By Bea L. Hines
bea.hines@gmail.com
The 12th Annual Things are Cooking in Overtown event will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Jungle Island Treetop Ballroom, 1111 Jungle Trail.
The gala fundraiser, which celebrates culture and cuisine, benefits the ongoing work of the St. John Community Development Corp. an affordable housing developer in Overtown.
The faith-based CDC was founded in 1985 by the late Rev. Dr. Henry Nevin, former senior pastor at St. John Institutional Baptist Church, as a way to respond to the physical deterioration and social distress of Overtown. Since then, the organization has directed its energies toward attacking one of the major problems that has plagued the under-served community by providing safe, decent, affordable housing to low and very low-income families in Overtown.
Overtown, once a thriving and vibrant community, was a city within a city back in the day. There were black-owned and -operated businesses and luxury hotels and restaurants (the Mary Elizabeth and Sir John hotels and Odell’s Restaurant come to mind). It was a place that blacks who lived there, were proud to call home. But progress (the I-95 expressway) and urban renewal brought about a great and sad change to Overtown. And today, while still fighting for survival, there are signs of change popping up all over.
For example: Pretty, well-kept single family home have now sprung up along Northwest Third Avenue, and Jackson’s Restaurant, one of the area’s most popular spots for good, home-cooked breakfasts, recently had a make-over. You have to get there early to get a taste of the famous salmon croquets, grits and homemade biscuits.
And people are coming back to church. That’s a good sign.
"Things are Cooking in Overtown" is a worthwhile event because it benefits the St. John CDC, which is so important to the good will and growth of Overtown. To date, the CDC is the largest not-for-profit holder of land in Overtown. In addition to the new and rehabilitated housing, the organization will soon complete an additional 200 units of affordable housing in the community.
Tickets are $100 per person; $2,500 for a corporate table; $1,500 for a patrons table or $1,000 for a friends table.
Call Susan Kelly at 305-376-0682 for tickets and more information. Or, e-mail her at skelly@stjohncdc.org
Creole translator wanted
Phillip Church is looking for someone who would be interested in helping translate an adaptation (one hour and 15 minutes) of Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol" into Creole.
Several years ago, Church directed the play for the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation and last year it was produced at ROXY Performing Arts Center for the Hope-For-Haiti Task Force at FIU.
"Now," he said, "I wish to have the script translated so that a bilingual company could perform it alternately in Creole and English. I would then like to see it travel to Haiti, with a celebrity Haitian performer in the role of Scroooge, and to play for tent communities. All proceeds from the production would support the Tent Babies Program."
Interested persons may contact Church by e-mailing him at churchp@fiu.edu
Happy birthday, STU
Congratulations to St. Thomas University on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The university kicked off its on-going celebration with the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was concelebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski and the university’s president, Monsignor Franklyn M. Casale, and the dedication of the new St. Thomas University Jubilee 50th Anniversary Tower.1 Next 2
The gala fundraiser, which celebrates culture and cuisine, benefits the ongoing work of the St. John Community Development Corp. an affordable housing developer in Overtown.
The faith-based CDC was founded in 1985 by the late Rev. Dr. Henry Nevin, former senior pastor at St. John Institutional Baptist Church, as a way to respond to the physical deterioration and social distress of Overtown. Since then, the organization has directed its energies toward attacking one of the major problems that has plagued the under-served community by providing safe, decent, affordable housing to low and very low-income families in Overtown.
Overtown, once a thriving and vibrant community, was a city within a city back in the day. There were black-owned and -operated businesses and luxury hotels and restaurants (the Mary Elizabeth and Sir John hotels and Odell’s Restaurant come to mind). It was a place that blacks who lived there, were proud to call home. But progress (the I-95 expressway) and urban renewal brought about a great and sad change to Overtown. And today, while still fighting for survival, there are signs of change popping up all over.
For example: Pretty, well-kept single family home have now sprung up along Northwest Third Avenue, and Jackson’s Restaurant, one of the area’s most popular spots for good, home-cooked breakfasts, recently had a make-over. You have to get there early to get a taste of the famous salmon croquets, grits and homemade biscuits.
And people are coming back to church. That’s a good sign.
"Things are Cooking in Overtown" is a worthwhile event because it benefits the St. John CDC, which is so important to the good will and growth of Overtown. To date, the CDC is the largest not-for-profit holder of land in Overtown. In addition to the new and rehabilitated housing, the organization will soon complete an additional 200 units of affordable housing in the community.
Tickets are $100 per person; $2,500 for a corporate table; $1,500 for a patrons table or $1,000 for a friends table.
Call Susan Kelly at 305-376-0682 for tickets and more information. Or, e-mail her at skelly@stjohncdc.org
Creole translator wanted
Phillip Church is looking for someone who would be interested in helping translate an adaptation (one hour and 15 minutes) of Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol" into Creole.
Several years ago, Church directed the play for the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation and last year it was produced at ROXY Performing Arts Center for the Hope-For-Haiti Task Force at FIU.
"Now," he said, "I wish to have the script translated so that a bilingual company could perform it alternately in Creole and English. I would then like to see it travel to Haiti, with a celebrity Haitian performer in the role of Scroooge, and to play for tent communities. All proceeds from the production would support the Tent Babies Program."
Interested persons may contact Church by e-mailing him at churchp@fiu.edu
Happy birthday, STU
Congratulations to St. Thomas University on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The university kicked off its on-going celebration with the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was concelebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski and the university’s president, Monsignor Franklyn M. Casale, and the dedication of the new St. Thomas University Jubilee 50th Anniversary Tower.1 Next 2
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