Last December in 2019, we flew down to the Bahamas to help out the people of Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Island, Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian had destroyed most of the town in early September. We saw a community struggling to get back on its feet and many houses far from repair. With members from The Black 6 Project, we helped distribute food, basic hygiene supplies, and rebuild homes. Being it was close to Christmas, one of volunteers, Matt Robertson, had bleached his beard and dressed in a Santa Clause suit. On one afternoon, with toys in hand that we had brought with us, we distributed toys to the children of Marsh Harbour. We've learned about their traumatic experience when the hurricane hovered over their island. The best we can do was was bring some Christmas cheer to them.
Shortly after we came back to New York City, we began collecting donations of new toys with the intent to deliver them to the children again on a return trip around February. Unfortunately due to the many conflicts with travel and COVID, we were unable to make that trip. But we continued to collect toys from the help of Planet X and using our cafe in the Lower East Side as a collection point.
In November, we were able to package for large boxes full of toys and clothes to send down to the Bahamas. The logistics were a little complicated. It had to get to our contact, Lydia Ruth Hill. From her recommendation, we contacted Love Abaco, a charity based in Orlando, Florida that sends donations to The Abaco Islands. We shipped the boxes to them and they were able to send the boxes on their next trip by boat to the islands. At the end of December, Lydia contacted us and told us that she had received the toys and was able to distribute the toys to over 100 children in the Marsh Harbour area. She sent us the following pictures and it felt very satisfying that we were able to still bring another year of Christmas joy to the kids. We're hoping to continue bringing this joy to the children for years to come.
If you'd like to donate toys to the children of Marsh Harbour, please contact us at info@black6project.org to coordinate pick up.