On Friday, October 23rd, The American Friends of Jamaica, Inc. hosted its 34th annual Hummingbird Gala at The Plaza Hotel in New York City.

More than 200 business leaders joined together with AFJ President, Wendy Hart and directors to celebrate and honour the Dennis Lalor and Dr Lowell Hawthorne.

Led by this year’s event co-chairs Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater and Patricia Falkenberg, proceeds from the Gala will fund the annual AFJ grant cycle for programmes in education, healthcare and economic development in Jamaica.

This year, 33 grantees were awarded including Alpha Institute for Boys, Rose Town Library, JASY, Cornwall Regional Hospital, Promise Learning, Sickle Cell Trust and AFJ funded UWI Bursaries.

AFJ Executive Director, Caron Chung expressed appreciation to patrons, corporate supporters, auction donors and stated, “Proceeds derived from the Gala provide funding for worthwhile programs in Jamaica”.

The event featured an extraordinary performance by NBC’s the Voice Season #5 Winner Tessanne Chin in the Grand Ballroom with dancing afterwards. Guests were delighted by charismatic Master of Ceremonies Brian Roper.

Event sponsors and patrons included the ICWI Group, Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery and Grill, JetBlue, Sandals Group, Jamaica National Building Society and Sanmerna Paper Products Limited.

Here are some photos from the Hummingbird Gala plus three other events.

Photo captions:

Index – Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater (left); Ambassador Brenda Johnson, Honorable Dennis Lalor, Dr Lowell Hawthorne and Ambassador Sub Cobb

Index 2 – American Friends of Jamaica Gala

Index 3 – Caron Chung (left), Jim Cada and Ambassador Brenda Johnson

Index 4 – Dr Lowell Hawthorne (left) and Honorable Dennis Lalor

Index 5 – Golden Krust Caribbean and Grill – Hawthorne Family

Golf –