URGENT Disaster Relief for Mayreau, SVG: Hurricane Beryl

March 2025:

HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped us raise money for the recovery efforts on Mayreau since Hurricane Beryl. We are so grateful that we were able to purchase 105 450-gallon water tanks (and the necessary fittings) with these funds to support rain water harvesting after the hurricane cut off our community's access to water.

As Mayreau continues along the path to recovery, We Are Mayreau, Inc. (the community organization this GoFundMe is partnered with) has refocused their efforts on rebuilding our essential community spaces that were destroyed, namely the community centre and the school garden (and home gardens for Farmers' Hub members).

The Mayreau Community Centre established a recognized community library, developed and introduced after school programs and formal adult education classes, established a space for training and business development, established strategic partnerships to ensure programs were being consistently offered, and developed and introduced sustainable financing mechanisms to cover operating expenses. Unfortunately our building, along with all its books, technology, and other resources, was destroyed in the hurricane. Our goal is to find a new home for the centre (purchase land) and design and rebuild a more comprehensive space with an addition for the purpose of supporting female farmers and agro-processing.

Before:

After:

The school garden has been a space for learning and teaching for the entire community. It was home to 10,000 gallons of water, a hydroponic system, ecological garden, medicinal herbs garden, and we had plans to install a aquaponics system. Our goal is to rebuild, refence the space, replant trees for shade, and get the garden back up and running. It is essential to devise ways to utilize our limited land on our tiny island to grow food in innovative ways to improve our food and water security.

Before:

After:

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July 2024:

Hurricane Beryl, an almost category 5 hurricane, directly hit Carriacou, Grenada, just barely south of Mayreau, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These islands are normally safely south of Caribbean hurricane paths and have never experienced a hurricane anywhere close to the strength or proximity of Hurricane Beryl.

All of these tiny islands (Carriacou, Petite Martinique, Union, Mayreau, Canouan) are completely DEVASTATED. Almost every house has lost its roof, there is no electricity or no cell service, and many houses sustained even worse damage. Mayreau is home to ~400 people, has no hospital, bank, or airport, and relies heavily on tourism for many families' income (which will take many years to recover).

There are other incredible fundraisers already active for neighboring islands (and this one by Jeremie Tronet is another very important place to donate ASAP as they are going to be sharing resources with Mayreau and are organizing immediate aid flown / shipped in from Martinique: Union Island GoFundMe), but Mayreau will absolutely need more urgent funds.

Here's some of the photos that have come out of the island since we were able to reestablish (very limited) contact with family and friends on Mayreau (a very long and stressful) 24 hours after the storm hit:

This fundraiser is being organized by Turban Ollivierre (born and raised on Mayreau) and his wife Aly Ollivierre (lived and worked in the Grenadines since 2011 and sits on the We Are Mayreau, Inc. Board of Directors) and supported by their Mayreaunian family based out of Canada. We will be organizing the funds and determining the best way to get them into the local community (e.g. direct transfer of funds to local NGO We Are Mayreau, Inc. or by purchasing internationally and arranging for shipment to Mayreau) as it becomes more clear what the best options are in these dire circumstances.

Here's what our beautiful island looked like before: