Beyond The Call 24 7 Inc., a New York City-based nonprofit organization that focuses on supporting the people and populations of the Caribbean Diaspora, will on Friday, Sept. 12, host an innovative and culturally immersive event to empower members of the community through their healing journey.
Trinidadian-born founder and president Ozzie Stewart told Caribbean Life on Tuesday, Sept. 9, that the organization will host the epic event to help heal abuse through art, film, music, and cuisine.
The event will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 1 Vanderbilt Ave., 21st floor, 42nd Street, near Grand Central, in midtown Manhattan.
Stewart said the gathering will feature creatives from the worlds of art, music, film, and wellness professionals.
She said the art and works of Hollis King, Sherwin Banfield, and Alicia Aberdeen-Jones will be on display, focusing on abuse and healing.
Stewart said filmmakers Asha Lovelace and Elspeth Duncan will spotlight the healing aspect.
She said steel drummer and pannist Earl Brooks, Jr., and Trinidadian-born singer/songwriter, GRAMMY and Black Canadian Award-winner Anslem Douglas, will also contribute to the event’s theme.
Stewart said featured speakers include Consulate General of Trinidad and Tobago J. Andre Laveau; Dr. Tulsa Knox, licensed psychologist/mental health practitioner; Edvardo Archer, executive therapist and family therapist; Dr. Farley Cleghorn, internationally known health diplomat and award-winning epidemiologist; and other powerful, distinguished voices.
Stewart said Beyond The Call 24 7 partners with “The Hard Issues” segment of the On The Call Podcast Network Experience to focus on uplifting the community while realizing that people need community and a safe space.
“This is our call to action through Beyond The Call 24 7,” she said. “Through this community-minded organization, the nonprofit speaks to the world at large, as well as the present focus on the Trinidadian populations living outside their homeland.
Stewart also said she is working on “opening up conversations with the Caribbean Basin.”
With premier sponsorship from TD Bank, FWBK, and other community support, Stewart said she hopes to create “a space wrapped around the power of the Caribbean community, while making room for engagement on the very difficult global conversations of abuse – whether domestic or sexual.
“It was really important to bring male voices into these conversations because so often the talks happen with only women,” she added. “We knew we needed to expand the audience and the interaction.”
Stewart said the event aims “to raise funds for grassroots organizations and their multi-tiered and multifaceted endeavors.
“These platforms assist those who have suffered through and are surviving the very concerns that Beyond The Call 24 7 addresses with passion and purpose,” she said.
Stewart said Beyond the Call 24 7 is the advocacy arm of a four-tiered mission that includes the podcast, “dealing with everything from homelessness to trafficking, addiction, substance use and abuse, animal welfare and climate change.”
She said this is done along with the Trini Corner, which is direct community outreach and donates to “the troopers doing the hard work on the streets.”
Stewart, who owned a successful endeavor in the heart of Times Square, said she uses every part of her creative and entrepreneurial being to be “a vessel” for the people she loves, stating, “That’s everyone.”
“People have said that my dreams are too big,” she said. “I say that this is about service to humanity, and I am grateful to be able to do my part.”
For more information, email Stewart at beyondthecall23@gmail.com.
