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1000 fruit trees for Dorian victims in The Bahamas

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My name is Xain Lawracy and I am raising money to plant new fruit trees for the people in the Bahamas who lost everything during hurricane Dorian. (Please hit the "read more" button to hear my whole story)
If Dorian had not turned north after it went over The Bahamas it would have come across and hit my house and destroyed my yard and all my fruit trees, that would have been devastating to me to loose all the trees I planted and all the mature fruit trees that I have grown up eating.  
After the hurricane passed I could not believe how much damage was done to all the houses but I also saw how so many trees got destroyed. I know in the aftermath of such a disaster the people there are thinking of their house, family and friends and hoping they will be ok but as life somewhat gets back to normal the one thing that will take many years to return are all the fruit trees people had growing in their yards that every year gave mangoes, avocados, lemons etc. and they will notice they are now missing and will take a long time to regrow. 
I waited till now to run this campaign because I did not want to take money away from the emergency needs of the people to keep them alive but at this point they are beginning clean up and rebuild and I want to help them in the way I can do best!

In case you are wondering "who's this kid who wants to plant fruit trees"? 
I have been helping out at a fruit tree nursery near me since I was 11 and many people consider me to be pretty knowledgeable about fruit trees and I have a very large collection of fruit trees at my house. 
I also started a garden at my school in an unused area and now it is pretty impressive!

Here is a pic of it now.

This is what it looked like 18 months ago when I started my school garden.
I am also a member of the Rare Fruit Council of Palm Beach County and helped my dad giving a presentation about growing fruit trees at the Mango Festival at Fairchild Botanical Garden this year.
I am also a big promoter of growing your own fruit trees to help people be more sustainable and self sufficient.

Here is a pic of me pollinating a rare Corps Flower at Tropical Bamboo Nursery.

I have already discussed with a large fruit tree grower what types of fruit trees most Bahamians are interested in and will have trees specially grafted and grown for them. The main types of trees I will be providing will be Mangoes, Avocados, Jackfruit, Lemons, Bread Fruit, Sapodillas and Star Fruit.

The reason I think this is important is because I have had customers from the Bahamas come into the nursery to get trees and it is not easy to get them back to The Bahamas. They can't just go down to a local nursery or Home Depot, they have to come the the USA get the trees take them to an agricultural station to get inspected, take them and the ag paperwork to the port and have them shipped by boat to the island they live on and when they pick them up pay import fees to get them. Many of the most needy people will not have the time or ability to get them for years.
My goal is to raise enough money to take 1000 fruit trees over to The Bahamas and give them to the people who need them most, 1000 trees seems like a lot but there are 17,000 people living in the Abacos alone so even 10,000 trees would not be to many and I will get as many trees as I can with the money you donate! The trees will not be ready till the spring of 2020 and that is when I will begin distributing them, this is also when the salt will be washed out of the soil and it will be cleaned up and read to plant new trees.

For people who donate $100 or more for every $100s I will attach a card to the tree with the name, company or organization of who donated it. 

I can't express how much this means to me and how much it will mean to the people who's lives were affected by this disaster.

In the years to come things will be rebuilt and much of what was sent over will be a distant memory but every time someone eats a fruit from the tree in their yard they will remember that people cared about them when they needed them most!! 

Pic of me fruit hunting in Puerto Rico before their big hurricane hit.

Thank You for your support!!!
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Donations 

  • Scott Carruthers
    • $100 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Xain Lawracy
Organizer
West Palm Beach, FL
Rob Lawracy
Beneficiary

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