Like many organisations locally and abroad, St. Maarten Lions Club has been busy since the passage of Hurricane Irma in September, providing relief to residents and organisations in an effort to help alleviate the burden on those that suffered damage as a result of the major devastating storm.
The work of the Club to provide assistance to the needy is in keeping with the motto of Lions Club International and St. Maarten Lions Club, which is “We Serve.”
Lion’s Club Representative Oralie Boirard told WEEKEnder that for almost 47 years since inducted, St. Maarten Lions Club has been championing the cause of serving the community of St. Maarten with various projects and activities.
On the morning of September 6, immediately after Hurricane Irma battered the island, St. Maarten Lions Club members working in key positions were called out to assist in the restoration of law and order, secure the country’s infrastructure, telecommunications and operations at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), amongst many other tasks. The first days after the storm had been chaotic and therefore their assistance was very much needed and welcomed.
These members of the Club worked around the clock including on weekends during the months of September and October to ensure that most services on the island were restored to a form of normalcy, Boirard said.
The Club also recently completed a relief project where it distributed relief materials donated from Danny’s Enterprises in Trinidad, which is a business partner to Dennis Gibs from MKD Technologies in St. Maarten.
Gibs had invited his business partner to St. Maarten earlier this year during the summer vacation and the business partner was very impressed with The Friendly Island and enjoyed the scenery and hospitality he received. After the storms in September, the business partner learnt of the destruction the island suffered and decided to organise a relief campaign for the people of St. Maarten. He later shipped a 20ft container with dry goods, toiletries, water, big bags and single mattresses.
The container was shipped to Gibs, who in turn sought assistance from his aunt Linette Gibs, a member of St. Maarten Lions Club, to distribute the materials.
Once the Club received the container in October, a group of Lions was appointed to organise the distribution of the relief materials. “And together with members of the Lions Club and their children, the Leo Omega Club and other volunteers, the container was unpacked and the relief goods were packed into bags to be distributed to those in need,” Boirard said.
The contents of the container yielded a total of 200 bags with dry goods and toiletries which were distributed to churches, soup kitchens, schools and other members in the community.
All five government subsidized primary schools received toilet paper and water for their students. St. Maarten Early Childhood Development Association was the recipient of some of the mattresses. The academic section of St. Maarten Academy and the school’s Preparatory Secondary Vocational Education (PSVE) section received bags of dry goods, toiletries and mattresses for students whose parents had suffered loss as a result of the hurricanes.
The Inspection Division of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports received a few bags of dry goods for struggling parents visiting the establishment. The members of the Lions Club also distributed bags with dry goods and mattresses to persons in the community who were still struggling after the hurricanes.
On behalf of members and President of the Lion’s Club, Alison Busby, Boirard thanked Danny’s Enterprises in Trinidad and Gibs from MKD Technologies in St. Maarten for the opportunity to assist with the relief project.
Another relief project that the Club engaged in after the hurricanes was to purchase and distribute tarpaulins to persons in the community whose roofs were damaged. Members of the Lions Club were not exempted from the onslaught of the hurricanes in September and they too suffered damages to their homes and cars.
A group of members came together on Saturday, September 29, and assisted one of their senior Past District Governors by covering his damaged roof with tarpaulins to prevent further damages to this family.
In October, the Club also hosted a thank you meet and greet for eight Dutch army engineers who had assisted the Lions Club by replacing the damaged fence in the back of the Lions Civic Center in Sucker Garden. The Civic Center houses the ASA after school programme and with the damaged fencing, this posed a threat to the safety of students who attend this afternoon programme.
Busby together with members of the Lions Club invited the army engineers to the meet and greet event hosted in their honour and treated them to some pizza and soft drinks. All members of the platoon received a Friendship Banner and a pin from St. Maarten Lions Club.
Leo Jennifer Carty from Sint Maarten Leo Omega Club was also honoured as a “hurricane hero” by Lion President and Past District Governor Claudius “Toontje” Buncamper. Carty and her father Glen Carty and other members of Laser 101 were instrumental in providing the community critical information, which for some was the only means of communication before, during and after the passing of the hurricanes in September.
