Category Archives: Bahamas

(January 15, 2020 / JNS) Two pilots for United Airlines joined a rabbi traveling on their plane for a dance and seized the opportunity to wear tefillin after they touched down in the Bahamas on Monday,reportedCOLlive.

Right before RabbiKalman Weinfeld from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. N.Y., deplaned the United Airlines flight in the Bahamas, where he was going to oversee the koshering process of a local restaurant that would be hosting a Jewish group, he stopped by the cockpit to thank the pilots.

In response, one of them replied, Zei gezunt! (a Yiddish phrase that means Be well).

After the pilot confirmed to Weinfeld, who serves as the head of the food-service department of OK Kosher and rabbi of Manhattan Beer, that he is Jewish, the rabbi asked him if he had put on tefillin, also known as phylacteries. The pilot said he had done so once before and would be happy to put it on again.

Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicateby email and never missour top stories

As Weinfeld was helping him put on the Jewish prayer items in the cockpit, the co-pilot walked in and said that he was also Jewish.

He remarked that he knows the Shemaand says it sometimes, but he said he is 44 years old and had never put tefillin on in his life, Weinfeld told COLlive.

Both pilots ended up wrapping tefillin, and the three men danced together while singing the popular Jewish tune Siman Tov UMazel Tov, celebrating the bar mitzvah of the pilot who put on tefillin for the first time ever.

After the flight, the pilot was in touch and told me that his family is thrilled that he had a bar mitzvah, and said that he would like to keep in touch to learn more, said Weinfeld.

More here:

United Airlines pilots mark bar mitzvah, dance with rabbi post-landing in Bahamas - JNS.org

The Bahamas is no longer just a vacation destination, he said. Many international high-net-worth individuals are now choosing to make the Bahamas their primary residence.

Mr. Christie noted an uptick in the last 18 months in the amenity-packed luxury condo market, which attracts buyers from New York seeking relief from cold weather in a destination with a direct flight, with units averaging $800 to $1,500 a square foot.

Inventory is tight in the New Providence market, said Paul Carey, the founder and a broker at Realty Team Bahamas. In the wake of Dorian, a lot of people from Freeport and Abaco have moved here, he said. It is more of a sellers market, particularly under $500,000. It is hard to find anything for $350,000 to $375,000. The same goes for rentals under $3,000 a month, he said.

We have a lot of foreign investors coming in, Mr. Carey said. They are buying the high-end stuff.

Many buyers, he said, block off weeks or weekends to use the house and then rent it in between for a minimum $2,000 a night.

New resort hotels, like the high-end Baha Mar on Cable Beach, offer fully furnished turnkey residences (in Baha Mars case, starting at $726,500) that can be put in a rental pool when not being used.

This is the season for second-home buyers, said Christine Wallace-Whitfield, a senior broker at the Bahamas agency Island Living Real Estate and the president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association. Weve seen a steady flow, particularly in Nassau, New Providence and Paradise Island, the sought-after islands, along with Eleuthera, Bimini and the Exumas.

Read more:

House Hunting in the Bahamas: Comfort on the Waters of Nassau - The New York Times

The holiday season is a time of joy, celebration, and reflection. I am scientist and one of Forbes contributors in the weather and climate space. However, I am human being before any of those titles, and lately the Bahamas have been on my mind. During early September 2019, Hurricane Dorian ravaged the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama with Category 5 intensity. According to the Congressional Research Service report updated in October, the official death toll was 53 with 600 people still missing. A more recent estimate of the death toll placed the number at 62 with just under 300 people missing. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), 60% of the structured on both islands were severely compromised or completely damaged. Many Bahamians evacuated to Florida and other places. I wanted to use this platform to shine some holiday light on the Bahamas during this challenging time.

