Hi Rebecca--Do you have any info on beach clean up on Saturday? Any pics? How about an over all update (and pics) on TB in general. Would love to see some pics of the new roofs, hotel/guest houses after their rennovations, and as always the smiling faces of the TB residents. Keep up the good work, Jah Bless.

Phew! What a day. Thanks to so many, the beach clean-up day was a huge success. The day started at Jack Sprat where the Treasure Beach Women’s Group prepared breakfast for 150 volunteers all showing up ready to clean the beaches! Many of the volunteers were children from Treasure Beach; 29 cadets representing Black River High School, Lacovia High School, STETS, and Munro College; Peace Corp volunteers, 10 students from Tranquility Bay, some of the Treasure Girls cricket team, members of the Treasure Beach Women’s Group, and residents of Treasure Beach.

Special thanks to Tracy Hamilton representing the Office of National Reconstruction, Simone Smith representing the National Youth Service and their crew who came fully prepared with rakes, gloves, machetes, trash bags, and lots of drinks and snacks all of which were distributed to the 4 groups going off to one of the 4 beaches; Billy’s Bay, Frenchman’s Bay, Calabash Bay, and Great Bay. They also gave out great T-shirts with the logo “Volunteer and Share, Show You Care” printed on the back of each one.

Simone and Tracy spoke to all gathered emphasizing the importance of volunteerism and reviewing the tasks at hand for the day.



And then we were off! Thanks go out to the Treasure Tours crew for providing transportation all day carrying folks to and from the various beaches. Omar and Silvan, you’re the best!

Loads of folks came to Frenchman’s Beach and started to clean.











This gentleman didn’t let the fact that he had no rake deter him, he just used his hands. That’s the spirit!



We even had an appearance from a ninja man!



I caught the crew cleaning Billy’s Bay on a well deserved break. That sun is hot!



Lot’s of folks showed up in Great Bay where they were whipping the beach back into fine shape. Special thanks to Tyrone for gathering many volunteers and overseeing the clean-up project in Great Bay.



And special thanks go out to Miss Sharon, who was down here from Canada visiting her parents and my wonderful neighbor Oral, both taking a day out of their busy schedules to supervise the clean-up on Calabash Bay beach.



We would also like to thank the St. Elizabeth Parish Council for providing us with a backhoe for the day assisting with the clean-up of Frenchman’s Beach. This allowed us to accomplish so much more and we are very grateful.

Lastly, thanks to all of you who have donated to the Ivan Relief Fund. The ONR and the NYS subsidized the cost of food for breakfast and lunch, and transportation of the cadets to and from STETS and Munro, however, your dollars made up the difference.

The beaches are looking clean and ready to be enjoyed, so come on down!

Cooooooooool!

Great Job! Thanks for the update!

Wish I could have been there, but I did attend benefit here in Boston. Good people, good music. Don't know how much was collected, but I'm sure Robert (Johnson) will let everyone know.

hi Rebecca its me again it's good to see the place comming back togather again thanks for the update i am greatful for you and those great people love you all A James

Thanks for the message A. James. I hope you have cooled down by now and are already missing the warm Jamaican breezes.

Thanks to the money raised by selling the balls of rope to the fishermen the other day, we were able to continue with the beach clean-up efforts in Great Bay. You may recall we reported that thanks to your donations we were able to purchase 70 balls of rope valued at $1,350 JA per ball and sell them to the fishermen for $500 per ball. That effort raised $35,000 JA and with this money we could hire a backhoe and several men, including our favorite chainsaw man Eggie, to continue to clean up Great Bay beach.

I have not had a chance to go down there myself, however, I hear the beach is looking much much better. There is just a small piece left to clear and the backhoe has to wait a few days for the ground to dry out a bit so he can access it. When that happens, we plan on having him back again to finish the job!

Remember, your donations are still working to help Treasure Beach fully recover!

Hi Rebecca,
Happy to hear that Treasure Beach is getting back its beautiful look again.
Hello to everyone in Treasure Beach .

I was born right there in TB fifty nine years ago
but have moved away for many years but always enjoyed my coming back to visit my family and friends I have met over the years.I was away for 18 years before I made my first visit to TB and was so surprised to see the changes of all the beautiful homes and Guest houses and so many businesses big and small but, our beaches meant so much to us.As children we were not allowed to go swimming so when Easter,Summer vacation and Christmas times came around we were the happiest children ready for the beach.

It broke my heart when I saw the first pictures of the beaches after the Hurricane but, I know it will come back looking nice again and when I saw the clean-up that took place last week I cannot tell you how much I would have loved to be there with you all.I'm thinking of what I really want to do to help when next I visit something my grandchildren can enjoy and say to themselves and their friends my grandmother did that after that bad "Ivan" I might just ask my grandbabies to help grandma with this dream of mine.Keep up the good work.

God Bless you all.