Bracelets for Ukraine
Donated to the Guelph Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Girl Power Conference Guelph
Hoping they enjoyed the build a bracelet kits.
Bracelets for Bahamas
update September 26, 2020
There is an art exhibition of Abaconian works related to post-Dorian recovery and what “home” means to them now. Here is a link to an interview by one of the artists (and my distant cousin) Leanne Russell. I’ve never met her and she doesn’t know me, but I am extremely proud of her anyway.
https://www.burningforhome.com/artists/leannerussell
“Part 1 “1932 or 2019” Combining photographs taken after Dorian in Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, and those salvaged from a lost collection taken by Brent Malone’s father in 1932, provided by Marysa Malone, with the stories of historian Amanda Diedrick collected for her book “Those Who Stayed”, this 5 image collection reflects on the bizarre similarities between hurricanes Dorian and the hurricane of 1932, and the aftermath experienced politically, environmentally, and sociologically.These four new pieces continue the dialogue established by the original 4 pieces in the series, which were conceptualized for Refuge, and shown as a pentaptych. Each work will be multi-media photo, 18×24, the title of each being either a quote from Amanda’s book or a quote from modern media (but with no date affixed, leaving the viewer to guess if it is taken from 1932 or 2019).”
— Leanne Russell
July 24, 2020
Good news!!! I found a gentleman in Florida who runs the Green Turtle Cay Foundation. He said I can send the bracelets to his work address and he will bring them to the island. So, they will finally, eventually…at least make it to the Bahamas.
He also said they were focused on rebuilding the school and making it available as a hurricane shelter. There are updates on the foundation’s Facebook and a link to a go fund me page for people to continue to support the rebuilding of this island.
It’s funny how inspiration hits at odd times. In putting together the package to send to Florida I got the idea to make Build your own Bracelet Kits to send down as-well. I had a couple of helpers put the kits together.
https://sacredstonesforthesoul.com/make-your-own-bracelet-kits/
July 22, 2020 update
Still no word on the arrival of the bracelets. I reached out again by email to no avail. Well intentioned wishes do not always have the desired impact. I still have a bag of bracelets to deliver to somebody somewhere. With hurricane season upon us again, it is on my mind. As it turns out, Bahamas has closed its doors to most international tourists starting this week, and between Dorian, COVID, and now with borders closed, tourism has not been a viable option anyway for them.
Here is hoping they fare better in this hurricane season. The links to reputable charities are still below for those who are interested in donating this year. With the pandemic and much of America in full outbreak, potential humanitarian aid will have its own challenges I suspect this year. Every little bit helps, not just for the Bahamas, but for other countries as well.
I wrote about the archetypal energies around hurricanes in 2015. You can read that newsletter here.
February 17, 2020 update
I contacted the Alton Lowe Museum in Green Turtle Cay and they never received the package of bracelets I donated back in November. In fact, they said no mail had been delivered since the hurricane as the post office was decimated in the storm. So, plan B will be to send next shipment to American PO Boxes listed for both GTC and Treasure Cay foundations of second home owners who contribute to the local communities. I am on the mailing list for updates on Treasure Cay restoration. One of the pay it forward projects that caught my eye was the request for donations to provide residents with one hot meal a week as a community. They are still living off of generators for power.
December 1, 2019
On Sept 1, 2019, I was returning from a beach vacation with my grandchildren. We were told by the proprietor of the rental cottages that the last week in August had been the first time all summer that there was an actual beach to sit on. The Great Lakes have been higher than ever this year due to global warming. Coastlines are changing, shrinking and eroding away.
In the Bahamas, on that same day, in the Abaco cays, they too were experiencing coastal weather changes. But for them it was deadly. Hurricane Dorian literally stood still over them. The wind damage and wave surges were unlike anything they have ever experienced and these are folks used to dealing with hurricanes!
I have had a particular fascination with the Bahamas in the past decade ever since I discovered that my great grandfather had a sister who settled there. So, I have extended family living there. I do not know them, nor do they know me, but I feel a kinship duty to reach out. That is why I donated bracelets for them to sell to tourists.
