BahamasLocal.com partnered with the crew of the MV Impulse and the Bahamas Red Cross to deliver Dorian relief supplies to Little Abaco and East End, Grand Bahama.
Determined to make an impact, they loaded the luxury yacht with 16 pallets of goods including food, water, tarps, blankets, clothing, shoes, bleach, insecticide, hygiene kits and more for the 12-hour voyage into the banks between the Abacos and Grand Bahama.
“We’re not from here but we figured BahamasLocal.com would know how best we could help. Our boss is a really nice guy, and as soon as he heard about the destruction he said we could use the boat to help and even gave us a budget for fuel and food for any volunteers,” said Jonathon Yoors, captain of the MV Impulse, which operates as a charter company in The Bahamas.
Once contacted by the MV Impulse crew, Vanessa Mott, BahamasLocal.com’s head of marketing and communications, immediately reached out to the Bahamas Red Cross to see if they could assist in sending supplies to the settlements in north Abaco now isolated after Dorian washed out the only bridge to the mainland.
Exanna Dormeus, Family Island co-ordinator for the Bahamas Red Cross, arranged the delivery of eight pallets, while Niles Saunders of Saunders Trucking arranged another eight to be shared between Little Abaco and East End, Grand Bahama.
Once on the ground in Crown Haven, Little Abaco, the volunteers from the Red Cross and BahamasLocal.com went door-to-door to deliver supplies and check on the well-being of those who had stayed behind to rebuild their settlements.
Once a community of 775 persons, Little Abaco now has a population of 410. Over in the cays near McClean’s Town, Grand Bahama, the devastation was just as great.
“To be there amongst people literally rebuilding their lives with damaged homes, no jobs and very little resources was sad and inspiring all at once,” Ms Mott said as she reflected on the three-day trip.
“These people embody the Bahamian spirit, battered and broken yet soldiering on, and we have to stand with them now and in the months and years to come. This is what is meant when we say ‘Forward, upward, onward together.’ We can only do it together.”
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