My name is Holly. I am fundraising for my dear friend Alicia, who comes from Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas. I want to introduce you to an amazing woman that I first met when we both volunteered for World Central Kitchen in the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. For those that don’t remember Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane that came ashore in the Abacos and Grand Bahama and completely decimated the islands. To date, it is the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas.
Alicia lost everything in that storm. She and her children escaped with just their clothes on their backs and what few things they could carry. They were evacuated from the island and brought with many others, to a massive shelter in Nassau after surviving through days of the monster storm in which they believed they would die as so many others did.
Alicia and I met, when we both volunteered with World Central Kitchen to help feed survivors of the hurricane, but our stories were opposites: I was there as an outsider to help survivors. She was there as a survivor, and due to the nature of her heart and desire to work she also wanted to help in any way she could & joined the army of volunteers.
Before the storm, she lived in a little house and maintained a small farm on her (now estranged) husband's land. She made a living farming and selling vegetables and flowers to neighbors and small markets on the island.
In the years since the storm, she has been struggling to gain her independence and her life back. When she was able to return home to Abaco after living in Nassau for over a year, she found that she could no longer farm on her estranged husband's land.
She applied for her own plot of farm land, and after waiting for 2 years, was finally granted a 5-year lease agreement on a one-acre parcel of land to be used to operate a Horticultural Farm. The hard part was that the land was not at all cleared for farming. This was a completely wild Bahamian “bush” land that needed to be cleared before any farming could begin.
I was able to raise some money through GoFundMe, plus my own finances as well as a donation from a very generous friend to pay for a bulldozer to clear her land and dig the wells that she needed to get started.
She and 3 of her children are currently living on the farm, IN A TENT, and now I am asking for help to lift up this amazing hardworking woman in her journey to provide for her children and her community. - I would love to get her out of the tent and into a little something with a solid roof and safety.
It's going to take a lot of hard work, physical labor and money. The hard work and physical labor, Alicia can handle. It's the money part that she needs help with.
I am personally committed to helping her and providing assistance in any way I can. Alicia has always kept hope alive in her heart and her farm will now reflect her dreams and aspirations. She has a fighting spirit, and she has a light in her that radiates from the inside out and if you ever have the pleasure of meeting her in person, you will understand what I mean!
I want to help this incredible woman build HOPE FARM. We know what a determined woman can do in the face of adversity!