THE BAHAMAS HURRICANE RELIEF UPDATE JULY 2021
TOTAL PROGRAM IMPACT
2,332 669
LIVES IMPACTED VOLUNTEERS
12,820
VOLUNTEER DAYS
219
JOBS COMPLETED
Current Activities We’re incredibly pleased to announce that Every Child Counts School (ECC) is now complete and the team celebrated the official handover at the end of June! With the many challenges we’ve faced in the Bahamas, the completion of ECC is a huge milestone for our programs and is a demonstration of the significant impact we’ve made since the restart of our volunteer-powered operations last fall. Thanks to everyone who has supported the work at ECC; it’s now a beautiful, resilient school ready for students and staff to safely return to in the coming months! With ECC complete, and only a few months left before we wrap up our Bahamas Hurricane Relief Program, the focus is now on completing Little Darlings Academy (LDA) and continuing to repair and rebuild as many resilient roofs as possible. At LDA, the first stage of grading is complete, the slab for building A has been poured and blockwork for the walls in progressing quickly! The team has also been busy closing down our base at Dundas Town since we have merged the two teams and are running operations from our Marsh Harbour base to maximize efficiency in these final months.
Community Stories One of the roofs that the team completed in Marsh Harbour recently was for Doranell. The scope of work for this particular roof included reinforcing the roof structure with hurricane clips, installing underlayment and fitting standing seam metal roofing. This is what Doranell had to say to the team of three who worked on her home: “I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to you [Ashanta], Mike and Kieran I have gotten so much compliments on my roof that it brought me to tears. God bless all of you”. Photos: (top) the completed Seydel building at ECC (left) Doranell’s new roof.
Learn about our programs at
allhandsandhearts.org
Disaster Profile In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall as a Category 5 storm in The Bahamas with wind speeds in excess of 185 mph, lashing the Bahamian islands of Abaco (pop. ~17,200) and Grand Bahama (pop. ~51,000). Dorian’s traveling speed slowed to 1 mph over Grand Bahama, prolonging the island’s exposure to a life-threatening storm surge of 18-23 feet above normal tide levels. Over 76,000 people were affected, and 10,000 children were displaced from schools. Dorian is the strongest hurricane on record for The Bahamas and tied a record for the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall.
Our Work During the first six months, our focus was on response activities in some of the hardest-hit areas. After a six-month suspension of our volunteer operations due to COVID-19, our long-term recovery program is now targeting reconstruction of schools and other community infrastructure, including our resilient roof repair program. With immense support from our local and global partners, we are committed to continuing work in The Bahamas through the summer.
About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure. We have earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator for the seventh year in a row. This year only seven percent of rated non-profits received this distinction for financial and operational efficiency. Photos: (top to bottom) The new Convent/Horizon Hall at ECC, Sochet Hall at ECC, progress at Little Darlings Academy.
Our Partners in The Bahamas
info@allhandsandhearts.org