Cyclone Pam yachties aid efforts

Hey, all,
Found a thread on Cruisers forum that pointed towards a News article on Noonsite http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Vanuatu/vanuatu-relief-efforts-2013-how-you-can-help which highlights what yachties can do to assist other yachties doing stuff to help aid Vanuatu and the East Solomon Islands in the wake of the disaster of Cyclone Pam.

There's lots of links in the article, including Chris Bone of OceansWatch in NZ who is seeking volunteer crews to sail donated yachts to Vanuatu with relief supplies.
chris@oceanswatch.org

Also listed is Fiji-based charity Sea Mercy, who use big cats to sail supplies from Fiji direct into the smaller, outer islands. They also have a Paypal acct people can donate to. www.seamercy.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=20

A Pommie couple, Tom and Susie Partridge, of S/V Adina, currently on the hard and undamaged in Port Vila, are co-ordinating supplies to ship on Adina out to the remote islands once they can get back up there in a few days.
Contact them direct via email address on their blog.
http://yachtadina.co.uk/

So how about we armchair sailors do our bit too, and donate and/or contact your local yacht club and arrange for a fund-raiser to assist one or other of the charities listed.

Way I figure it, the big agencies like CARE and Save The Children have plenty of funds for advertising to the general public for donations, but the little guys don't have their reach, but can get to places they can't easily get to.

So pick a charity (or two) and mobilise your own contacts and social media 'friends' to mobilise THEIR contacts and social media friends, and let's see what we can do as a community to help the yachties helping others.

Feel free to copy and paste this post into any other forum you can reach, especially boating-related sites and your own local clubs.

 

Just did the Paypal thing at Sea Mercy, and you have to put in dollars without the dollar sign, and it's in USD.
Then type in the email address you use for Paypal ID and it directs straight to the Paypal login and confirmation page.
Too easy.
That's my US$50 worth....!!

Apparently is Tax Deductible in the US, too, so all you Seppos get cracking...!!! lol

 

I will be giving a donation at the bank tomorrow, helluva mess over there, but the casualties seem very light, they seem to know how to survive it.

 

And I hope the reference to ''seppos" is well received !

 

More about Sea Mercy! Thanks Buzzman



Buzzman, I saw your post and wanted to stop by to say thank you for your post on our Disaster Relief efforts in Vanuatu.

You are right in that the international aid rarely gets to the outer islands (not by a lack of desire, but by a lack of service delivery vessel). We spent 4 months last year in Tonga following cyclone Ian as the only DR vessels (we had two there) that was able to deliver the international aid to the remote islands in the devastated Ha'apai group. Our efforts are self funded (we did not receive any financial assistance from Tonga and do not expect any from Vanuatu) so making sure our captains and vessels have the food and fuel they need to operate is very important. So any help you can provide is greatly appreciated (button link below).



In-kind donations
If you have friends or vessels in Fiji that would like to make an in-kind donation, Nigel Skeggs, Managing Director of the Port Denarau Marina in Nadi, Fiji is providing a secure storage location for in-kind donations to be carried by our DRfleet leaving from Fiji. You can go here for more information about that. http://denaraumarina.com/sea-mercy-vanuatu-disaster-relief/

I have attached a Vanuatu Disaster Relief flyer and a few informational brochures on Sea Mercy for you to share with your professional and personal networks if you are able. We always are in the shadow of the bigger relief agencies, so any help shining a little light on us would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your help and please feel free to contact me directly with any questions.

Richard Hackett
President
Sea Mercy
info@seamercy.org

 

Got an email from Richard thanking me for my (very small) donation.

The term Seppo is used affectionately, in much the same way we refer to our former colonial masters as Pommies, and as the Seppos refer to them as Limeys.

Hopefully no-one is offended..??

 

Lol, I wasn't until you explained it...

No hurt feelings here.

 

Buzzmen, what do you mean former ?

 

As in in previously, no longer.

Sure the Queen is still our nominal Head of State, but the reality is we give no taxation to the British Crown, and our own Governor General is the effective Head of State.

And we are no longer a 'colony' but a member of a 'commonwealth of nations'.

In that sense, 'former'.....