After the first few weeks, the international media left and it was hard to find updated information, but I kept digging online and I learned a lot. Two things really stand out for me:
1) the resilient spirit of the Bahamian islanders
2) the lack of tangible immediate emergency onsite support from their own government.
I am Canadian, so my perspective is that of outsider. I am, however, a keen observer of the human condition. I saw, in YouTube videos, communities working together, to clear roads, to find a new space for school children to learn, coordinating community kitchens to feed whole islands, synchronizing systems of golf carts to pick up donations from docks for transport to appropriate sites on island and I saw efforts to preserve cultural artifacts.
There is much I could say about the Bahamas in the aftermath of Dorion. From afar, what I noticed was the grassroots intervention of individuals with boats-mostly from Florida, American churches, NGOs, mobile medical units, cruise-lines, etc. bringing food, water, supplies, and construction materials for those who did not evacuate to rebuild. I saw official news broadcasts that highlighted government evacuation centres, reports of tax reprieve for the islands, visits by politicians, reminders of fines for price gouging by retailers, and a call to deport Haitians.
I think of the Bahamas as a sister state to Canada in the British Commonwealth, one that, like Canada, was settled early on by Loyalists fleeing America after their revolt. I don’t think of it as a third world country, but now in many ways it almost seems like that for outer islands when aid has to come from other countries other than their own. They were even left without electricity for several months. It’s been an eye opener for me following this story. Thank goodness for the generous aid of all those outside agencies and individuals, but especially , thank goodness for the inner strength of the Abaconians.
The rebuilding is not a sprint, but a marathon. I sent bracelets as donations in kind to help them fundraise to preserve arts and culture. Over the winter I will continue to make more as my part of the marathon.
The best way to support Bahamas recovery from afar is to support one of the many organizations that have been active on the ground since the hurricane. Here is a list of those I have gleaned from my research. There are likely others too, but I am only including ones I have seen in eye witness reports. When in doubt vet charities yourself. I have included a link to provide you with reviews of charities and questions to ask before donating to them. Lastly, I have included the Bahamas Government website outlining partnerships they have.
Note: July 28/20- I recently updated Version of the website editing and some of the previous links below went a bit wonky. I haven’t had a chance to go through and fix them all yet.
Global first responders
Samaritan s purse
https://www.samaritanspurse.ca
Abaco rescue fund
https://www.abacorescuefund.org
Key west cares
Water mission
Adventure disaster relief team
https://www.adventures.org/response/
Green turtle foundation
PO BOX 491357LEESBURG, FL 34749-1357
World central kitchen
http://www.joseandres.com/en_us/craft/philanthropy/world-central-kitchen
Mercy corps
https://www.mercycorps.org/about-us
REM donated song
Adventures in missions
https://www.adventures.org/response/
Humane Society
https://www.humanesociety.com/disaster-relief
Treasure cay community wish list
Treasure cay Facebook donations
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1226666880852119/
Taste of Treasure hot meals biweekly
https://www.treasurecaycommunity.com/taste-of-treasure
Hopetown Elbow Cay
Helping hands USA (not sure which one of these)
https://helpinghandstogether.com
Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago
(I tried but have not been able to find a website for them )
Convoy of hope
Bahamas Red Cross https://bahamasredcross.org
Global empowerment mission
https://www.globalempowermentmission.org/hurricane-dorian
Bahamas government list of disaster relief organizations and partners
https://www.bahamas.com/relief
Pretty Paws
Last year during Super Bowl season, my granddaughter and I watched Kitten Bowl. If you have never seen Kitten Bowl, it is parody of the big game with kittens playing on a mock football field. It is seriously cute, but also seriously promotes pet adoption. Since we had just adopted a 6 year cat with Feline Immune Deficiency ourselves, we got to thinking of ways we could fundraise for pet adoption ourselves. She designed the marketing materials and I made the bracelets. Bit by bit, we had enough together to deliver. Giving Tuesday seemed like an ideal time to do that. Giving Tuesday follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday commercial focus. It turns out that the Humane Society was hosting an open house that next weekend, so the timing was perfect for them.
sacred stones for the soul 
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