BASSETERRE St. Kitts, December 19th, 2011 – Get up! Get active! Be an Eric! With these words Mr Lincoln Barry, Director of Sports, Ministry of Social Transformation, Youth and Sports in the Nevis Island Administration lauded the activities of the 2011 CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Unsung Hero.
Speaking at the bank’s Unsung Heroes Award Ceremony held at the Four Seasons Resort on 6 December 2011, Mr Barry expressed appreciation for the value of Mr Evelyn’s contribution in the area of clubs, sports, and community activities.
Mr Barry noted that Clubs were a means of reducing gang activity and anti-social behavior among youth, and opined that if there were more active clubs like the Empire Sports Club, of which Mr Evelyn was President, there would be fewer gangs.
He called on members of the community to organize meaningful activities for youth, and thus replace anti-social activity.
2011 Unsung Hero, Mr Eric Evelyn became the President of the Hanley’s Road based Empire Sports Club in 2000 and has held that position every year, except in 2006. In May 2009, as part of the Club’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations, he launched “The Boys Together for Change” club. The club is an anti-crime, anti-gang initiative, and caters to the holistic development of the participants. It targets boys of Secondary School age and above, and is aimed at empowering young men in the community to become role models in society. He has positioned the Empire Sports Club, as a fullfledged community based organization and one of the most respected, successful
and active clubs on Nevis.
Applauding Mr Evelyn’s success with the Club, the Director of Sports said that the Ministry might well be able to use his expertise in developing other Clubs throughout the island. He noted that the local Community Centres could well serve as meeting venues for such Clubs, and would provide gainful activities for young persons.
Local Coordinator of the Unsung Heroes Programme, Mr Gerard Pereira told the audience that the CIBC FirstCaribbean flagship Unsung Heroes Programme was launched in 2003 as a primary means of recognizing and acknowledging those persons who sought to make their communities better places to live and work and to encourage others to create similar pathways which Unsung Heroes had trodden.
Joycelyn Liburd, Nigel Browne, Clarice Cotton, Earl Clarke, Ken Evelyn and Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett, are among the pantheon of local Unsung Heroes in St. Kitts and Nevis.
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