Reflecting on September of 2017, as the news of the level of destruction in the Bahamas comes in, the Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) calls for all entities and individuals willing to offer relief to the Bahamas in the wake of hurricane Dorian, to make donations to Samaritan’s Purse and the Rotary of Sint Maarten.

The Association believes that by focused national action, via monetary donations to entities that have proven effective in our own time of need can achieve more than by separate actions.  

Samaritan’s Purse was the first non-military aid to land in St. Maarten post Irma. Their sense of urgency and selfless acts of assistance throughout the island touched many of us directly.   The Rotary of Sint Maarten in conjunction with Rotary International will support Rotary Bahamas to come in with those local members on the ground to help in areas that may be over looked by larger international aid agencies that don’t have firsthand insight into the community.  SHTA believes these two entities can provide similar assistance to the Bahamas as they did for St. Maarten; and by supporting their efforts in other devastated areas it also can be a symbolic acts of gratitude.

Rotary is already coordinating fund raising and has raised a significant amount amongst its members; by joining forces with other Sint Maarten service clubs and the community at large we can have a larger impact.  

SHTA stresses that especially funding will be more useful, contrary to goods sourced here and then transshipped—especially as the Bahamian infrastructure is so badly damaged. This will allow Samaritan’s Purse and Rotary to be flexible in providing the most needed goods on the various Bahamian islands and also to replenish their resources for the next disaster.

Online donations to Samaritan’s purse can be made at www.samaritanspurse.org . For support to Rotary, please contact pressrotarysxm@gmail.com  or call +17215866634.  Donations can also be made to SHTA ACC. 1015922 Scotia Bank earmarked for Dorian Relief and we will combine all donations to send.

Layer 1