The Tribune

THEIR prayers were answered as people flocked to the convent grounds and the weather held – just – for the fourth annual steak-out fundraiser at St Martin de Porres Monastery on Nassau Street, Bain Town, on Saturday.

The queues for the barbecued steak and chicken stretched outside the main tent, where a large team of Sisters and volunteers were kept busy all afternoon.

The cakes and pastries pergola also brought admiring glances and good trade. The rain arrived around 5pm, an hour before the scheduled finish, but did put a dampener on a successful event.

Sister Mary Benedict told The Tribune yesterday that they were still receiving donations and have yet to tally all of the funds from the steak-out.

“The steak-out was a huge success, the crowd was large and there were so many people waiting on line for food,” Sister Mary said. “We believe more than 2,000 people came out for the event. This year was much bigger than last year’s event and it surpassed our expectations.

“We are so grateful to the general public for coming out and supporting us the way they did. We are very pleased with the turnout and we just want to say a big thank you to everyone.”

The Sisters were hoping to raise $30,000 from the popular steak-out towards the $500,000 cost of renovating the historic Polhemus House, once used for native noviates. Once restored, the building will revert to being a Formation House and a retreat. The project, led by architect Anthony Jervis, is due to be completed at the end of August.