Jacksonville church and Sarasota nonprofit: Don’t forget the need in the Bahamas – The Florida Times-Union

Matt Soergel|Florida Times-Union

The year 2020 has been a disaster in most of the world, so it's easy, perhaps understandable, to see why many Floridians have moved on from a close-to-home catastrophefrom the year before the global pandemic.

But, say a couple of 29-year-olds, don't forget Hurricane Dorian and the incredible damage it inflicted on parts of the Bahamas in September 2019.

There's still an overwhelmingneed there, said Danny Moroney, who leads Hope Fleet (hopefleet.org),a young nonprofit Christian relief group, based in Sarasota,that'strying to keep attention on the Bahamas.

The Bahamas have been forgotten, he said. As a place thats normally deemed paradise, this has been their toughest year. And people [elsewhere] had already moved on to the next thing, then: coronavirus.

Though slowed by the pandemic, Hope Fleet has been using its own sailboat and the boats of other volunteers headed to the Bahamas to take supplies to the islands, with a focus on rebuilding and helping children.

Photos: Scenes of Dorian devastation in Bahamas

Moroney's group found an early supporter in Kenny Roberts, pastor of a small Jacksonville church, whowas born and raised in the Bahamaswhere his family goes back generations. He has family and friends who almost died in Dorian, and who told him that for days after there were still bodies strewn about in the rubble.

"Life kind of moves on for everybody else, but not to those affected," Roberts said. "Talking to family members and friends who live there, its going to be many years before things get back to normal.

Dorian was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Bahamas, aslow-moving storm that mowed through the island nation in early September,bringing 185-mph Category 5 winds and a massive storm surge to Great Abaco and Grand Bahama islands.

The official death toll in the Bahamas was 74, though more than 200 people went missing. Thousands of buildings were destroyed and many people were left homeless.

Roberts grew up on the tiny island of Spanish Wells, 2 miles long, half a mile wide, just off the coast of Eleuthera. Surrounded by reefs, it survived Dorian fairly well.

Roberts'father was a lobster fisherman, like many of the men there, and as a young teen he would join him on the water when school was out.

Hes lost his Bahamian accent, though it comes back easily on telephone calls or visits back home. Growing up on Spanish Wells was often idyllic: It was like a small, fairly well-off town, he says, a place of unlocked doors surrounded by water, where everyone knew everyone else.

You grow up with no real needs, in a beautiful place, Roberts said.

There was not a wide range of opportunities there though, so at 16 he came to Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville. That's where he met his wife, Jenna, who had grown up on the Westside.

In January 2019, Roberts became pastor at 150-member MissionWay Church on Old St. Augustine Road, south of Interstate 295. It's website ismissionwaychurch.org.

Our church is smaller and we dont have a ton of resources, he said. We're not even one of Hope Fleet's biggest supporters because we dont have the means to be, but our heart is there: How can we help?

Great need: Tourism economy gutted

MissionWay has sent donations, including some to make sure Hope Fleets sailboat got needed repairs for its first relief voyage. Its also collected supplies and sent money so families with very little would have food and gifts for Christmas.

If things get back to normal, Roberts said, he would like to send church members over on the sailboat, people who could work construction and teach Bible classes to children.

The need is great: The Bahamas tourism-based economy was gutted by the storm, and then came the coronavirus, which hit a country whose government, he said, was ill-prepared to handle it.

On the hardest-hit islands, though, the pandemic isnt the biggest problem.

In Abaco, COVID is barely even a blip on the radar of these people,because everything else in their lives is more urgent and significant right now, Roberts said. Thats not to downplay COVID or its effects, just to emphasize how difficult things are there now.

Hope Fleet's Moroney said it's frustrating not being able to make a significant dent in the massiveneed in the Bahamas. But it's still worth trying.

He reached out to MissionWay as soon as the hurricane passed. They were the first church, he said, to donate to his group.

Since then hes found other willing helpers, even though coronavirus-related travel restrictions kept travelers from the Bahamas until recently.

At age 15, Moroney began workingto bring supplies to childrens homes and orphanages in Jamaica, where his mother is from. He was motivated by his trips there, seeing deep poverty right next to beautiful resorts.

Hope Fleet became a nonprofit in March 2019 and was gearing up to bring aid to Cuba when Dorian hit the Bahamas. Their efforts quickly shifted.

Key to their work is the Shooting Star, an older 40-foot sailboat they boughtat a significant discountfor $10,000.

They load it at Pompano Beach and sail it, with little to no gas needed, to Freeport, where many hurricane evacuees have settled. Theyve focused their work there.

Lets do one thing really well rather than a bunch of little things not too well, Moroney said.

The group enlists other boaters who are headed that way, loading them with supplies as well. Boaters really want to help; they just dont have the time to vet different organizations, to find supplies, he said.

For example, Hope Fleet once got a call from a 156-foot yacht that was ready to go, ready to help. They loaded it with donated mattresses and bedding, and it sailed east.

There's still far more that needs to be done, but that effort was a success.

A family there told us, For the first time in months our babies arent sleeping on the ground, Moroney said. All of its worth it for that one family, who now has something to put their heads on.

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Jacksonville church and Sarasota nonprofit: Don't forget the need in the Bahamas - The Florida Times-Union