The Brooklyn-based umbrella Vincentian group in the United States, Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organizations, U.S.A., Inc. (COSAGO), on Sunday, Oct. 27 honored its former president Laverne McDowald-Thompson and the perennial Vincentian mas band in Brooklyn, Mas Productions Unlimited, during its Gala 45thIndependence Anniversary Luncheon, commemorating St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ independence anniversary, at Russo’s on the Bay in the Howard Beach, Queens.

“I acknowledge our honorees, Laverne Mc-Dowald-Thompson, for her outstanding humanitarian efforts in the community and Mas Productions Unlimited for promoting the arts and culture, particularly among the youth,” said COSAGO President Crispin Friday, who succeeded McDowald-Thompson.

Laverne McDowald-Thompson, center, being assisted with plague, proclamation, and citation by COSAGO President Crispin Friday, to her right; SVG Consul General to the United States Rondy McIntosh, to her left; the wives of Friday and McIntosh; McDowald-Thompson’s husband, Almond, left, and their son, Ramon. Photo by Nelson A. King

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General to the United States Rondy McIntosh, under whose auspices the Gala Luncheon was held, applauded COSAGO for recognizing “those among us who play vital roles in keeping the Vincy spirit alive.

“Let me take this opportunity to congratulate your honorees, Mrs. Laverne McDowald-Thompson and Mas Productions Unlimited, for their love and enduring sacrifice,” McIntosh said.

McDowald-Thompson, who served as COSAGO president for 15 successive years and is now vice president, is a former public school teacher in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

After migrating to the United States in 1990, she worked full-time. She attended college in the evenings, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from City College of New York (CUNY).

McDowald-Thompson said she started volunteering and giving back to her community at the tender age of 15.

She said she began her leadership role in the St. David’s Anglican Church in her native town of Chateaubelair in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a Sunday School teacher. She was president of the Anglican Youth Movement (A.Y.M.) and secretary of the North Leeward Teachers Union Branch in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

A very active and dedicated member of her community, McDowald-Thompson said she works “diligently in the building and promoting” her communities, both in the Diaspora and at home.

Before becoming president of COSAGO, she was vice president and chairperson of the Church Service Committee for two years.

In addition to being COSAGO’s extant vice president, she is chairperson of the Fundraising Committee and serves on the Brooklyn-based SVG Relief Committee of New York and the Vincy Day U.S.A. Committee.   

She also served as a member of the Brooklyn-based Caribbean American Renal Failure Relief Fund, founded in 2002 to assist Caribbean nationals suffering from renal disease, and on the SVG Diaspora Committee of New York.

As president of the Chateaubelair Development Organization (C.D.O.), McDowald-Thompson leads efforts to provide educational support to children and humanitarian aid to natives in her hometown. 

In addition, she is an active member of Bethany Deliverance Church of God in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where she leads several committees, including fundraising and benevolence.

“Standing here today, it’s a privilege; it’s a privilege not because I have the right or because I’m a member of the Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organization, or because I’m being honored on the annual celebration of independence of our nation, SVG, it is because God has kept me,” McDowald-Thompson, who was introduced by her close friend, Curlina Hills, an attorney and executive member of COSAGO and C.D.O., told the ceremony on Sunday. “So, I want to begin by giving God praise and thanks for life and for my life’s journey. 

“I am happy that I am able to share my life’s journey with my family, my husband Almond ‘The Rabbi’ Thompson; my son, Ramon; my brothers; my sisters; nieces; nephews; in-laws; and friends who became family, and all those who became part of my life for one reason or the other,” she added. “Yes, I’m a mom to many.  I’m also happy that I am able to share part of my life’s journey with members of the Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organizations, U.S.A., Inc. (COSAGO), and all my friends and supporters in the Vincentian Diaspora, many of whom I haven’t met or knew from home.  My involvement in the community brought us together.

“I find it quite fitting to accept this award on your behalf because, without you being a part of my journey or the experience in the Vincentian communities, giving your support during my years of service as president of COSAGO, all this would not have been possible,” McDowald-Thompson continued. “It is all of us coming together, working together as a team.”

Mas Productions Unlimited (M.P.U.) was founded in 1992 by a group of Vincentians, whose primary goal was to “reintroduce a Vincentian presence in the annual Labor Day Caribbean Carnival, and an overall goal of promoting all things cultural in the Vincentian community in New York,” according to co-founder, band leader, and designer Wesley Millington.  

He said M.P.U. produced the first mas band in 1993 and has participated in the Brooklyn-based West Indian American Day Carnival every year since, with the exception of the two years that New York City was plagued with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Abena Amory entertains patrons. Photo by Nelson A. King

This has made M.P.U. the longest-running Vincentian mas band in New York and, as a matter of fact, one of the oldest continuous participating bands in the New York Carnival,” said Millington, who was introduced at the gala affair by O’Brien Simmons, an executive member of COSAGO.   

Millington said M.P.U. has also participated in New York’s Long Island Carnival and has produced costumes for St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organization of Pennsylvania (SVGOP) for the Philadelphia Carnival. 

He said M.P.U. has also had “a supportive relationship” since its inception with the Brooklyn-based Dynamite Calypso Tent, the lone Vincentian calypso tent in North America.

Wesley Millington, center, with plaque, flanked by COSAGO President Crispin Friday and his wife, Ancilla, to Millington’s right; SVG Consul General to the United States Rondy McIntosh and his wife, Semone, to Millington’s left; and members of Mas Productions Unlimited. Photo by Nelson A. King

“As our name, Mas Productions Unlimited, suggests, membership and participants have never been limited to only Vincentians,” he said. “Over the life of the organization, it has included members of other nationalities and continues to enjoy the support of people from other nationalities, including a long-running association with the New York Belize Committee.”

Additionally, Millington said M.P.U. has had “association” with several members of the Vincentian mas community, including Ricardo “Puzzle” Grant, now M.P.U.’s resident builder; Kamal Aleem, formerly of Wizards Mas Band; Junior “Melbourne” Constance; Ozzie Constance; and the late Vincentian mas designer and band leader Julian “Pilling” Pollard.

“Mas Productions Unlimited appreciates the support they have enjoyed thus far and looks forward to the continued support of the community as they strive to maintain a presence in the cultural life of the Vincentian Diaspora,” Millington said.

Calypsonian/soca artiste Dennis Bowman puts patrons in a party mood.Photo by Nelson A. King

DJs SupaEyes and E.Z. Sounds and artistes Dennis Bowman and Abena Amory entertained patrons at Sunday’s ceremony.

The Gala Independence Anniversary Luncheon was the climax of celebratory activities in New York, organized in conjunction with the New York Consulate General and the Diaspora Committee of New York. These activities also included an Ecumenical Church Service, a flag-raising ceremony, a boat ride, and the lighting of the Empire State Building in the national colors — blue, green, and gold — of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.