Funds, equipment and volunteers are quickly being organized to assist the most devastated and vulnerable communities in the Abacos, Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian. Support is needed to sustain what will be a lengthy recovery to rebuild communities facing very difficult times.

There will be a booth at the October Annapolis Boat Show beside the Cruise Abaco booth to assist with fundraising. Reputable not-for-profit 501(c)(3) U.S. charity organizations such as Team Rubicon and PERC, Inc. welcome your donations.

You can also donate specifically to the Cruise Abaco family of Marsh Harbor, via GoFundMe, to benefit Patti Gonsalves who owns the long-time charter business and all the employees. They lost the entire fleet and all of their homes in the hurricane.

Team Rubicon is a large, international non-profit disaster response organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams, free of charge, to communities affected by disasters. Team Rubicon currently maintains a roster of 65,000+ volunteers able to deploy throughout the United States and the world. All funds received at the Annapolis Boat Show are tax-deductible and will be directed to disaster response in the Bahamas and Team Rubicon is on site in the Abacos. This organization spends 79% of funds raised on programs relative to overhead.

PERC, Inc. is a much smaller, all-volunteer organization that lists 22 Abaco charities and community organizations on their website (PERCabaco.org) that are qualified to receive charitable gifts. Aside from the lesser of 2% or $200.00 from each gift to cover out-of-pocket expenses, PERC turns over 100% of all donations to Abaco charities. Donations must be at least $250 and are tax-deductible for US citizens, who can specify the Abaco organization(s) they choose to receive the funds.

Please look for the Hurricane Dorian relief efforts at the Annapolis Boat Show and give generously if you can. Your help is valuable and badly needed.