How You Can Help the Bahamas Recover from Dorian

My heart broke when I came back from being offline in Yosemite and Sequoia to see the devastation caused by Dorian. Immediately, I wanted to know how I could help and I hope that you would want to know the same. So I’m compiling these resources to give us an idea of where to at least start to help those affected by Dorian in the Bahamas

My Go to

…for almost any disaster lately is Jose Andres charity World Central Kitchen and that’s why I now give to them regularly. He has managed to found a system, with his wife, that appears to be able to be flexible and nimble enough to get on the ground and help people before almost any other organization on the planet these days. I don’t know how WCK does it but they have my utmost respect and they continued their track record by being on the ground quickly in the Bahamas after Dorian. Follow their continuing work online with #ChefsForBahamas

Bahamian and International Charities that will help those affected by Dorian – via Caribbean Wellness & Education

The Abaco Club on Winding Bay: raising money for displaced persons in Abaco.

The Voiceless Dogs of Pawtcake Refuge: a dog rescue and shelter

Tourism Cares: Focuses on restoring and improving tourism resources to support communities’ long term.

Temporary Jobs for Displaced Hospitality Workers: Several thousand displaced hospitality workers will be in need of temporary employment, likely for one to two years. The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association has a Caribbean Job Bank where members can post vacancies. After Hurricanes Maria and Irma, we found temporary placements for tourism employees and we hope to do the same again.

from my friend Lily 

She shares three key websites and organizations to donate to. Or that have information on where to drop off supplies in Miami. She lives and works in the Caribbean. So she has a perspective so many of us simply lack because of a difference in proximity. Check out her post >> here <<.

I also so appreciate her note that echoes what Angie says below,

You can mind the news and notice whenever a media outlet attempts to lump all the islands of The Bahamas and suggest that the entire destination was hit by Dorian. Too often the Caribbean has to deal with additional work and grief keeping the US/foreign media educated. Let’s all chip in by being careful with the articles we share online, avoiding sensationalist and generic headlines, and instead being specific with the words we use to share updates during this ongoing monster of a hurricane.

from my friend Angie

She stresses that you shouldn’t cancel plans to areas of the Bahamas which were not affected. They will need our business now more than ever. Remember, there are 700 + islands in the country that is the Bahamas and they were not all affected.

There’s a great graphic from The Bahamas on Instagram that helps give a visual to this:

What would you add? What have you already done to help those affected by Dorian?