GRAND BAHAMAS, BAHAMAS - SEPTEMBER 10: General view of Marsh Harbour aftermath of Hurricane Dorian ... [+] on September 10, 2019 in Grand Bahama, Bahamas. The official death toll has risen in the time since to 50 people, but authorities have cautioned that number is likely to rise significantly as workers make their way through the ruins. (Photo by Alejandro Granadillo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

As a meteorologist watching the storm, I knew that it was going to be a dire situation and had an ache in my stomach about it the entire time. The storm literally parked itself over the Bahamas. Professor Anthony Didlake, Jr. is a meteorology expert at Penn State University. He said in a University press release, This was an extremely terrible scenario for a landfalling hurricane....a powerful Category 5 hurricane that also featured slow movement as it made landfall. The European Unions Sentinel-1 Copernicus instrument collected data from space that was processed to show areas of significant damage (red and yellow) days after the storm.

Damage map days after the Bahamas. Map was produced by the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis ... [+] (ARIA) team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the California Institute of Technology and the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

According to the aforementioned Congressional Research Services (CRS) report, As of September 24, the United States had provided almost $25.8 million in humanitarian funding for the Hurricane Dorian relief efforts in the Bahamas, of which almost $16.3 million is being administered through USAID/OFDA (International Disaster Assistance account), $1 million through the USAID/Office of Food for Peace (emergency food assistance/Title II account), and almost $8.5 million through the Department of Defense (Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Action account). Many other organizations including the United Nations (UN), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also been engaged.

Though the Bahamas is not a territory of the United States like Puerto Rico, the CRS report notes that some members of Congress have expressed interest in the U.S. playing a significant role in the recovery of the Bahamas. Bahamians that fled to the U.S. were not granted Temporary Protected States by the current administration though Congressional members have put forth bills to do so.

Path of Hurricane Dorian (2019)

So what are things like now? According to a report issued by the Inter-American Development Bank, damage from Dorian is estimated at $3.4 billion. The New York Post reports that is equal to about a quarter of the island nations annual economic output. Given this staggering total, it is pretty amazing that the Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour received its first international flight on December 13th. Grand Bahama received its first flight in late November. However, many people on the island are still struggling. Much of the disparity in recovery is rooted in concepts of vulnerability, which I have discussed previously in Forbes after flooding ravaged Africa.

Lets review the concept of vulnerability. In an event like Hurricane Dorian or Hurricane Katrina, everyone is exposed to the storm, but some people and infrastructure are more sensitive to the event. Those same people likely have less adaptive capacity or resiliency after the event so are more vulnerable. Jason von Meding, David Prevatt, and Ksenia Chmutina recently wrote this in The Conversation:

Disasters arenot natural events; they are long-term processes of accumulated risk and impact. Yes, nature shows its unyielding force through earthquakes and tsunamis. But in their differential impacts, disasters can actually be seen associal and political manifestations of injustice. In the Bahamas, inequality, poverty, political ideology, class and power relationslead to the buildup of unequal risksthat make some people considerably more vulnerable than others.For every inadequate building, there is a social context. The same phenomenon plays outacross the Caribbean inPuerto Rico,Haiti,Dominica and around the world as aprotracted class divide.

Medical aid volunteers Ashton Kike organizes medical supplies inside cruise ship staterooms aboard ... [+] the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line's Bahamas Relief Cruise, carrying volunteers and aid before leaving the Port of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Bahamas on September 16, 2019. - Tropical storm Humberto gained strength on September 15 and was expected to return to hurricane force by evening, but its track now puts it far from the Bahamas and the US coast, the US National Hurricane Center said. As of midday, Humberto was 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of Great Abaco Island, which was devastated two weeks ago by the passage of Hurricane Dorian, and 165 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the NHC said in an update at 15H00 GMT. (Photo by Zak BENNETT / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAK BENNETT/AFP via Getty Images)

I spoke to a colleague and several college friends with connections to the Bahamas. They have first-hand account of the recovery and vulnerability issues of which academic scholars opine. One friend told me:

