Dear friends of St Barths,
As the first photos and updates come in from the island of St Barts (mostly via facebook) those of us monitoring the situation from the safety of Monaco can already see that Hurricane IRMA has caused a lot of damage to property on the island.
The official French government communications sadly talk about a loss of life of 9 between St Maarten and St Barts. As if that is not enough hurricane Jose is expected in the area in the next two days!
The Gustavia Yacht Club has decided to step up to these challenging times and provide much needed financial help to those in need who have been hit hard by the Hurricane(s). Contrary to popular belief not everyone is a millionaire on St Barts.
With this in mind the Club’s Commodore Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has asked the Club’s bankers in Monaco ( CFM Indosuez) to set up a special ring-fenced sub-account in the name of the Club with the designation “St Barts – Hurricane IRMA disaster relief fund”.
The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will be the first one to donate €100,000 (one hundred thousand euro) to this disaster relief fund and we are hoping that more members and friends of the island will contribute to the cause by donating in cash to this account. The information on how to donate is at the bottom of the page and attached as a PDF for bank wire transfers.
The funds raised will be disbursed wisely and transparently by decision of the executive committee of the Club ( Sir Stelios with Ken Griggs and Gustavo Riccobon) under the watchful eye of the full board of directors. We will give priority to real people in real need in our home port of Gustavia first and the island as a whole, always trying to assist people who might not get hand-outs from the government or other bodies. We will try to help the neediest first in a quick and efficient way and will be publishing updates on our facebook page and website and have a full report out by the end of 2017 by which time we want to have disbursed all the funds to good causes. It is difficult to be more prescriptive at the moment about where the needs are ( it could be the hospital or the old people’s home or it could be a neighbour who has been left homeless. It could be funding the cost of a soup kitchen or just handing out small sums of cash for people to get by day to day).
We are stronger together and we hope to play an active part in the rebuilding of our beautiful island.
Sincerely,
For direct transfers of aid:
“St Barts – Hurricane IRMA disaster relief fund” through CFM Monaco Bank
Gustavia Yacht Club
IBAN: MC58 1273 9000 7005 8612 1000 071
BIC: CFMOMCMXXXX