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Bahamian Refugee Temporary Relief

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This gofundme is to support the 3+ displaced Bahamian families that are finding refuge local to Charleston. We are all working together as one big family to help these folks out. Liz and I have welcomed a Bahamian family to the states to give them love, support and the basic necessities of life.  We have a family of four - mom, dad, a 2 y old and 5 y old - temporarily staying here until the Bahamas reconstruction begins.  We also are working tirelessly on getting more families here to get some normalcy back in their life.
Your donations will be for basic stuff - clothes, diapers, food, papertowels, toilet paper,  pillows, a broom, etc.

The Abaconians have lost EVERYTHING. Their home and neighbors homes are gone, their belongings are gone, their schools are gone, their grocery store is gone, their infrastructure is wiped out, their jobs are gone, their cars are gone,  their gas station is gone, their airport is gone.  It is literally like a warzone.  

Also, the Bahamas are remote islands so it's hard to get things there and rebuilding, etc takes more time than here in the states.  
So these families need a place to lay their head temporarily while things are cleaned up.  

These are good hard working folks.  Our family's husband was a mason on Baker's Bay - building mansions for the American wealthy.  His wife was an accountant for an office supply company.  They are proud to be Bahamians and want to live in the Bahamas.  They want to return  once the reconstruction begins and construction jobs are available.  Also, they appreciate and respect their ability to travel to the US, so therefore they will abide by the US immigration laws.  Right now, our family has their passports stamped for a 1 month visit to the states, but we are hoping to get this extended to 6 months, which is the typical amount of time allowed if they were travelling for leisure.  We hope in 6 months, there will be a little infrastructure back in place and some jobs available.  

I grew up going to the Bahamas and I consider it in many ways my hometown and it identifies my childhood.  Most of my stand out childhood memories are from the Abacos.  My heart is ripped out, so I cannot imagine how these people feel.  It is the kind of grief that you cannot understand unless you have been through it .  I have not been through it.  

Please help us out a bit!  We would really appreciate it and I know this family is overwhelmed with gratitude.  The husband just keeps sending us voice messages of how thankful he is.  I choke up everytime he sends one.  They are in Florida now and will be headed to Charleston this weekend.  Liz has already started buying stuff.   I wrote this on Sept. 12.

Also, if you are local and would like to just bring hand me downs or physical items, I think you can message me through this gofundme.  I was going to leave a number but gofundme doesn't recommend it.  
Thank you all again to our wonderful friends and family.
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Donations 

  • judy watts
    • $100 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Jesse Rhodes
Organizer
Mt. Pleasant, SC

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