Below is the text from an article written about MFI and hurricane relief in TCPalm. It was on the front page of the newspaper last week. You can read it by clicking here or just reading below.
taken by Alex Boerner
While most of America is watching the Northeast clean up after Hurricane Irene, Missionary Flights International in Fort Pierce is looking much closer to home.
Barely two days after the Category 3 storm tore across the northwestern Bahamas with 115 mph winds, Dick Snook of Missionary Flights International had loaded up a small Cessna 310 airplane on Saturday with heavy-duty tarps. He headed to Eleuthera and Cat Island to assess what residents needed.
With only a few hundred residents spread across a handful of villages, the scale of disaster relief on Eleuthera and Cat Island is a world away from the estimated 65 million people in the I-95 corridor who got soaked by Irene.
Snook found shingles torn from roofs, power and telephone lines down and residents in need of the bare necessities of life.
Over the course of the weekend the head of the organization that's been ferrying tons of supplies to aid the Haiti earthquake efforts had flown back and forth to the Bahamas three times on Saturday and was back on Monday and Tuesday. A full load of supplies is due to leave Fort Pierce on Thursday aboard one of MFI's four larger DC-3 aircraft.
Snook was busy even before the storm arrived. Last Wednesday he flew to Freeport to evacuate an American pastor, his wife and two small children. After his first trip to Eleuthera on Saturday, Snook came back to pick up five people in West Palm Beach who were armed with chain saws to help clear downed trees in the islands.
Residents on Cat Island expect to be without electricity for at least a week and possibly up to 10 days, Snook said. They rely on a large generator that supplies power to the entire island.
Photo by Alex Boerner - Members of the organization Remote Island Ministries who work on Cat Island
Flying over the ocean at sunrise, the sun's rays hit the water at an angle that revealed the huge ocean swells created in Irene's wake. The line of huge waves headed for the U.S. coast, curved at the same angle the storm had taken only hours before, Snook said.
Despite the destruction, island residents are a pretty resilient bunch, he said. Most said things could have been worse.
Sending more tarps is a priority, Snook said, because keeping supplies and people dry is the most important first step after a disaster. Also high on the list of needs in Eleuthera are paper towels, non-perishable food items and chain saws to help chop up hundreds of downed trees that are blocking roads.
Snook, of course, is an old hand at dealing with natural disasters.
His organization was one of the first to fly into earthquake-torn Haiti in January 2010. MFI has been sending millions of pounds of supplies and ferrying people to help rebuild the country ever since.
"But our mission is primarily in the Bahamas right now," Snook said.
MFI, which survives solely on donations from a network of churches and other groups across the country, could have been doing more aid work but for some particularly sticky government red tape this year, Snook told me Tuesday.
On April 15, a completely refurbished DC-3 had flown into Fort Pierce, bringing MFI's DC-3 fleet to four planes. Yet, the new plane has yet to fly a relief mission. It sits in the hangar awaiting documentation clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration for a specialized radio system that's already installed on the airplane.
"We could have sent another million pounds of supplies (for Haiti) if we'd had that plane available," Snook said. The new plane also would be more economical to operate and fly faster, he pointed out.
Yet for the most part, Snook and his crew remain cheerful and engaged in the relief effort. Whether it's the Bahamas this week or Haiti, they stand ready to fly wherever their help is needed.
Typically, Snook deflects any praise from himself.
"It's kinda fun to help people that really need it. We're very grateful for all the donations we receive, but it takes the whole gamut for this to work. It takes the community giving and praying, and we do the flying. We just happen to be on the front line."
And we should be very proud to have such tireless and dedicated front-line players on our team.
Anthony Westbury is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects his opinion. For more on St. Lucie County topics, follow his blog at tcpalm.com/westbury. Contact him at 772-409-1320 oranthony.westbury@scripps.com.
Want to Help?Missionary Flights International is flying relief support to Cat Island in the Bahamas. Residents are in great need of water, nonperishable food, tarps and paper products; toilet paper, paper towels and napkins. Equipment for tree removal is also needed. Please do not send clothing at this time.Dropoff times at Missionary Flights International, 3170 Airmans Drive, Fort Pierce, are preferred between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
If you are able to help pay for the fuel for these flights you may do so by going to the website at www.missionaryflights.org.
Call 772-462-2395 if you are unable to deliver supplies and need help.
