Bahamas Hurricane Relief by Cruisers

[poetatsea]

I, too, would like to give back to the Bahamas in some capacity... I know the Abacos well (one might say "by heart"), as for years I spent part of every summer there. Can you say RTIA?? It is beyond sad to me that Marsh Harbor is decimated-- and Green Turtle, too. Both were among my first Bahamian landfalls in the early 80s. I met SOOO many terrific people, and I would donate $$ and/or supplies if I knew how to safely do so. My uncle used to fly such missions as are needed here in his Baron. He ferried many friends in anut of island air strips to meet my boat. Unfortunately, I can't call on him this time. He died a couple of years ago. I bring him up here because I would venture to say some of you have similar connections. I have land friends, sailing friends, and women Captains (I am one of them) that are ready to help, but need to know how best to do it. Keep the buzz going!!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, poet.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Palarran

After spending two days watching the news and reading about the Abaco hurricane damage, it is possible that there won’t be anything to work on or assist with this year. The general news is that they are evacuating Marsh Harbor and much of the Abacos. The best thing for our forum right now might be to organize ourselves and be prepared if the need and desire of the local people and government asks for our assistance. It probably is best if nobody shows up uninvited...

I agree.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I agree.

Personally I'm not going to stop trying to either organize a group or do something on my own. I read this a little while ago:

9.7 10:30

HTVFR Command in Hopetown reported that spirts where up last night and this morning. The community continues to amaze all of us.

They have received medical help, and they are continuing to secure and to prepare for the next stages of the recovery process.

We are evacuating more people from the island, and we look to get more established with bringing in people.

HTVFR Stateside continues to secure resources and to provide aid to our HTFVFR Command.

Please keep us in your thoughts

Good Day and God Bless You All!

That, along with a post that there was nearly zero damage to Port Lucaya and the marinas are all open and functional right now made me think that somewhere some assistance can be given.

Is anyone else here interested in joining me or helping to organize this? If not, no problem as I understand that it looks pretty daunting right now.

[Palarran]

Funny, that didn't take long. I had sent both their US based support staff and posted a message to HTVFR on FB. Not that it had anything to do with it but I definitely think there is a need and a group willing to take on some help. I'll fill out their form and send them another PM.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope Town Volunteer Fire & Rescue
10 mins ·
Attention all individuals who would like to donate time and skills. We are looking to get our Hope Town family and friends recovery help and support in the form of skilled labour and experience. Please go to the attached form, and complete as comprehensively as possible. We will be in contact with you in the coming weeks. This is going to be a long, long process, and we are hopeful that we will work together to restore our Hope Town. Thanks so much for your love, support, and desire to help.

HTVFR Facebook

[GordMay]

Dorian HTVFR Volunteer Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...dt8hASUxqgQqy4

[Palarran]

Hope Town Volunteer Fire & Rescue
3 mins ·
Good evening - thank you one and all for your amazing generosity both financial and with offers of boats and planes and supplies and labour and and and. After a temporary delay our fundraising is back up and running.
Please use htvfr.foundation@gmail.com to donate via PayPal.

[Palarran]

If anyone is interested in reading more first had reports, especially about the Cays, go to the Abaco Forum. They have it broken down by area with situation reports.

Main Abaco Discussion Forum - Abaco Forum

[Palarran]

I received this from HTVFR today. This, along with several other responses from aid agencies and cruisers has convinced me that I can't somehow communicate very well. Nearly every single person has responded with "We can't use anyone right now, maybe in the future" or "I don't think now is the best time to go there because of BLAH BLAH BLAH". When I send the info or request, it always has that this wouldn't be something we would do until after hurricane season, or around December, but that must be overlooked, misunderstood, or not read. Does anyone have any desire to help draft some type of letter or program statement that would be more clear than what I'm producing?
David.

Good morning David,

Thank you so much for your offer of assistance to the people of The Bahamas. I have included a few links below.