Progress is extremely slow and the supplies are being limited to households. A few of my family members have had to relocate to the mainland and some have decided to stay and rebuild. Getting supplies to families has a lot of red tape

Michelle Birnbaum, a Senior Producer at The Weather Channel, visited the islands in October to produce a story for her network. She told me that even two months after the storm that in a lot of ways it looked like it had just happened. She went on to say:

Devastating and heartbreaking but the people are hopeful and determined to stay and rebuild....The roads were cleared of debris, but there was still plenty left that had not yet been touched. Just about everything is gone. The need is still so great. The people were wonderful. We went there with Big Dog Ranch Rescue, The non-profit has been going there with other animal rescues to help find, reunite and/or adopt dogs that survived. The World Central Kitchen is there making thousands of meals everyday, and there are other NGO's as well doing what they can, but unlike mainland US, in the short time I was there I did not see any flurry of activity in cleaning, clearing or starting to rebuild.

A profile on The Weather Channels Facebook page about a brave Bahamian woman was captured by Birnbaum and is a particularly compelling look at what people are enduring under the circumstances. Organizations are still providing meals, and many people are relying on tempory housing or sleeping quarters. The Miami Herald reported in November that water would not be safe to drink until the summer of 2020.

I wrote this article simply as a reminder that the Bahamas (residents, leaders, and stakeholders) and organizations trying to help them still need your support. It is always a useful reminder that cash not stuff is preferred in these situations, and the Center for International Disaster Information explains why at this link. The Bahamas endured one of the two strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall. It is definitely not the time for out of sight, out of mind this holiday season. My college friend Michelle Collie has family ties to the Bahamas. She ends my essay on a positive note, I am prayerful that the families will start to see relief with the national Carrier, Bahamas Air (and other flights), resuming operations.

Read this article:

The Bahamas Is Recovering From One Of The Strongest Atlantic Hurricanes On Record - Its Hard - Forbes

If theres one thing physician Jim Hull has learned since beginning to operate a mobile bus, its this: Its entirely possible to have an endless line of patients.

If you tell them youre not leaving until the last person walks in the door, they keep coming, said the Canadian-born physician, whos lived in the Bahamas for over 20 years.

Before Hurricane Dorian, Hull, a general practitioner with a subspecialty in skin cancer, treated patients in a private clinic in Marsh Harbour, on Great Abaco. After we lost the clinic, my wife and I decided the best way torebuild the community was to go in a mobile bus to treat patients, he said.

He secured funding, bought a used medical bus she needed a little tender loving care and started driving from community to community, offering his services.

Catching up with Direct Relief, he recalled what hed seen that day: an infected finger, a baby with conjunctivitis, blood sugar checks, a sinus infection. Some of his patients were elderly people who hadnt received care in weeks.

And always, there are the mental health issues: insomnia, depression, anxiety. This island is suffering, big time, Hull said. Theres not a person who was in the storm, who walked the street afterward, that didnt see a dead bodythat wasnt truly, truly afraid for their lives.

At first, doctors who remained in or traveled to the Abacos or Grand Bahama were treating storm-related issues along with chronic diseases injuries, amputations, infected wounds, dehydration.

But as affected communities in the Bahamas take stock of their loss and look to the future, doctors working on the Abaco Islands, on Grand Bahama, and in the capital city of Nassau, where many fled, all say theyre expecting to see more and more of the same challenges in weeks ahead: Mental health issues. Chronic health conditions, many of them untreated or worsened due to an interruption in care. And, as people increasingly return, clear out their damaged or decimated homes, and rebuild, construction-related injuries and ailments.

Immediately after the storm, doctors were in short supply in the storm-hit communities. We lost a significant number of our health care providers who left the area when their jobs, homes, and childrens schools were affected, said Dr. Delon Brennen, deputy chief medical officer at the Bahamian Ministry of Health. We just didnt have a complement of staff available and in place.

Complicating matters, Brennen said, is the fact that Marsh Harbours government health care facility became a de facto shelter, housing between 1,500 and 2,000 people. It renders a significant amount of clinical space unusable, he said.

