Bikeathon Caps Successful Three-Day Children’s Health Expo

ST. CROIX — A three-day health expo held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Peter’s Rest from Friday, and ended on Sunday with a bikeathon, was so successful that that organizers already plan on hosting it again.

That’s according to Margaret Peters, Director of the Women and Children Ministry for Seventh Day Adventist North Caribbean Conference. Mrs. Peters told this publication at the church grounds in on Sunday following the bikeathon, that the 150 children who participated enjoyed every moment.

She described the weekend event, a children health expo, as an effort that included spirituality, educating the participants on the importance of eating healthy, as well as on-the-spot examinations such as blood, eye and cholesterol screenings.

Yesterday’s bikeathon, which was guided by police escort, took the children from the church’s entrance to the Hess Road, where they then turned right to Sunny Isle, and then rode back to the church, taking a right turn to Peter’s Rest from the Sion Farm stoplights.

Other events included consecration on Friday, which, according to Mrs. Peters, included songs of worship, prayer, and a charge to the children to “let their lights shine for the community, and for Jesus Christ.”

“In order to have a change of lifestyle, you must really be consecrated to God; he’s going to give you the willpower to overcome all the weaknesses that you have for certain foods,” she said.

On Saturday, the children performed a musical drama, among other things, according to Mrs. Peters.

The expo started in St. Marten in 2015 and inspired Mrs. Peters — whose position affords her the ability to experience the activities organized by teams governed by her office all over the Caribbean — to do the same on St. Croix.

Participating were over 200 people, 150 of which were children, with the remaining being parents and guardians. The Department of Health sponsored the expo with its mobile health vehicle, where certain screenings took place. The expo was also sponsored by Barry University and ProMeds Clinics.