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Update from Caleb Sylvester Regarding the Emergency DC-3 Relief Flight Arthur's Town Cat Island, September 1, 2011 - - As I ride back in the DC3 from Cat Island I want to get my thoughts down. Not because I will forget, but because I saw so much in such a little amount of time and I need to get it down on paper to process it all. Never in my life have I witnessed such a resilient people as Cat Island natives. They went from having very little to having almost nothing. Everyone had a smile on their face as we greeted each other as old friends. Each one greeting me with the same four words “thank God for life!” The pictures tell part of the story, but nothing can make the smells, the scenes of devestation and the clouds of mosquitos come to life. As I write this I am still scraping dead mosquitos off myself. Dive In - The Water's Great
Welcome to RemoteIsland.org. This is your gateway to missions - Island Style! If you've been here before, dive in now. If not you'll need to register.
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Special Need
We are praying for the donation of a full size bus in good working order that can be shipped to Cat Island. Three of the local churches on the island are interested in unifying and with a bus we estimate the Sunday morning attendance could jump from just a few to more than 50 per Sunday! Will pray you with us for God's provision of a bus?
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Hurricane Irene Relief Fund
PLEASE GIVE ONLINE NOWJust In: Photos from Today's DC-3 Emergency Relief Flight to Cat IslandImportant Update on the Effort to Bring Relief to the Victims of Hurricane Irene on Cat Island:8/27: We made first contact with friends on the island and found out there was EXTENSIVE DAMAGE to homes, churches, businesses and island infrastructure. Power was out, and even worse, there was virtually no pottable water on the island. The typical food ship from Nassau had been delayed 2 weeks (approximately) before the hurricane so island resources were already scarce. 8/28: We began networking with friends from around the country to raise money to bring relief. The Alliance Church of Vero Beach contributed $1,500 and our friends at Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company donated $1,000. Members of the Alliance Church of Ft. Pierce pitched in an additional $590. 8/29: We made contact with G&G shipping who have agreed to donate shipments to Cat Island if they are marked "Cat Island Hurricane Releif". We also made contact with Missionary Aviation International (MFI) in Ft. Pierce. Their cost for sending an emergency cargo plane (DC-3) was quoted at $4,850, which was more than we had raised. We prayed, and they called back an hour later to say they would donate the expense of the plane. Donations started coming in steadily thanks to many friends and generous individuals. The flight was scheduled for Wednesday. 8/30: We made contact with God's Pit Crew from Virginia. They offered to donate 40 thousand lbs of food, soap, toothpaste and other necessities. We are only responsible to pay the $1,500 in shipping to get it from Virginia to G&G. G&G will donate the shipping from Ft. Lauderdale to Cat Island! Our friend Ryan Roberts calls with exciting news. Two water treatment pumps have been donated for use on Cat Island. They are battery operated and can turn even the nastiest cantiminated water into fresh, drinkable water. Between them they can create 50 gallons of fresh pottable water per hour! 8/31: After working all day to purchase supplies for the cargo plane, our volunteers show up at the MFI hanger to help load. The plane is loaded with:
The plane heads to the run way and ends up having engine related problems. The flight is delayed for a day.
TCPalm.com Article on Our DC-3 Cargo Flight to Cat Island: http://www.tcpalm.com/photos/2011/aug/31/328966/
At 10:30 am another plane with the water treatment pumps arrives in New Bite. Burke Newbold drives the trechuous roads between Bennet's Harbour and New Bite to pick the pumps up. Burke calls Dan Pennell later in the evening to confirm they are in his posession and to state what a huge difference they will make.
9/1: Our volunteers are back at MFI at 7:00am to depart. The plane leaves on time and makes a delivery of emergency relief items in Arthur's Town Cat Island. Our people get a tour of the devestationin Arthur's Town and Orange Creek. Check back tomorrow for videos and photos. We realize there is MUCH WORK AHEAD. Burke Newbold, Trevor Strachan and Virgin Thruston Sturrup begin the arduous process of distributing the supplies.
God's Pit Crew confirms they are loading their Semi-Truck in Virginia and will make the delivery to G&G by Tuesday of next week. Praise God, 40 thousand lbs of food and supplies will be on the island a week from now.
WHAT'S NEXT?
There is still much to do. 100% of all finances raised will go toward this effort!
NEWS ARTILE: Hurricane Irene Devistates Southeastern Bahamas Please make your contribution today as time is of the essence.2010 Mission Trip Video
Cat Island 2010 Mission Trip from Dan Pennell on Vimeo. This is the video from our recent mission trip to Cat Island. We went with Remote Island Ministries (remoteisland.org), which is a ministry of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in Ft. Pierce, FL. This year was our 8th year taking a short term team to the island. We were there for one week, and had 32 team members which included 5 full families (yes we bring children on the trip - this year we had 2 infants)! Arthur's Town Cat Island, September 1, 2011 - - As I ride back in the DC3 from Cat Island I want to get my thoughts down. Not because I will forget, but because I saw so much in such a little amount of time and I need to get it down on paper to process it all. Never in my life have I witnessed such a resilient people as Cat Island natives. They went from having very little to having almost nothing. Everyone had a smile on their face as we greeted each other as old friends. Each one greeting me with the same four words “thank God for life!” The pictures tell part of the story, but nothing can make the smells, the scenes of devestation and the clouds of mosquitos come to life. As I write this I am still scraping dead mosquitos off myself. Check out this old news clip from 1939 when President T. Roosevelt visited Cat Island on a fishing trip.
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