Dr. Elizabeth Greig, a Miami internist with a disaster response background, is overseeing the University of Miamis deployment of volunteer physicians to the Bahamas. She said that the population movement thats taken place as affected Bahamians first fled their homes, then returnedhas made health care delivery more difficult.

Bahamian physicians have been working nonstop, she said. Its sort of reached this now secondary crisis where everyones totally exhausted, and right at that time, all the patients come back.

Greig said the volunteer physicians have seen a range of patients with serious illnesses resulting from an interruption of primary care services.

One patient, she said, came into an emergency room to get a refill of his blood pressure medication, only to find that his blood pressure was so dangerously high that he had to be admitted to the hospital.

Dr. George Charite, director of the Integrated Medical Center on Marsh Harbour, responded to patients throughout the storm. Although his clinic was destroyed, a local mortuary agreed to let them use their space.

In both Marsh Harbour and Nassau, Dr. Charite said hes seen a significant number of patients with chronic diseases whose access to medication has been disrupted by the storm. Cuts and bruises, along with mold-related respiratory illnesses, are also common.

And underlying it all, he said, are high levels of mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder. A few weeks ago, we had a lot of rain. People were actually calling, scared that the storm was coming back again, he recalled.

Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport, on Grand Bahama, sustained so much damage from the storm that most of the areas were mold contaminated, said Dr. Winston Forbes, Rands deputy chief of medical staff. As a result, most inpatient services are being conducted in tents outside the hospital.

For patients with more severe mental illnesses, the damaged hospital has presented a challenge. The psych ward had to be shut down for two weeks because of mold, Dr. Forbes said. You cant keep aggressive patients in tents. Instead, those patients were airlifted into Nassau.

And while Dr. Forbes said the Rand staff is seeing many of the same non-communicable diseases they always have, the conditions are making those conditions worse. Chronic stress, salty water, and a lack of healthy food are all contributing. People were eating whatever they could get their hands on, Dr. Forbes said.

On Green Turtle Cay, where anesthesiologist Pam Mobley has been manning the local clinic, debris cleanup is underway and the dump is constantly on fire as people burn what theyve hauled away conditions that are bringing compound fractures and respiratory ailments to her door.

Patients have fallen off roofs and maintained puncture wounds. Ive given a lot of tetanus shots, she said, along with antibiotics for infected wounds. Hygiene on the island still isnt where shed like it to be.

And the mold and mildew are getting to her patients. Everybodys coughing and sneezing and sniffling, she said.

When it comes to rebuilding health on the island, doctors know theres a long road ahead.

I dont believe that within three months, six months, even a year the Bahamas will recover, said Dr. Brennen, who explained that health care in the island nation will need to be reimagined to be more efficient and disaster-proof.

And both Dr. Brennen and Dr. Hull stressed the importance of ongoing humanitarian aid to the island. Aid groups have provided everything from medicines and supplies to clean water, and Dr. Hull said the Bahamas simply doesnt have the infrastructure to recover without outside help.

One of the things people are afraid of the most right now is that the world is going to forget about them, he said.

More here:

Chronic Disease, Injuries, and Mental Health Issues: The Bahamas' Challenging Future - Direct Relief

FREEPORT, Bahamas More than three months after Hurricane Dorian devastated Grand Bahama Island, the people of Freeport are still struggling to put their lives back together.

"Approximately 70% of the island was flooded," said Ken Lane, pastor of Lucaya Presbyterian Church in Freeport.

Three months after Hurricane Dorian slammed Grand Bahama Island with a nearly 20-foot storm surge, the people are still struggling to recover.

"You still cannot drink the water that comes out of the pipes," said Lane.

Saltwater is still in their wells. The airport is so damaged that they're still working out of a tent.

There are no commercial flights, and the only way to get to the island is by private plane or boat.

Residents are still trying to piece their lives back together.

