Aecon - Mayreau Island Rebuild Fund - St. Vincent

Aecon Group Inc is organizing this fundraiser.

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As you may know Aecon Group Inc is currently working on the Kingston Port Modernisation Project in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In the early hours of Monday, the 1st of July, St Vincent and the Grenadines was hit by Hurricane Beryl which at the time was a Category 4 hurricane. The port project and the Island of St Vincent have escaped relatively unscathed but some of the lower lying Grenadine islands of Canouan, Mayreau and Union have been devastated. Many of our colleagues and the people working for Aecon on the project, come from these islands.

Representatives of Aecon from the project team visited Mayreau, an island of only around 320 inhabitants, on Sunday the 7th of July to assess the damage and the structural integrity of the existing jetty to receive aid. The visit was, to say the least, harrowing.

The Aecon team was able to view the damage first hand and are reporting that:

Many houses, wooden, stone and concrete have been totally destroyed and will need to be taken down before they can be re-built.
The only school, clinic and church on the island have all been destroyed. The church was one of the emergency hurricane shelters.
The electrical system is gone. Every single electricity pole is either fallen over or has been destabilised requiring replacement. Many of the wooden poles, which are 12” in diameter, have literally snapped in two. It is likely to be some months before power can be re-instated.
The entire fishing fleet, which had been brought on shore was destroyed. Fishing and tourism are the main industries on the island and so the vast majority of people are without income.
Tourist bars and restaurants along Saltwhistle Bay are no longer there.
There is no working sanitation on the island.

The Project has set up this Go Fund Me page and is asking everyone at Aecon, colleagues, and friends to donating as much as they can to assist with relief and rebuild efforts for the Vincentians impacted in Mayreau. Aecon Group Inc, will match donations up to $50,000 CAD.

Through a project-led oversight committee, funds will be used to:

Purchase and rent equipment for the initial clear up, and transportation of debris
Provide sanitation equipment and supplies to prevent spread of disease
Provide pumps and chemicals to remove mosquito breeding sites and prevent spread of Dengue
Purchase of building materials such as tarpaulins, lumber, plywood, sheet metal roofing, windows etc

Our focus will be to provide materials to refurbish homes, and local community buildings which will used to house people en masse until they can get back into their own accommodation, and ensuring the refurbished infrastructure is hurricane resilient.

As you can imagine, there is so much to be done in a short space of time to prevent disease and further suffering. They are an incredibly resilient people but they need our help to get themselves back to a semblance of normality.

Please give what you can and encourage colleagues, friends and family to donate. Make us Aecon Proud.

Thank you in advance for your kind donations.