Hello All,
As many of you know Eri and I weathered Hurricane Irma on St. John USVI, and then spent a week there in the aftermath. Irma’s winds devastated the island, and she was followed by the rains of her sister Maria, which left St. John without many basic needs like food, electricity, shelter, communication, and water. On the basis of the current news reports, this may be the situation for months. And today we heard that the red cross will be demobilizing.
Kathryn Blackbird and I are raising money to provide potable water for St. John inhabitants. We are working with the St. John Community Foundation.
If any of you have anything left in the coffers after the wake of the hurricanes and the earthquakes, please donate. Even a small donation will help.
Our goal is to raise enough money to purchase, ship, and distribute at least a pallet of Lifestraw Community point-of-use water purifier units.
Follow this link to donate: Clean Water for St. John USVI https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/hurricanerelieffund/kirsten-stankern
https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/hurricanerelieffund/kirsten-stankern https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/hurricanerelieffund/kirsten-stankern
If you cannot donate, please share this link with friends and on social media.
ABOUT LIFESTRAW PURIFIERS:
After a great deal of internet research we found the LifeStraw potable water system (lifestraw.com http://lifestraw.com/). We were looking for a system that could:
1) be easily stored and used by a community in emergencies 2) eliminate the wasteful use of plastic water bottles 3) convert unfiltered cistern water into quality high quality potable water 4) run without electricity
We found the LifeStraw Community. LifeStraw Community is a high-volume point-of-use water purifier with built-in safe storage that makes contaminated water safe to drink.
Each LifeStraw Community point-of-use water purifier:
Removes 99.9999 % of bacteria (E. coli, etc.) Removes 99.99 % of protozoa (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc.) Removes 99.999 % of viruses (Rotavirus, Hepatitis A) Filters 70,000 - 100,000 liters Serves about 75-100 people per day (Filtration rate 12L/hour) Independently tested by WHO Meets highest performance category (3 stars - comprehensive protection) Meets US EPA drinking water standards Easy to assemble, fill and use
ABOUT ST JOHN St John is a smaller USVI island. Because of it is more remote than other USVI islands, it has been forgotten in the news and as a consequence it is not receiving as much attention by the relief effort. Although many people think of the Virgin Islands as a place of luxury vacations, most inhabitants are not rich vacationers. Many residents have lost their both their homes and their jobs because residences and businesses were demolished and tourists will not return for a very long while.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! Stan and Kathy