"When we looked outside, we were already surrounded by water," said Dillis Greene.

There are thousands of people like Greene whose home was completely flooded.

She and her family tried to escape when the water came in, but they had to be rescued.

"We started out in the car but the water was so high that it started to engulf us in the car. Some guys were behind us in a big dump truck. They pulled us out of the car and threw us on," said Greene.

Greene and many others lost everything, some of it still piled next to the roads.

She says everyone realizes it will take a very long time for them to recover from Dorian.

Greene says she has been able to replace the walls and wiring and is starting to put her life back together thanks of non-profits and ministries that are coming in to help.

"On behalf of the people of the Bahamas, I would like to say thank you to them from the bottom of our hearts because we are most grateful," said Greene.

Go here to see the original:

Grand Bahama Island still struggling to recover more than three months after Hurricane Dorian - ABC Action News

By DAVID J. HILL

NASSAU, BAHAMAS The Bulls touched down in the Bahamas shortly after 1:30 Monday afternoon and were greeted by sunshine, palm trees, 80-degree weather and reggae music at Lynden Pindling International Airport.

The UB football team is trading in the frigid snow of Buffalo for the warmth of the Caribbean this week as they get set to face UNC-Charlotte in the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl on Friday. Both teams arrived Monday and will participate in a variety of events throughout the week.

Mondays festivities featured a welcome reception for the teams, which are both staying at the expansive Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas resort hotel. Im stoked. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Were really blessed and fortunate to be in this situation, said Jake Fuzak, a junior offensive lineman from Williamsville.

The weeklong Bahamas trip is the Bulls reward for a 7-5 regular season. Its their second straight bowl appearance and fourth in program history. UB is hoping to make history by capturing its first-ever bowl victory later this week.

Until then, its all about experiencing a new destination with teammates. I know theyre going to make memories that will last a lifetime. You could feel the energy on the bus coming here and we could feel it this morning when we met as a team back in Buffalo, said Bulls head coach Lance Leipold.

Its amazing. Its beautiful. All the guys saw Atlantis, and everyone got riled up and excited, added Taylor Riggins, a junior defensive end from Webster, New York. Everyone on the team is really excited to be here and get out of that cold weather up in Buffalo. Lately its been low 30s and snowing every day. To be able to get down here in the sun is really nice for us.

For junior linebacker Kadofi Wright, just about everything will be new and nice this is the first trip outside of Virginia or New York for the Richmond native. This hotel is ridiculous. Ive never seen anything like it, he said.

The Bulls plan on having some fun while theyre here, but make no mistake, theyve got one goal in mind. Its not really a vacation for us. Its a business trip, Wright said. Were looking forward to a win. Once we win, then itll be a fun trip.

UB has already scored one victory over Charlotte since arriving in the Bahamas. Max Michel, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Elizabeth, New Jersey, used his speedy thumbs to guide the Bulls to a win in the pinball competition held during the welcome reception. Not bad for someone who hasnt even played pinball since he was a kid playing it on a computer game.

The Bulls received a championship trophy, and will return to Buffalo with a pinball machine, the grand prize for winning the event.

When asked how he managed to perform so well despite a severe lack of pinball experience, Michel offered this gem: When its all on the line, you have to lock in, and thats what I did.

The teams practice on Tuesday was cancelled. But later in the day, the players will take part in a beach bash and dinner featuring a dance contest and games, including beach bowling and beach golf.

See more here:

Bulls arrive in the Bahamas - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo Reporter

PONTIAC, Mich. (WJW) A very generous company in Michigan is making sure its employees know how much theyre appreciated.

According to WXYZ, United Shore had a record breaking year, so to celebrate, they hosted a huge holiday party, which featured The Chainsmokers.

The bosses also gave away 13 vehicles and 30 cruises to the Bahamas.

Brian Gibbons told the TV outlet he got to choose between a Cadillac CTS or a XT5.

