Bajans to St Lucia’s aid

Barbadians yesterday responded to the call of the Barbados Red Cross Association to assist St Lucia and St Vincent in the wake of Tropical Storm Tomas.
From early, cars and pedestrians came steadily to drop off bottled water, canned items, sanitary napkins, toilet paper and more at the Red Cross’ new headquarters in Warrens, St Michael.
The facility was buzzing with volunteers recording items and preparing them for shipping to the islands on Tuesday.
Director general of the Red Cross, Edmund Bradshaw, who was directing procedures, said he was pleased with the outpouring from Barbadians.
“It’s been non-stop action all morning,” he said.
Bradshaw who thanked the fisherfolk for assisting in the exercise during “their busy season” said the boats would be going into Soufriere and Castries on Tuesday and would be met by Red Cross officials there.
The director general, who noted that a representative of the Regional Intervention Team, De Vaughn Lewis, had arrived in Barbados to lend assistance to those here who had been hit by Tomas, said the initial money released was  600 000 Swiss francs, but that he suspected after assessments funding would be scaled up.
Bradshaw said those with damaged homes in Barbados would receive a portion of the money, but the majority of funding would go to the two other islands.
Speaker of the House Michael Carrington was among those assisting at the Warrens headquarters.
Carrington, part of another volunteer organization, said when one of the members told him they were on site, so he decided to offer an extra hand.
He congratulated Barbadians for playing their part and urged them to continue donating to the drive.
The Jordan family were among the many bringing items. They donated cans of tuna and sausages, bottled water, toilet paper and sanitary napkins, and more.
“[Given] we have friends there, and based on the pictures we have seen, we felt it necessary to do our part,” Asha Jordan said.