Everyone has heard what has happened in Haiti, now it is time we do something to help out. OceansWatch is helping to coordinate a fleet of sailing vessels to take food, medical aid, relief supplies and support to Haiti. As of today there are more than 10 boats in and around the Florida Keys and Caribbean preparing to depart in February bound for Haiti. They will take as many supplies and materials as they can carry and we can get to them before they depart.
OceansWatch is working to help coordinate members, boats, donations, materials, supplies and crew preparing to shove off and deliver aid and lend a hand.
One boat is the 74’ Schooner “Wolf”, http://www.schoonerwolf.com/ an experienced veteran at providing hurricane relief based in Key West.
Also OceansWatch member vessel s/v “Tranquility” is gathering aid supplies and donations to purchase more to deliver to Haiti in the next few weeks.
Please help in any way you can. Much is needed. 100% of all donations to OceansWatch for Haiti relief will be used directly for purchasing supplies to be delivered and donated in Haiti. OceansWatch North America is an all volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit with no overhead, salaries, marketing or administrative expenses, so 100% of all donations will go directly to aid with none used up in costs, fees or any other non-aid expense.
Please donate by going to the Donate Now page on our website and use the Paypal link to donate from your Paypal account or by credit card. Cash and check donations can be mailed to Haiti Relief, OceansWatch North America, P. O. Box 616, Norwalk, CT 06856 USA. Please make any checks payable to OceansWatch and put Haiti Relief on the Expense/For line.
If you have supplies of goods, food, shelter, medicines, tools, tarps, water containers, shipping containers, any items needed, that you would like to send to OceansWatch for us to get to Haiti, email us and we will send you the delivery address so we can get them to one of the boats heading that way.
If you have a boat in Florida or the Caribbean or would like to join the crew on one of the boats, please email usa-info@oceanswatch.org with your experience and skills offer and availability and we will try to hook you up to join the fleet or with a berth on one of the boats heading to Haiti.
And also, please take a moment to check out the new OceansWatch North America Blog site at http://blogs.oceanswatch.org/north-america where we are posting every day about activities from our team in Belize. OWNA Director Sequoia Sun and OW Member Conservation Biologist Sara Aubery, along with OW Members Daniel Thee, Jim Gregory and the Leslie family, are working with many Belizean organizations every day to set up conservation and educational projects that you and other OceansWatch members and volunteers can join in to help preserve and maintain the Meso American Reef, Belize Marine Reserves, World Heritage Sites, Cayes and marine habitat in Belize which is among both the richest and most threatened in the world.
We are setting up partnerships with people and organizations all over Belize for OW and our members to join in and participate in multiple projects: Planting Mangroves, taking school children on field trips out to the Cayes and Marine Reserves, teaching young people to swim, snorkel and scuba dive, making and installing demarcation buoys for the boundaries of the Marine Reserves, installing and maintaining yacht moorings, cultivating coral polyps, monitoring fish and reef health and conditions, and many more opportunities await any and all members who would like to come to Belize to get involved in helping to preserve the reefs, Cayes and waters.
Please email to usa-info@oceanswatch.org if you might like to join in on our next trip here in April or May and please visit the Blog site frequently and leave any comments for us to read.
We will be posting more info on the blog site and web site every day or two to keep current with projects, plans and developments so stay tuned and track what is going on if you care and want to help.
Wishing you fari winds from Placencia, Belize,
Sequoia Sun, OceansWatch North America
