“We hope that you use it as a time to relax, a time to reflect and time to reminisce on times that might have gone by, friends we have lost along the way and especially even some of our seniors or counterparts, some persons who may have gone to school with you who are no longer with us, some persons who are here with us but because of medical or other reasons they can’t join us today; we remember them in spirit,” said Senator Phipps.
Minister Phipps also used the occasion to recognize the scores of volunteers from the Volunteer Corps spearheaded by the Department of Youth Empowerment for their commitment to giving back.
“We also use today as an opportunity to look around and observe as we are assisted by the young people who are here – the volunteers who are part of the National Volunteer Corps – and to thank them,” she said. “These volunteers represent the future of St. Kitts and Nevis, but they could not have had a future if it was not built on the back of persons like yourself who would have laboured in the vineyard of national development and now get the opportunity to reap some rewards from that investment.”
Senator Phipps congratulated all Volunteers who continue to go out in their respective communities in an exercise of patriotism and service to others.
Equally important, Minister Phipps expressed thanks to His Excellency Sir S.W. Tapley Seaton, Governor-General of St. Kitts and Nevis, for opening up Government House “so that we can come here and eat, fellowship and share a meal together and get an opportunity to meet and greet people we have not seen in a very long time.”
National Volunteer Day was introduced in 2018 by the government to foster a greater sense of civic identity, unity, service and responsibility in citizens and residents. The initiative forms part of the Team Unity Administration’s fifth Anniversary Calendar of Activities from February to March 2020, under the theme: “TEAM UNITY 2020: A Stronger, Safer Future.”
