Unlocking Unsung Heroes on St. Croix

Sonya’s Fine Island Jewelry, located in the heart of Christiansted, is honoring individuals and organizations making meaningful contributions to St. Croix’s economy. Each year, Sonya’s will present “The Key to Unlock St. Croix,” an award that allows the community to nominate deserving candidates from both Christiansted and Frederiksted towns.

The chosen recipient will be honored with a 14k gold key pendant designed by the team at Sonya’s to resemble a historic skeleton key. To kick off this meaningful initiative, Sonya’s selected the inaugural honoree, Peter Zielke, in recognition of his efforts to restore historic buildings in Christiansted. “His efforts have culminated in the redevelopment of abandoned properties returning vibrancy to the town one project at a time,” said Sonya’s part-owner and former Sen. Nellie O’Reilly.

“Being a part of the downtown district, we see so many buildings that need to be rehabilitated and we do our best to keep our building clean and visually pleasing to the eye. We noticed that there was some construction going on coming into town and we found out it was the same person doing this. We started talking about what it would mean to recognize people who took interest in rehabilitating our downtown districts and how Sonya’s can be a part of continuing to promote that,” she said.