Fundraiser this weekend to help Bahamian school destroyed by Hurricane Dorian

From one small school to another: the Irwin Memorial Public School community is helping a school in the Bahamas that was devastated by Hurricane Dorian

As students at Irwin Memorial Public School in Dwight were preparing to head back to classes for the new school year, their counterparts at a small school in the Bahamas were bracing themselves for what would be the worst weather event to ever hit their island.

Classes at Amy Roberts Primary School on Green Turtle Cay, a barrier island off the larger Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, were scheduled to begin September 2. But on September 1, Hurricane Dorian arrived.

Green Turtle Cay is a tiny island, a little less than five kilometres long and a kilometre wide, population about 450. When Dorian made landfall, with sustained wind speeds of up to 185 km/hr that settled in for a two-day beating, the island was devastated. Its only school, Amy Roberts Primary School (high school students go to school on another island), which also functions as the Green Turtle Cay’s primary shelter during storms and floods, sustained serious damage. “They are saying it’s a complete rebuild,” says Sarah Roberts, a member of the parent council at Irwin Memorial. “The roof went, the water got into the drywall and insulation. They’re dealing with tons of mould.”

Many of the school’s 55 kindergarten to grade six students were evacuated. Most are in Nassau, the country’s capital on the island of New Providence, attending school there while their own school—and their homes—awaits materials and funds to rebuild. It’s a distance of 192 km, the equivalent of sending Dwight’s students all the way to Newmarket for school, and some of the Amy Roberts students are away from family members who stayed behind to begin the long process of cleaning up.

Roberts has a personal connection to the island. Her parents have wintered there for more than a decade, and her young daughter has made many friends among the Amy Roberts students. (The school’s name has no connection to Roberts or her family.)

So when they learned that the school would have to be rebuilt, they wanted to help. Roberts approached the Irwin parent council and the school’s principal to ask if they’d help with a fundraiser. All were eager to help.

Amy Roberts Primary School in March 2019 (Amy Roberts Primary School / Facebook)

The fundraiser will be held this weekend, September 28 and 29, at The Acres Driving Range (2269, Highway 60 – just to the east of Limberlost Road). Some Irwin students will host a lemonade stand, parents will provide tasty pastries and desserts for a bake sale, the school has donated frozen hamburgers that weren’t used at their recent Meet the Staff night for a barbecue, and all bucket sales from the driving range during the weekend will be donated to the cause. The range is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the barbecue and bake sale will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Rain or shine.

All proceeds will be donated to Amy Roberts Primary School. The Irwin students have made and signed a card that will be sent along with the cheque.

“[Hurricane Dorian] is out of the news, but they still need help,” says Roberts. “Let’s get these students back to their families.”

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