Final destination to be determined on greatest need

Supplies en route: How two Waldo County schools used relationships to aid Bahamas

George Harvey
Mon, 09/23/2019 - 9:30pm
Supplies collected to aid the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian’s destruction. (Courtesy Charles Hamm)
Supplies collected to aid the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian’s destruction. (Courtesy Charles Hamm)

    BELFAST and ISLESBORO — In the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas, one Waldo County school knew it needed to provide any assistance it could. 

    That mission, spearheaded locally by Charles Hamm, the Head of School at Islesboro Central School, quickly expanded to include a partnership with ReVision Energy and Belfast Area High School. 

    Earlier this month, after Dorian’s destruction, Pete Anderson, the small island school’s cook, notified Hamm that ReVision, which had recently completed a solar array for the island school, was filling collecting supplies through a partnership with Amurtel. 

    Anderson and Hamm have experience directly helping hurricane victims as both men spent time in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 

    Hamm said the two jumped at the opportunity to provide assistance to the Caribbean islands and relied on his familiarity and contacts with Revision to aid the collections. 

    “The whole thing took off pretty quickly,” Hamm said, noting they collected a few hundred dollars he spent on supplies. 

    Word rapidly began spreading and Islesboro was able to find a driver in Joe Mathieu to transport the supplies to Revision’s headquarters in South Portland. Interestingly, Hamm taught Mathieu’s daughter when Hamm previously worked as an art teacher at Belfast Area High School. 

    From there, the community at Belfast Area High School wanted to get involved since Islesboro has a contingency of students and ample connections within the Belfast community, making it evident a drop off location would need to be established in that area. 

    Hamm phoned Belfast Area High School Principal Jeff Lovejoy, who offered the high school as a drop-off location. 

    After loading up all the local donations, the Islesboro Central School cargo van delivered supplies to ReVision headquarters, where the supplies will then make the trip to the Bahamas. 

    The final destination in the Bahamas, according to ReVision Energy co-founder Phil Coupe, will be determined by disaster relief coordinators on the ground, depending on greatest need. 

    For ReVision’s part, the company is collecting supplies and sending an emergency solar power unit to the Bahamas that will provide around-the-clock electricity for lighting, critical medication refrigeration, cell phone and laptop charging, and other emergency power needs.
     
    Following Hurricane Maria’s devastation to Puerto Rico in 2017, ReVision partnered with other solar companies to send three identical trailers, all of which have been relocated to the Bahamas. 
     
    "Thousands of Bahamians are without food, water, electricity and shelter, so we are sending an emergency solar power unit filled with disaster relief supplies to help," said Coupe. 
     

    Designed by solar energy engineers from companies in the Amicus Solar national co-op, the emergency solar power unit is an enclosed trailer with six photovoltaic panels and eight deep cycle batteries that feed a total of 30 electrical outlets (two in each gray cubby) on the exterior of the trailer so people can plug in devices and appliances that need power.

    Reach George Harvey at: sports@penbaypilot.com.  

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