Sam and Jamie after Irma

As many of you know Sam and I have been living in/near the Caribbean since 2014. We first found our home on the tiny landmass of Key West, FL where we both fell in love with the ocean and begain our careers working on the water. After a couple of years in Key West we decided to move to the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John in 2016. There we found a new community full of people with open arms and hearts who have become our island family. We did a circle around the states last year trying to find the best place to plant our roots and the circle was finally completed earlier this year when we returned to the islands. We both had secured the job of our dreams, had purchased a car and motorcycle, were slowly collecting the pieces to furnish our home and 2 weeks before Irma hit had just purchased a couch and bed.  We were finally letting our hair down. Everything changed on September 6 when Hurricane Irma blasted our beautiful home with her strong winds, rain and tornadoes and completely stripped the entire island  naked. While Sam and I were lucky to have been in a secure structure during the storm we had no choice, but to evacuate the island after Irma's passing. The place we had set our roots into, the companies we worked for and the beautiful National Park which brought many vacationers were destroyed in a matter of a few hours. We were each able to bring clothes and shoes and we were able to collect a few items from our home we felt were irreplaceable as well as our amazing dog, Irie. We feel so fortunate to be able to bring those items with us, but that is all we now have to our name. It's a hard reality to imagine, let alone accept. We are finaly coming to terms that we are homeless, car-less and assett-less. Thankfully we are able to stay with family members until we determine the steps needed to rebuild our lives.
A group of St. John residents have joined together in Philadelphia to collect tangible supplies and donations via a nonprofit organization they set up. These items will be flown to the islands when there is a break in all this hurricane activity to help get the debris clearing and rebuild started.  Our plans for the future are in such a whirl wind the next clear logical step is for us to go to Philadelphia and help with this organization. We have started this GoFundMe account in response to the number of people asking what we need to recover. We are clothed, so what we need now is transportation and funding to help pay off our evacuation flights and the bills that are still coming until we can get this mess somewhat untangled and we're back on our feet. Donations made on this page will provide us the resources to be a part of the relief effort and to make it day to day. Any little bit counts and will be deeply appreciated. This is the time we need the most help.  Thank you all for your prayers and giving hearts.
To grasp the damage caused by Irma, watch this video:
http://viconsortium.com/featured/watch-st-john-after-hurricane-irma/ via