the senior parade

WHO WE ARE

Home Away from Home is a senior organization that aims to provide engaging, creative, and socially enriching activities for seniors. They hope to enhance the social interaction, promote creativity, improve mental and physical health, and provide a platform for seniors to showcase their talents. This foundation has been founded in 2003 and its main objective is to ensure that their members enjoy life fully after retirement.

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The Senior Citizen Recreational Center is also focused on the wellbeing of the elderly. They provide their senior citizens the possibility to socialize & interact with each other through various activities, on a weekly basis, which stimulate the seniors’ social skills, while having fun as well.

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 The Foundation SMNCP was formalized in 2024. The purpose of the foundation is to promote, educate, highlight, and enlighten the local heritage, history, and culture of St. Maarten/St. Martin through cultural workshops, seminars, tea parties, etc., including the signature event: ‘The SMaatn National Cultural Parade’ that takes place on the national Sint Maarten holiday on November 11th every year. Over the years, the foundation has also collaborated and partnered with Our Creations, St. Maarten Arts & Crafts Foundation, and Funtopia Youth Initiative. The collaborating partners on their Let's ACT project are Home Away from Home Foundation and the St. Maarten Senior Citizen Recreation Center. The two senior-focused organizations work to provide engaging, creative, and socially enriching activities for senior citizens. Their work in the community enhances social interaction, promotes creativity, improves mental and physical health, and provide a platform for seniors to showcase their talents and participate in various activities to enhance social skills and reduce loneliness and isolation.

WHAT WE DO

The project encompasses SMNCP teaching the elderly how to sow cultural wear and decorations/props in preparation of the Sint Maarten Cultural Parade. The interested elderly will also partake in the cultural parade, in addition to 3 other cultural events, showcasing the creations. This showcasing may happen at other events (museum), or at other schools, or in the neighborhoods. In addition, some SVOBE students (Sundial) will also join in this venture. Sundial school provides sowing classes to their students and efforts will be made to share the sowing machines they have at this school for a small fee. This school is close to the Home Away from Home location in Hope Estate, and close to the John Larmonie Center for the Senior Citizens Recreational Center. Under this budget falls the events costs, the purchase of materials, the instructors/facilitator’s fee, the coordination, transportation, marketing and communication for the 3 small events and the large cultural parade. The costumes that are created through this funding will be used for any future opportunity to showcase Sint Maarten cultural wear.

WHO WE SERVE

The target group consists of >100 seniors from both organizations, with ranging mobility. The workshops are open for all seniors, and they can indicate their interest and sign up for the creation of the costumes and/or the partaking in the Cultural Parade.

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Also, SVOBE has displayed interest from their students to partake in sowing classes, specifically cultural wear and headwear. This is why the Sundial school will also be supplying some interested students to partake.