Bringing Relief To Haiti One Boatload At A Time

Bringing Relief To Haiti One Boatload At A Time

- Robert Beringer

As Hurricane Matthew ripped through southwest Haiti in the predawn hours of Oct. 4, 2016, people did their best to find shelter and protect their families. When the storm passed, 500 people had died. The damage to roads, infrastructure and businesses exceeded $2.8 billion. Aid officials estimated up to 80 percent of some areas were destroyed; one government official described the carnage as “total destruction.”

But even before the last of the storm winds had died, volunteers of the International Rescue Group were organizing a voyage to provide humanitarian relief via their fleet of sailboats: the 50-foot catamaran Rendezvous Cay, the 97-foot ketch Thunderbird V and the 56-foot ketch Tandemeer. Tapping into their network of charities, they coordinated the collection of tons of donated relief goods from around the Southeast United States.

The vessels, too, were donated and crewed with volunteer sailors from Europe and the United States, who did all maintenance, repairs and upgrades. I joined the crew on Thunderbird V in Hollywood, Florida, for a week and got a lesson in the power of human kindness and compassion.

Goods taken on board cover most basic human needs and occupy every stateroom, locker, lazarette and deck space. “For the trip to Haiti, we’ll all be sleeping on mattresses placed on the floor,” said IRG executive director Ray Thackeray. Originally from Liverpool, England, the 62-year-old has an easy smile and a type-B personality that suits this type of work. Almost every day, something breaks, and Thackeray’s glib response is to “put it on the list.”