Lot of dancing, a lot of refreshments, a lot of desserts, lot of food, a lot of good times and we won a car, said Gibbons.

The wholesale mortgage lending company currently employs 5,000 people and is planning to hire 2,000 more next year.

People, secret is people, said CEO Matt Ishbia. How do we make sure we appreciate them because this company is only as good as our people.

Want to work for United Shore? Click here for more info.

42.638922-83.291047

Read more from the original source:

Michigan company gives away 13 Cadillacs and 30 cruises to the Bahamas at holiday party - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

Frequent contributor to sportsman Spotlight, Josh Mills is a great outdoorsman and human being. And here's one example.

I ran a pretty successful campaign to help people in the Bahamas without hurricane recovery. I ended up running this thing called Dozen for Dorian. So when the hurricane Dorian went over the Bahamas and just crushed everything back in September, I've never been down there. I want to go down there to fish for bonefish, tarpon, permit. But Abaco in Grand Bahama just got absolutely destroyed, 30 feet wall of water went over Abaco. And there's not a piece of ground there that isn't more than 35 feet above sea level. So it's like, I don't know what to do here. So I put a dozen of my flies up and it started this viral thing and we started calling it a Dozen for Dorian. And people were like putting their flies on Instagram. And then we ended up after about a month, if I thought that we would raise not just on my dozen, but people started doing their own dozen and everything kind of got coalesced under this thing. And we're donating the money to this thing called the Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Community and Conservation Fund. So not to rebuild lodges, but to give people who work in the fishing industry like money to rebuild their home or buy a generator and like that. I thought if we raised five grand, it'd be cool. We ended up after a month raising forty two thousand one hundred dollars just through people putting up flies on Instagram. And then it became trips and then it became this. And it became that. It was crazy.

Yeah, crazy. Good. Thanks, Josh. And thanks to all of you sportsmen who got involved and helped out.

Read more here:

Josh and the Bahamas - AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST - AGInfo Ag Information Network Of The West

MELBOURNE, Australia It seemed as if Patrick Reed wanted to hear it from the hecklers sooner than later.

Playing in his first match at the Presidents Cup since last week's sand rule violation in the Bahamas, Reed teed off with teammate Webb Simpson on Thursday to a few barbs and boos in the gallery on the first tee at Royal Melbourne.

Hey Patrick, does your caddie have 14 clubs and a shovel? joked one fan just before Reed teed off against International players Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan in the fourball competition.

Moments after he drove his ball, another yelled: Get in the bunker! And sure enough, it did, sliding into the green-side bunker to loud cheers from the gallery.

Reed then hit his approach into the bunker on the second hole and his tee shot on the par-3 third again found the sand.

By then, the sand and bunker jokes from the gallery were all becoming a bit repetitive and tired.

When asked whether he felt the Australian crowd was respectful, Reed replied: It's exactly what I expected.

Matt Kuchar, who did not play Thursday, said he heard the boos on the first tee.

My reaction was it's going to fire Patrick up, Kuchar said. I think he really enjoys that. I saw that as being a thing where, man, this is going to get Patrick in the state he wants to be in. This is his element.

Pan said he didn't notice any untoward comments toward Reed: Sorry, I was focusing on my game. Didn't pay attention.

Matsuyama and Pan were 3-up after nine holes and hung on for a 1-up win to help give the Internationals a 4-1 lead after Thursday's fourball matches. U.S. captain Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas were the only American winners, defeating Joaquin Niemann and Mark Leishman 4 and 3.

Reed is dealing with the fallout of his actions at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

From a sandy waste area left of the 11th fairway in the third round, video clearly showed his ball in a rumpled foot print. Reed set his club behind the ball, drew it back and scraped back some of the sand behind his ball. Then, he did it again, swiping away more sand.

Reed said then he wasn't cheating.

If you're intentionally trying to do something, that would be considered cheating, he said. But I wasn't intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that. Because if it was, it would have been a really good lie and I would have hit it really close.

