Islands Hit Hard By Ike, Bracing For More Storms

With residents of Haiti, Cuba and The Bahamas now cleaning up following the onslaught of Hurricane Ike -- and with the storm now setting its sights on the Texas Gulf coast -- now is a good time to talk about efforts to help storm victims rebuild their lives.

Bahamas Habitat recently announced an upcoming Fly-In & Help Out event to Eleuthera in the Bahamas, from November 6-9. The organization is urging pilots and aircraft owners to join in this vital mission.

This is a very special mission because along with normal work on current construction projects, this year there will be hurricane aid and reconstruction to perform in the remote parts of the Bahamas. Inagua, in the southern Bahamas took a direct hit from Hurricane IKE and the full extent of the damage is still coming in.

"We are not yet out of the Hurricane season and already there is much to do," said John Armstrong, the organization's Vice President and Regional Manager for Dominion Aircraft Sales. "We are mobilizing for support of the stricken areas. We are urging all interested pilots, aircraft owners and individuals involved in the aviation industry to join us."

The Aviation wing of Bahamas Habitat leverages the resources of the general aviation industry and aircraft owners from the US to support disaster relief efforts and on-going mission work for our close by neighbors in the Bahamas.

"What makes this mission opportunity so unique is that the Bahamas are so easily accessible by general aviation aircraft and so in need that it provides the ideal opportunity for a mission minded pilot to give back to a community in need in an exciting and tax deductible way." Armstrong added.

In addition the organization is beginning efforts to transport and setup a complete dental clinic at Camp Symonette, the organizations main base of operations in central Eleuthera.

"The dental clinic equipment was a very generous gift from Dr. Herbert Rust and his lovely wife Louise," explained Armstrong.  "We are extremely grateful to Dr. Rust for his generous donation and his enthusiasm to be part of this project."

"The Flying Dentists Association learned of our efforts to establish a dental ministry and they are very anxious to help us," Armstrong said. "Several of their members will be on the committee for the site selection and development of this much-needed facility. We are actively seeking other flying dentist to come and join this project."

Pilots and crewmembers participating in the November Fly-In & Help Out mission will meet at Premier Aircraft Sales' headquarters at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) on Thursday, November 6 for lunch and pilot briefings prior to departing to Eleuthera. Lodging and transportation on the island are arranged for the group.

"If you've ever wanted to fly your airplane to the Bahamas, this is the perfect way to learn to learn the ropes while supporting a valuable mission," Armstrong said. "We had pilots join us from all over during our Fly-In & Help Out event last winter and in every case the experience really touched their hearts (see: Fly-In Help Out Touches Hearts post). We had about 14 aircraft on previous trips. We can house up to 60 people at Camp Symonette so our goal is about 20-25 aircraft for the event this November. We hope to form partnerships with various aviation organizations including type clubs, flying clubs and aviation media organizations to grow and support this valuable mission.

FMI: www.bahamashabitat.org