation and its patrons much luck and success and also a safe return to island.
“This year we have had a strong focus on the youth and the exposure of their immense talents. Of course we do not have a budget to do everything we would like or that is needed in the community, however, coming to the end of the year, this is another good example of how a little that we can give, can go a long, long way –all the way to Georgia USA,” said the Manager, Marketing & Sales.