The clubs said their pledge is an encouragement for others to give generously.

This announcement was made yesterday September 3, 2019 at a press conference held at Ogier’s Conference Room, 3rd Floor Ritter Building, Wickham’s Cay I, to detail the modus operandi of the relief drive.

The telethon will be held at Maria’s by the Sea on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 and will be broadcast live on all the local radio channels and other media outlets with live social media feeds.

Over $8B in damages in Bahamas- Lorna G. Smith

According to chairperson of the mission, Assistant Governor- District 7020 Lorna G. Smith OBE, the preliminary dollar value of the loss the Bahamas has suffered at the hands of Hurricane Dorian is in the vicinity of over $8B. “So we are talking about a lot of money, that’s why past President Lynette’s appeal (Lynette L. Harrigan) cannot be over stated.”

In her appeal, Past President of the Rotary Club of Tortola, Lynette L. Harrigan said, “I just want to say to the BVI Public, going through (Hurricane) Irma we know what we were going through, but we were on the other side looking at what was unfolding on the Bahamas. It only brings it home to know what the entire world was feeling for us.”

She said having travelled after the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017 and felt the outpouring of support by persons, “and the helplessness that they were saying they felt for us and they couldn’t do anything, that is what we need to build on right now to help the Bahamas.”

Time to return the favour- Lynette L. Harrigan

“We need to put ourselves in their shoes. They were crying, people were helpless, they were not going through it, but it was if they were because they couldn’t do anything about it at that time. The day after, they stepped up and they came to our aid. Let us do whatever we can to help the Bahamas.”

Harrigan said she was cognizant of the fact that many of the people of this territory still have not recovered from two years ago, “But let’s help the Bahamas as well.”

Her appeal was also further supported by Past Assistant Governor District 7020 Elvis J. Harrigan aka ‘Juggy’ who said, “I just want to use this time to appeal to the BVI to come forward and support. We got tremendous support from the BVI and from the other Rotary clubs around District 7020, they actually came to our aid and we were grateful and we used the fund and all the relief that we got [and] that is why we are well on our way for recovery.”

The service clubs said that they chose to raise funds as the first move as, according to Past District 7020 Governor Vance M. Lewis, “Following a disaster like this usually cash is going to be the first thing that is the most effective way in providing help.”

Mr Harrigan also said that it will be known in a few days’ time what are the most urgent needs in the Bahamas, “And we should be able to respond to that using funds that we are going to get.”

This initiative is just a fraction of the efforts that the Rotary Family will be doing to assist the Bahamas.

According to the Vice President of the Rotary Club of Tortola, Ian Smith, other avenues are being looked at to raise funds for the Bahamas, including a Go-Fund-Me account.

The three rotary clubs in the VI are the Rotary Club of Tortola, Rotary Club of Road Town and Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town.

From left: Chairperson of the fundraising mission for the Bahamas, Assistant Governor- District 7020 Lorna G. Smith OBE; President of the Rotary Club of Tortola, Michael J. Killourhy; and Past District 7020 Governor, Vance M. Lewis