The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ROTARIANS in the Cayman Islands dispatched a shipment of hurricane relief supplies on Bahamasair planes to New Providence over the weekend which were collected yesterday morning.

The supplies include 10 pallets of chainsaws, building materials and baby food items and will be stored at Bahamas Wholesale Agencies and distributed.

Because the cargo was not manifested and no duty waiver signed by the Prime Minister, there were fears the supplies could be held up and subject to Value Added Tax.

But interventions by Rotarians in the Bahamas on Saturday are understood to have ensured the supplies were available for collection by the Rotary Club of East Nassau (RCEN).

Diane de Cardenas, RCEN president, said yesterday: “There’s a process to go through before you could collect supplies. Rotary went through that process and people were able to collect their goods today.

“It was in large thanks to a lot of government agencies, customs, Nassau Airport Development Company, Bahamasair that we were able to do that. There were no challenges in terms of taxes and duties.

“People who were assigned to deal with it knew there was a process that had to be followed and they followed it. That meant it took longer for us to let people access the supplies than we would have liked but we were successful.”

Ms De Cardenas said people will begin sorting through the supplies on Tuesday, handing clothing and food to the Salvation Army and Red Cross while using building materials to help those the club has been referred to.

“Rotary is not a first responder,” she noted. “We leave that to the NEMAs and that kind of thing. Our focus is on long term funding and high dollar projects. We met today to discuss additional plans for projects the Bahamas needs. We’re waiting on full assessment of the hurricane’s impact. Rotary does plan on being involved for the long term and putting in a significant amount of money and time into this but we’re waiting on the assessment to be finished.”