What bothered Reed more than the crowd comments most was the score.

I think we're pretty upset with how the day went on as a whole and as a group, Reed said.

Read the original here:

Crowd jeers Reed over rules violation in Bahamas | Golf | Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Satuday afternoon at Paulson Stadium hundreds of Georgia Southern students will be walking down the aisle, receiving their diplomas. Two of those who call the Bahamas home almost didn't make it to the stage.But, the Statesboro community came to their rescue.It all began in this room, the Bulloch County Emergency Operations Center three months ago when students from the Bahamas met with members of VOAD or Volunteers Organized Active in Disaster. Hurricane Dorian had just devastated their hometowns and they needed help. So the Statesboro and Bulloch County community stepped up adopted 29 college and high school students and paid their bills to ease their burdens. Versace Nicolls and Zae Moss are two of those students. Both received help from the community, which allowed them to stay in school and now as a result are graduating from Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon."I'm thankful for the Statesboro community for stepping up because graduating and graduation is because of them," said Nicolls. "I'm able to walk across the stage because they helped me in this time of need, so I'm really grateful.""I feel like it will finally hit me tomorrow when I walk across the stage," said Moss. "I'll think about everybody who contributed to me getting to point, whether it was financially, motivation, spiritually, probably going to cry."Help from the Statesboro community also eased the burden on their parents, who are also grateful."For the stuff she need to do, right then, we would've had to bring her back home," said Marquis Nicolls, Versace's father. "We really would have had to take her back home, she probably would have lost out on her education."Statesboro has been a big help to us, it's been a big help to us."That journey will have a happy ending Saturday afternoon at Paulson Stadium when the two walk during Georgia Southern's graduation.The Statesboro community is still helping to provide financial support for the students, in addition helping with the rebuild in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian.If you would like to help you can contact:DeWayne Grice34 East Main StreetStatesboro, Georgia, 30458912-489-3912or Drop off directly at any Statesboro Synovus Bank branchor online here Select Fund-Bahamas Students Families

Satuday afternoon at Paulson Stadium hundreds of Georgia Southern students will be walking down the aisle, receiving their diplomas.

Two of those who call the Bahamas home almost didn't make it to the stage.But, the Statesboro community came to their rescue.

It all began in this room, the Bulloch County Emergency Operations Center three months ago when students from the Bahamas met with members of VOAD or Volunteers Organized Active in Disaster.

Hurricane Dorian had just devastated their hometowns and they needed help. So the Statesboro and Bulloch County community stepped up adopted 29 college and high school students and paid their bills to ease their burdens.

Versace Nicolls and Zae Moss are two of those students. Both received help from the community, which allowed them to stay in school and now as a result are graduating from Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon.

"I'm thankful for the Statesboro community for stepping up because graduating and graduation is because of them," said Nicolls. "I'm able to walk across the stage because they helped me in this time of need, so I'm really grateful."

"I feel like it will finally hit me tomorrow when I walk across the stage," said Moss. "I'll think about everybody who contributed to me getting to point, whether it was financially, motivation, spiritually, probably going to cry."

Help from the Statesboro community also eased the burden on their parents, who are also grateful.

"For the stuff she need to do, right then, we would've had to bring her back home," said Marquis Nicolls, Versace's father. "We really would have had to take her back home, she probably would have lost out on her education."Statesboro has been a big help to us, it's been a big help to us."

That journey will have a happy ending Saturday afternoon at Paulson Stadium when the two walk during Georgia Southern's graduation.

The Statesboro community is still helping to provide financial support for the students, in addition helping with the rebuild in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian.

If you would like to help you can contact:

DeWayne Grice

34 East Main Street

Statesboro, Georgia, 30458

912-489-3912

or Drop off directly at any Statesboro Synovus Bank branch

or online here Select Fund-Bahamas Students Families

Read more here:

Two Ga. Southern students from the Bahamas are graduating after community's help - WJCL News