Secret Garden, an event, which started on July 31st 2021 and is now a household name here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is now not just known for giving patrons a THE Brunch Experience, but they will now also be known for giving back to the community.
On January 11, 2023, Secret Garden made donations to four students of the Kingstown Anglican Primary School. The students were presented with all text books to complete their school year 2022/2023. They also donated funds to the school to supply these students with meals for the remainder of the school year.
The individuals behind Secret Garden, Rondy ‘Luta’ McIntosh, Lester Iroha, Semone McIntosh, and Karen Veira all having had history with charitable work, decided it was the right move to do the same with the Secret Garden brand.
In an interview with ANN Semone McIntosh shared with us the reason why the Kingstown Anglican School was chosen for this kind act of charity.
‘In the past, most charity and contributions would be given to the rural schools, so we decided to select a school in the Kingstown area. One of our members was always in contact with a teacher at the Kingstown Anglican School, so we decided to ask about students without textbooks for the school year. Upon discussions with the teacher, these students were identified, books were purchased, and a cheque was presented to the school to provide meals for these students up to the end of the school year.’ McIntosh said.
During our time speaking with Mrs. McIntosh we received some backstory on how the Secret Garden came to be.
‘The idea was first brought to the fore by Rondy “Luta” Mc Intosh in April 2021, while doing charity work in the wake of La Soufriere volcanic eruptions. The idea was to have the first vaccinated event in SVG because at that time, we were in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and there was a ban on all public mass gatherings.
Lester Iroha and Semone Mc Intosh were also involved in the discussions and shared ideas on hosting this event
Karen Veira was then approached to be part of the team, and in May 2021, during our first meeting, Karen suggested the name “Secret Garden”.’ she said.
When asked what’s the current motivation to keep new editions of the event coming every year, this was the answer:
‘We have created an event that has become a household name in less than two years and when we see the joy and satisfaction from our patrons, it gives us the motivation to carry on and to make the next Secret Garden better than the one before.’
The Secret Garden team via messages on social media extended a heartfelt thanks to all patrons of their events and stated that they look forward to that continued support.