Seafarers' House at Port Everglades Brokers Relief for Grand
Bahama Island
In response to an urgent call for assistance from Freeport, Seafarers' House
at Port Everglades has stepped up to act as the liaison between a Port Everglades
shipping company, a South Florida ships' chandler, and Florida Lutherans to deliver
much needed water, paper goods, juices, cooking fuel and other emergency supplies
to devastated communities in the Freeport area.
Ninety percent of Grand Bahama suffered damage during the 48-hour period that
Hurricane Frances battered the islands with ferocious winds and the poorest of
the communities of the West End were decimated. Because of his close relationship
with members of a church in Freeport, Rev. David Mesenbring, Executive Director
of Seafarers' House received the call on Thursday, Sept. 8, from Janet Albury,
a member of Our Saviour Lutheran. Explaining that the church and its surrounding
community had been hard hit by storm surge in addition to wind and pelting rain,
one church member
compared the aftermath to a war zone.
Working in close collaboration with contacts inside Port Everglades, Rev. Mesenbring
secured $4,000 from the Lutheran Disaster Response and the Florida-Bahamas Synod
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American to purchase desperately needed
supplies. With calls to Ship Supply of Florida, who offered to provide
supplies at a deeply discounted rate and to Discovery Express for free transport,
a team was assembled to share the tasks of securing supplies and coordinating
delivery to Discovery's loading docks for
quick shipment to the island. With Rev. Mesenbring's assistance, congregation
members are working to establish the church, in its central location on East
Sunrise Highway in Freeport as a relief center and to that end, Rev. Mesenbring
is working with representatives of the National Emergency Management Agency in
the Bahamas to secure that designation.
Said the Rev. Mesenbring, "This is a time of great need for these communities
and we are grateful to all of our partners in this effort for their swift and
compassionate response to the call for help. With Hurricane Ivan waiting
in the wings, we need to do all that we can to shore up this community and help
them work toward preparation for coming through that
storm."
Seafarers' House at Port Everglades is a multi-faith cooperation among Christians,
Muslims and Jews as well as labor, business and civic leaders wth a
mission "to improve the lives of seafarers and their families through eumenical
service." It is open every day of the year as a safe, friendly pace
where mariners can connect with their families, relax, or get emergency assistance
if needed. With the help of its supporters and vlunteers, Seafarers' House
offers many services including low cost international phone calls, free transportation,
Internet access, counseling services, liaison with authorities as well as recreational
facilities. Seafarers' House is the busiest such agency in the world, annually
hosting more than 150,000 visits by
cruise and cargo ship crewmembers. Additional
information can be found at www.seafarershouse.org.
