PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset hosted its third annual Reading Slumber Fun event last Friday September 25 th . The Dr. Seuss themed pajama party was held on the virtual Zoom platform and attracted well over 380 children and adults from around the world, dressed in their pajamas with their blankets and pillows and eager for an evening of story time fun.
In recognition of Basic Education and Literacy month, observed by Rotary Clubs during the month of September, the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset organized its annual “Reading Slumber Fun” event, a slumber party themed event geared toward advocating the importance
of reading and literacy.
The event kicked off at 7pm sharp with welcoming remarks by the President of the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset, Elisia Lake, followed by live story telling performances from local readers Todd and Kimberley Chisholm, and Ms. Rita Gumbs. The virtual event starred two international readers; St. Maarten born educator, Naomi Bell, who resides in the USA and Rotary District 7020 Governor, Charles Sealy II, who resides in the Bahamas. Members of Rotary Sunset, Magdiona Gumbs and Leonel Lawrence, also got the opportunity to showcase their talents with a live theatrical puppet show.
The children sat comfortably behind their devices with their blankets and pillows while they attentively listened to the various storytelling performances. The event was hosted by the energetic, Rotarian Kimberley Duzong, who captivated the virtual crowd with her witty mini
interactive performances. Rotarian Franjesca Bulbaai tested the participants’ memory with a trivia segment. At the end of the event, the children broke out their disco shoes and joined host Kimberley in a dance party segment.
“One of Rotary Sunset’s objectives is to ensure we take action to empower and inspire children and adults alike, on the importance of literacy when it comes to reading, writing and comprehension. Reading is the first pillar of literacy, so events such as our Reading Slumber Fun encourages young learners to engage themselves in it regularly. We are delighted to have exposed our attendees to a broad variety of different reading styles and materials and we look forward to next year’s event,” President Elisia stated.
The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to Kalaboom Events for providing its office space to execute the setup for this event. A special appreciation goes out to Salteque for its technical support and Rotarian Franjesca Bulbaai for sponsoring the prizes for all winners of the quizzes, games, and dance off segments. The club would also like to extend gratitude to the parents as well as the children who participated, the story readers and puppeteers; Todd Chrisholm, Kimberley Babin, Naomi Bell, Rita Gumbs, DG Charles Sealy II, Magdiona Gumbs and Leonel Lawrence.
The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset meets every second and fourth Monday of the month at Carl N Sons Unique Inn and Conference Facilities in Colebay at 7:30pm. Due to Covid19, the club currently meets via Zoom. The club can be contacted via email at rotarysxmsunset@gmail.com or via the official Facebook page at facebook.com/rotarysxmsunset.
