Betty Baraud (second from right), together with her Baraud International volunteers; Richard Flowers (third from right); Clarence Flowers (far right); and staff of the Flowers Group. Photo by Steven Knipp

Volunteers packed Cayman Brac relief supplies on Tuesday, 11 November, at both Industrial Park’s Miracle Brokers and in Cricket Square through efforts by Betty Baraud, as Cayman National Bank announced a relief fund for monetary contributions.

Tons of privately donated materials were loaded into trucks at Choppy Delapena’s Miracle Brokers in the morning, ready for transport to the George Town port, where workers repacked pallets of shrink-wrapped supplies into a donated container on board a Thompson Shipping barge bound for the storm-ravaged Sister Islands.

Meanwhile, in the late afternoon at a similar gathering at Cricket Square, volunteers including Ms Baraud and United Democratic Party Senior Member Rolston Anglin packed another 20-foot unit with relief supplies.

Also on Tuesday afternoon, Cayman National Bank’s Yvette Grant announced creation of The Sister Islands Relief Fund, for financial contributions.

Ms Grant, who welcomed calls at 815-5105 or 916-2536, and emails at yvette.grant@caymannational.com or pepsi1@cwky.blackberry.net, detailed the numbers for two accounts:

- CI$ checking account: 011-11-577

- US$ checking account: 021-063-08

“A lot of this is designated for particular people, and for the other material, we have people on the ground in the Brac who will see that it’s distributed to those in need,” Mr Delapena said.

He said five additional truckloads of material had been shipped earlier on Tuesday, packed onto two Thompson Shipping barges that left at 5:00 am.

“It was mostly water, sanitary items, bleach, Pampers, flashlights. Cayman Imports had an old packing list from Hurricane Ivan,” he said, “so we filled that as best we could since this is pretty similar to Ivan.”

Ms Baraud of Baraud International told Net News: “I was just grateful to have been spared by the storm this time, having gone through Hurricane Ivan. It was such a relief when the storm missed us. But then when I heard what the people on the Sister Islands had gone through themselves, I felt I had to do something to help.

“So I called Mr [Clarence] Flowers of the Flowers Group to ask for help; and he didn’t hesitate even a second. I booked a container, and my staff—Debbie Collen, Kelly Verwey, Stefan Cohen, Allen Brady and Anna Goodman—and I, started telling people that we needed supplies; we advertised and went on the radio, to ask for help. My staff came in all day on Sunday because we knew that people would need supplies soon.

“The reaction from people was wonderful,” Ms Baraud added, “and the outpouring of goods and supplies that came in was incredible—it really made us feel proud.”

Aside from her stalwart staff, Ms Baraud also wanted to thank the many people who banded together to help the Sister Islands. The list includes Clarence Flowers, Richard Flowers and Frank Flowers, of the Flowers Group. “This whole project would not have happened without “King” Flowers,” Ms Baraud said. “He was so helpful in every way, even physically working together with his staff for us. I can’t thank him enough for his generosity.”

Ms Baraud also wanted to thank Barclay Private Banking; HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada, the Tortuga Rum Company, Orchid Development, Tom Jones Construction, the spice company McCormick, and one anonymous donor who provided a $50,000 deposit “to be used for the relief fund for the people of the Brac”.

Mr Delapena said the organisers, led by himself, Chamber of Commerce President Eddie Thompson and attorney Theresa Pitcairn, had encouraged people to buy supplies at local supermarkets, but wanted to be careful not to compete with Brac businesses.

“We want to ship what local merchants there do not have, to help support them and get then up and running; we don’t want to impact them with this,” Mr Delapena said, adding that medical supplies for children and those with chronic ailments were also needed.

Mr Thompson said fund-raising efforts would accomplish two things: “We have incurred a lot of costs with this, and the funds we have raised will help offset these. Whatever is left over will go to lines of credit at Brac stores. We can say to them, ‘please, give people what they need’.”

“We want to make a public thanks to everyone in the community,” said Mr Thompson. We have people here who worked 11-hour shifts to load everything that people have donated.”

Thompson Shipping’s Bing Thompson said barges would continue moving freight for the next several days.

“The first should arrive in Cayman Brac about 11:00 pm on Tuesday; the weather is very workable,” he told Cayman Net News, “and we have lighting on board. We should commence unloading about midnight and be finished by morning, and sail at sunrise back to George Town.”

He said a second barge would be loaded while the first was making its delivery, initially heading for Cayman Brac, then moving gas tanks to Little Cayman as the first barge returned to Grand Cayman.
George Town port workers would load the Miracle Brokers cargo on Wednesday night, while the second barge would be loaded Thursday night in George Town, for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman delivery on Friday.

“All in all, we have moved about 110 [double containers] worth of cargo,” Bing Thompson said, “and that includes eight house trailers and a lot of heavy equipment,”

Worryingly, however, he warned of renewed storms at the weekend.

“It is my opinion, based on the long-range surface forecast, that this would be the last voyage for some days as the weather conditions on the north coast of Cayman Brac will begin to deteriorate on Sunday/Monday and would remain unworkable for some days into the new week,” Mr Thompson said.

“This of course will have to be updated and corrected as we get nearer to the weekend, at which time the forecast should become more accurate,” he said.

By Tad Stoner & Steven Knipp
tad@caymannetnews.com