Lazy Lizard - Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma has left a heartbreaking path of destruction and devastation. Our beautiful St Maarten has suffered immensely. So many have lost their homes, their businesses, their livelihoods, and so so much more. But from what we have seen in the past few weeks, Hurricane Irma did not destroy St Maarten's heart and soul.

St Maarteners have come together stronger than ever in a joint effort and promise to rebuild St Maarten to be better than ever. Those of you who know me and my establishment, Lazy Lizard, know how passionate I am about my island, my vision for my business and of course, first and foremost, my family. While we are extremely lucky that Karishma Kishnani, my kids and all our loved ones are safe, Lazy Lizard took an enormous beating.

Lazy Lizard's shutters blew off which exposed and ravished the entire restaurant. In addition to that, looters stole whatever was left in merchandise, alcohol and furniture. Because the restaurant is now wide open, flooding has ruined the bar, the appliances, the kitchen. We sincerely did not expect that this hurricane plus the looters would completely demolish our entire business in a matter of days.
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We have started this page because so many of our wonderful customers have asked us when we are planning to re-open and what they can do to help that happen as soon as possible. Because we do not have enough funds to rebuild Lazy Lizard on our own, we are asking for help from our loyal patrons and friends; the wonderful people who have made Lazy Lizard a success thus far.

Along with our talented and amazing chef, Joan, we have decided that we want to rebuild Lazy Lizard and open its door as soon as possible, and in addition, we want to help the community as well. So, not only will the funds be going towards the reconstruction of all aspects of the business, but we will also be using them to strengthen our community. For example, now that limited groceries are available on the island, we were able to purchase some ingredients to make meals for the community, free of cost to them. Joan and I have cleaned what we could of LL, and will be using part of our kitchen to prepare these meals. We also have other plans for the funds, and will be sharing those on our social media pages as we organize them.

Finally, on a personal note, I would like to just say how proud I am of my incredible island. I have spent almost every day volunteering my time and effort to do whatever I can to help. And I have witnessed so much hope, power, strength in the eyes of my fellow brothers and sisters. I cannot even describe the feeling. This is my home. I have lived in St Maarten for 33 years of my life. I love this island. At first, a part of me thought there was no way LL could bounce back... but after seeing everyone in action... after realizing what this island has done for me and my family.... there was no giving up. St Maarten will come back and will show the world how resilient, how amazing we really are.

We ask those of you who can, please help us to not only build a bigger and better Lazy Lizard, but also to help our friendly island of St Maarten! #sxmstrong

Please message us if you have any questions.

Nikhil Kukreja, Lazy Lizard