I feel so honored, blessed and humbled by the Bahamas relief efforts put forth by our local fishing and boating community. There are many local folks that have ties directly to the islands affected by Hurricane Dorian because they have fished or visited them for many years. These Bahamian islands are close to people’s hearts because of the many memories created there.
We were all concerned about the possibility of Dorian hitting South Florida as a monster Category 5 storm, but when it’s forward speed slowed, our community’s focus shifted to the Abacos and Grand Bahama as it became evident they would be pounded. What started as a simple effort to collect donated relief supplies morphed into a major humanitarian effort before my eyes. It was truly amazing to see people that are so caring, compassionate and generous come together in order to help our friends in the Bahamas.
For me, it all started with Nicole Zapetis of Big Dog Tackle. She has a giant heart and an incredible work ethic. She took to social media to announce the store would be collecting supplies. As more and more supplies came into the store, we learned that others from the community were working on the relief effort as well. There are so many other people that come to mind. Jim Mollica of Intrinsic Yacht Sales is a good friend and mentioned that he was trying to get some supplies to the Bahamas where he personally knew people that would be in need. He had been in contact with Tuppen’s Marine in Lake Worth and a charity called Winner’s Circle. Both were raising money and supplies. Jim also contacted management of the Offshore Anglers of Pompano Beach to rally their 250 members. The effort really gained steam through word of mouth and social media. When multiple people have a common idea, it just blows up when they come together! In just a few days, we had supplies up to the ceiling of the store and truckloads of supplies were being dropped at The Sands Harbor Hotel. We were prepping for a Flotilla.
Before I continue with the Flotilla, I must mention Trista Evans, Tom Sandstrom and all of the crew from Hooker Electric. They have ties to Treasure Cay and they started warehousing donated supplies in a hangar at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Their main goal was to get a runway cleared to land planes. They had a crew over there within a couple of days to clear the runway and through their connections, organized many flights to Treasure Cay. One day they had 28 flights over to different islands! That is not a typo!
Supplies continued to come into the store with one person after the other dropping of a box or bag of donations. Then one pick up truck after another and then tractor trailers. The momentum was building as more and more people got involved. With a weather window opening, we decided to set the Flotilla for the Saturday after Labor Day. Then it occured to me. How in the world were we going to get all of the donated supplies to the boat ramp? How were we going to get the boats loaded? The first idea was to ask anyone with a pick up truck to meet at Big Dog Tackle at 5am to load and drive to the 14th Street ramp to unload. After some thought and a long day of work and unloading supplies, we came up with the idea of pre loading box trucks and have them show up at the ramp early on Saturday. Thursday night at 9pm, I called my friend Chris at ReMax Realty and asked if our friends at All My Sons Moving and Storage would like to help. Literally, within 12 hours we had 5 moving trucks and personnel to help! Carefree Boat Club and Sean Parker also donated box trucks after seeing a social media post. None of this would have been possible if local businesses didn’t rise to the challenge. Every now and then I would hear someone on social media say, “oh they are just doing that for publicity.” The true story is that without the resources, backing, customer base, paid employees, suppliers and contacts of these local businesses nothing would have happened. Why shouldn’t businesses that donate their time and money get shown a little love? Behind the business name, there are real people that have big hearts and that’s the 100% truth!
Next, we blasted emails and social media posts that volunteers were needed to help load the trucks the day before departure and to load the boats at 5am the next morning. What happened next was mind blowing. We had about 150 volunteers show up to load the trucks. I arrived at the boat the next morning and there were without exaggeration, 200 people ready to load boats! SeaTow lead us out of Hillsboro Inlet and off we went with 100,000 pounds of supplies on over 35 boats. The weather was perfect and spirits were high. We pulled into West End and were greeted by many anxious faces. These people were in need. They were so happy to see us and at the same time, were so polite, given the circumstances. They walked up and kindly asked if they could have something and what else could we say but, please take all you need. At that moment I could see a glimmer of hope on their faces. We shared handshakes and hugs before we made the crossing back home. Throughout the entire process, many different groups of people worked together for a great cause and a lot of new friends were made, including those in the Bahamas!
~ Trae West