Back on August 18th, Senator Whitaker had the wonderful opportunity, along with her Godmother, the Honorable Dr. Donna M. Christensen, who was among persons who were given the special recognition awards, to take part in the 10th Annual Thorvald McIntosh and Gerard Alphonso Hall Sports Awards program. “Again, I congratulate all the awardees, and major kudos to the organizers, Mr. Thorvald McIntosh, and the entire Sports Awards Team committee for an amazing event celebrating sports and our talented sportswomen and men. The Keynote speaker was the Honorable Emile A. Henderson III. United States Magistrate Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands who gave a message in connecting with the young people, sharing a message on how it was back in the days, the important role that coaches and mentors play, as well as how important it is to make your best effort in pushing for excellence.
During the program, Mr. McIntosh raised the issue of lack of support by the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism; despite the fact the letter was even hand-delivered, no response was received from this long-standing organization, committed to honoring the sports leaders in our community. As Senator Whitaker shared on this past Saturday’s VI Envision radio program, she engaged the Department of Tourism (Commissioner Joseph Boschulte and his executive team) several weeks back concerning the sponsorship support and clarity on the process for local organizations, and to this date, has not received a response. Senator Whitaker even called into Senator Alicia Hansen’s program “Keeping in Touch with my People” back on July 15th, asking Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Hansen, who hosted her mother, to obtain clarity on the sponsorship process as well as to share that the sponsorship webpage the link to apply online is not working.
“I am committed to this issue, and since the event, as of today’s date, I sent a follow-up email with the additional concerns to Commissioner Boschulte and his administrative team as well as Governor Albert Bryan, Lt. Governor Tregenza Roach, and Chief of Staff Karl Knight, which includes the issue of the lack response to the Committee as the lack of response is unacceptable,” states Senator Genevieve Whitaker.
Commissioner Boschulte responded to Senator Whitaker’s email earlier this afternoon, expressing that “...the concerns listed in your email and someone on our team will respond.”
Again, congratulations to the awardees; let us continue to support sports in our community!
You can catch the recording of the program on the Government Channel; here is a link to the program: https://bit.ly/ThorvaldMcIntoshandGerardAlphonsoHallSportsAwards
See the attached list of awardees and photos
