Interview with RD "Donny" Dicharry, president of SXM Project, an association created after Irma from the United States to help the people of St. Maarten.
Why did you create the SXM Project association?
Initially, it was about providing emergency humanitarian aid. My wife, Becky, and I own a few villas in St. Maarten and have made many friendships with the locals and villa staff over the past decade. The creation of this association was a compassionate response to their desperate situation and in keeping with our faith. We have teamed up with a wonderful man, Jon Bobbett, another villa owner who has the same sincere intentions as us. A few days after Irma, he flew to SXM with small cargo planes filled with food and diapers long before the airport reopened. Soon after, we shipped large containers from the US and distributed them from my villa after putting up a huge security barrier. We also teamed up with another wonderful villa owner, Steve Ward, who shipped a container with tools, generators and work clothes from the United States which we distributed to the villa. These actions were part of phase 1, entitled “Relieving”. We are currently carrying out phase II “Restore”, which aims to help households recover mainly household appliances and furniture. For Phase III, our goal is to help restore the tourism industry without knowing exactly how. We are still working on this. Phase II has already raised $ 174 for a goal of 250.
Do you think you will achieve this goal? Do you know where the donors come from? When are you going to close the donations?
It is too early to know if we will meet the target of $ 875, but we have high hopes. People are extremely eager to donate as long as they know it is for a good cause. We will continue until we have no more doors to knock. Most of our donors are from the United States. Although Puerto Rico is still suffering from Hurricane Maria, many Americans are vacationing at SXM and want to help.
We will continue to collect donations for Phase II through 2019 and maybe even beyond. Hurricane Irma was so destructive that we unfortunately expect several years before living conditions return to normal. (Photo credit: SXM Project)
(Find the full interview on www.soualigapost.com)
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