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Welcome to Operation Cruisers' Aid!

We are Cruisers...giving back to the islands we love.

The devastation that Hurricane Beryl caused on the people and places we have visited or want to visit is immense. Carriacou, Union Island, Petit Martinique, and Mayreau were especially hard hit.

The affected communities are going to need selfless acts to help them, much like the people of Trinidad have helped all of us cruisers who showed up on their doorsteps at the end of June. While the welcome has been warm and accommodating here in Trinidad, many of us will be returning to one of the impacted areas and want to pay forward the compassion shown to us here in Trinidad.

These areas are going to need a lot of supplies and those supplies are going to need to get to them.

Our Group, Operation Cruisers' Aid, is a grassroots effort by likeminded cruisers, people living and traveling by sailboat, to give back to the islands and her people that bring us our grand adventures. We are fortunate to be working alongside Jesse James, a local Trinidadian who is a strong supporter of the Windward Islands and cruising community. Jesse is well known throughout the region for his volunteerism and leadership.

We have the boats to transport items in desperate need, but we also need donations to help purchase these items so we can bring as much as safely possible!

An overview of our Mission:

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Operation Cruisers' Aid Overview

July 20th Update

Our mission has always been to bridge the gap in aid between the disaster and the mobilization of larger aid organizations by using displaced cruising boats as the means of transportation. Most of the boats that have moved out of the path of Hurricane Beryl have since moved back to their intended locations. While donations and the availability of transport has dwindled, we are still making sure that every donated dollar gets put to use helping those in need!

At this point, the coordination team of Operation Cruisers' Aid is looking at ways to make this response a template for future responses. We are also investigating if this effort can be funded by an international aid organization so that it is always ready to deploy and with better reporting tools and needs based aid for the next time such a disaster strikes.

Here's Where You Come In!

​Transport Donations

• If you would like to transport donations to one or more of the affected areas, sign up as a transporter using this link.

Donate needed Items

• Use this link to indicate you have donations to supply and where you would like them sent.

Donate funds to our GoFundMe campaign

• Follow this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/cruiser-relief-response-to-beryl

Purchase needed aid items while in or near the affected items and request a reimbursement after they are delivered.

• Use this form to request an allocation of GoFundMe Money to be used toward purchasing and delivery aid items.

Help recover the fishing and sailing boats affected in the Carriacou Mangroves

• A WhatsApp community has been started to coordinate these efforts: Join here.

Have some other way you want to help?

• Send an email and we'll try to help you help them.

Primary Communication During the Response

Operation Cruisers' Aid has made extensive use of WhatsApp Community and Groups for communication during our response. Most groups are joinable by any person within the community; however some are meant for a smaller group and approval is required.

Operation Cruisers' Aid Community on WhatsApp

WhatsApp Groups

All WhatsApp groups are available to see after joining the community linked above.

Groups of wide appeal

• OCA: General Discussion - Used for communication across the general community
• Delivery Boats - Used for communication between delivery boats and coordinators
• Donations
• External Liaisons
• Media and Fundraising
• Urgent Aid Needs

Groups for coordination of efforts within primary islands of support or impact

• Bequia Coordination
• Canouan Coordination
• Carriacou Coordination
• Grenada Coordination
• Martinique Coordination
• Mayreau Coordination
• Petite Martinique Coordination
• Saint Vincent Coordination
• Sint Martin Coordination
• St. Lucia Coordination
• Trinidad Coordination
• Union Island Coordination
• VIs, Puerto Rico, Anguilla Coordination
• Carriacou Boat Recovery - Communication between boat owners and those that are tryinh to help them recover their boats from the Carriacou mangroves,

Groups for the management and coordination team

• COORDINATOR TEAM ONLY
• GoFundMe Management
• Information Management Team

Delivery Boat Information

Current Status of Delivery Boats

Safety Guidelines

Instructions for boats departing Trinidad

Instructions for boats departing all other islands

Delivery Boat Inventory Form (Online Fillable Form (preferred), Printable PDF)

Social Media Links

Cruisers’ Response to Hurricane Beryl Facebook Group

DropBox for photos and videos on recovery efforts

Documentation and Systems Put in Place During Operation Cruisers' Aid

Standard Operating Procedures

Allocation and Reimbursement Process - This process is used to request an allocation and then reimbursement of GoFundMe monies

Delivery Boat Required Steps - This process must be followed by OCA boats to make sure we are staying compliant with the then-current governmental requirements

Management Team

Role	Name
Strategic & Operational Lead	Kylie Schischka
Trinidad Lead	Jesse James
Government and Non-GMO Liason	Bryony Palmer
Donations/GoFundMe Coordinator	Kathleen Saunders
Delivery Boat Coordination	Michael Pail
Work Flow and Systems Creation	Michael Pail
Social Media Coordination	Cori McCormick
Operations Center Manager	Cori McCormick
Information Management	Nick Brown
Island / Point of Contact Liaison	Nikki Layton

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