When District 7020 Governor (DG) Louis Wever and his spouse First Lady Amanda who are from St. Maarten visited The Bahamas, in February 2022, Abaco was on their schedule. They were hosted to a tour and lunch at the Abaco Neem Farm and to conclude some delayed Rotary business.

DG and the First Lady formally installed a sign to mark the celebration of a gift, made possible by Rotary Bahamas Disaster Relief two years ago; the pandemic had prevented the formal installation.

The donation of a Bobcat utility vehicle and an ABI 500-gallon water wagon was significant for Abaco Neem in aiding with their farm’s recovery program after the island was hit by Hurricane Dorian in 2019. The intention was for the equipment to also be used for wildfire prevention.

Thankfully, a neighboring farm owned by Rotarian Pastor Carey was saved when the donated water trailer was used to extinguish a wildfire at his premises.

Over 2,000 trees of a variety of Neem, citrus and native were lost or damaged on Abaco Neem’s 120-acre property when Hurricane Dorian hit the island in September 2019. The recovery management program is ongoing.

“We are very grateful to Rotary for the farm equipment and have replaced approximately 180 fruit-bearing trees which will contribute to local food security,” said Nick Miaoulis.

“Everyone talks about growing cash crops but not enough emphasis is put on locally grown fruit bearing trees which form a very important part of the local diet.”