A number of selected persons, mainly in East End and West End, whose homes were badly damaged by Hurricane Irma, are the recipients of supplies of lumber. The building material was donated by business persons in the United States, responding to requests from members of the Anguillian diaspora there.
The building material is in the form of a quantity of plywood which was shipped to ACE Supplies at South Hill.
Noted Anguillian patriotic worker, Mr. Thomas (Eddie) Kelly), told media representatives on Saturday, November 25: “We, members of an organisation (Anguilla’s People Living Overseas) formed by Connie Harrigan, were contacted by Glynnis Connor. He said Eddie, I need your help. We have some individuals in New York who want to donate some lumber and I want you to organise it. That is what we did and it has finally come to fruition. We now have here at ACE, in Anguilla, a flat rack with lumber to help, maybe, about 20 or 30 Anguillian individuals who lost the roofs of their homes or had damage to their businesses.
“Today, we are donating lumber to individuals on the eastern end of the island. When Mr. Connor comes back to the island, next week, he will be taking care of the western end of the island.
“We are very happy to have had Calypso Charters help out, really tremendously, with the funding to get the lumber to Anguilla. It has been a Herculean effort, but we are happy to have made it happen. It definitely would not have happened if it were not for Mr. Glynnis Connor, and the folks from Calypso Charters, so we want to thank them tremendously. This is just a small part of the efforts we have planned for Anguilla, and I hope the Anguillians appreciate it because the amount of love that we have seen from folks abroad for Anguilla is tremendous. We are happy to give back and to be here again – and we will continue our efforts until Anguilla is back to normal.”
Mr. Kelly explained that the shipment of lumber originated in Brooklyn, New York. He stated that the donors would now be helping the Anguillian diaspora “in organising a drive, which we just started, to ship down some refrigeration containers with ham, turkey, chicken and other food supplies, within the next week and a half.”
Summing up the arrangement for supplies to Anguilla, Mr. Kelly said: “We basically want to help those persons in Anguilla who really, really need it. Connie Harrigan is from the eastern end of the island and among those being helped are the Bryan and Fleming families. We also have two individuals in The Valley as well as the Senior Citizens Home there; and, as I said, Glynnis has a number of persons in the western end of the island who have been identified for assistance and he will deal with them when he comes.”
Asked to provide some background information about himself, Kelly said: “I have been in finance for about nineteen years. I own a couple branches of national securities in Miami and New York. We do a full spectrum of investment banking. It has afforded me an opportunity to meet a tremendous number of individuals whom I am now calling, and leaning on them, for help at this time of need in Anguilla.”