At this time we do not need man power on the island, however, in the future we definitely will. Please access the link below and that will put your name(s) and skillset(s) in our data base.

https://forms.gle/285QK75QVzrqdYHg7

Monetary Donations - -
Immediate
Monetary Donations for
flight/boat deployment and extraction costs - Please send to:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/hurricane...-marsh-harbour

Hope Town specific donations can be delivered to

Prince Development
Attn: Bahamas Relief
3608 E. Industrial Way
Riviera Beach, Florida 33404


Sincerely,

Scott Patterson @ HTVFR




On Sat, Sep 7, 2019 at 11:08 PM <david@belaire.com> wrote:
Hello Hope Town. It made me so happy to see a post today that you had a simple upside today. I am a member of a sailing forum with 180,000 members and we are interested in assisting the Abaco area in relief efforts. We are not emergency personnel or a professional relief organization but rather the cruisers you would have mooring or anchored in your harbor or bays in a normal year. We want to give back. While you may not know us personally you know our lot, skilled mechanics, workers, cleaners, hard workers. If there is a way we can open a dialog with someone to start to organize we are ready. I don’t think our assistance will be able to mobilize until after the hurricane season is over and the normal migration of us cruisers starts to arrive. Please contact me if there is anything we can do now or in the future.
David Lambright
SV Palarran

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...rs-223455.html

[Palarran]

Here's something from today from HTVFR:

Hope Town Volunteer Fire & Rescue
15 mins ·
9.9 2200

HTVFR US Command's Incident Coordinator, Brian Malone, arrived on the island for a check and a visit to the HTVFR Hope Town Command Center. During the visit, the entire island was assessed at arm's length, and key people met to exchange information on a personal level. The visit is one of many planned to help to continue the amazing progress that all on Hope Town have accomplished. Brian reports that the island, while devastated, is buzzing with purposeful activity and filled with plans for the future. Hope Town remains intact and strong, and the morale of the community is high despite the evident trauma and the extreme losses of this community. Even though they have suffered many tremendous losses, the people of Hope Town continue to persevere with a keen eye towards what's to be made and a steady hand for what's to come.

HTVFR US Command and HTVFR Hope Town Command conducted a joint meeting. The meeting was productive and engaged, and we helped to craft a strategy for communication, distribution of items and supplies, and continuation of plans for replacement for volunteers and others onto the island.

The teams shared goals and objectives for the coming weeks, and the teams set up a meeting schedule and common mode of communication.

US Aid and Coast Guard arrived yesterday 9/9. They continued their assessment of the island. Another assessment crew will be arriving tomorrow.

The teams are looking to coordinate supplies and volunteers for delivery to the island. We will be reaching out to volunteers to work on reliving our community and we will be working on how to deliver supplies effectively and in a streamlined fashion.

We will be working to establish a regular schedule for moving volunteers on and off the island. This will allow others to have a chance to lend a hand with the work on the island, as well as to give the ones that have been at it through the storm a much needed break.

We will have more to report tomorrow.

Good Night and God Bless!

[GordMay]

While it’s never too early to begin planning; it may be too soon for local Abacoians to devote much time/energy to contemplating longer-term (& indeterminate) recovery undertakings, whilst currently dealing with emergency lifesaving & evacuation efforts.

[steamgoat]

Maybe you could go to Green Turtle,Black Sound and help Donnie rebuild his house and marina,he’s been a cruising favorite for a while. The town doesn’t seem to have been destroyed,still plenty of roofs.

[MV Wanderlust]

Heard about this relief organization today: http://yachtaidglobal.org/
They specialize in organizing yachts to provide relief supplies to disaster areas.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by MV Wanderlust

Heard about this relief organization today: http://yachtaidglobal.org/
They specialize in organizing yachts to provide relief supplies to disaster areas.

Interesting outfit, and look well squared away. They seem more geared towards superyachts, however.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by steamgoat

Maybe you could go to Green Turtle,Black Sound and help Donnie rebuild his house and marina,he’s been a cruising favorite for a while. The town doesn’t seem to have been destroyed,still plenty of roofs.

Here is a first hand report on GTC:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3831...9471508436122/