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Women Who Live on Rocks

October 20, 2017 1 Comment

You know when that Hurricane flattened everything in its path, and I flew home to safety, I myself was a bit horrified with myself at how I just did nothing. I think I was sort of in shock, and every day I scrolled through social media, checking on every one I could think of that was impacted.... close friends in the islands, distant friends in the islands, customers, businesses in the impact zone, good friends who also happen to be customers. I had this list of people, who every day I would search and scroll - hungry for updates. Updates were scarce because no one had power, internet, phone service, food, water, roofs. Gradually updates came out, and I could tick everyone off on my mental checklist.

It seemed like so many people mobilized themselves in their own ways to HELP, while I sat numb. One woman I was SUPER impressed with at this time, was the author of the blog WOMEN WHO LIVE ON ROCKS Chrissann Nickel. Here she is upside down in Virgin Gorda.

I have followed this blog for a year or so now, and LOVE the humor and stories from real island girls that arrive in my inbox weekly. I love this photo I found on her instagram feed.

So many people in need, how do you choose a charity, who do you trust, I was thinking.... and just like that, as if she was a mind-reader, a concise list of charities you can trust landed in my inbox. I love this girl !

Within days of the hurricane wiping out my islands, Chrissann had gone LIVE with the post "How You Can Help The Islands You Love" So now that I have finally found a way to help, I contacted Chrissann to share her story with you guys. Here is what she sent to me.... which is perfect in her own words.

I was actually away on a pre-scheduled vacation during Irma. Because of it being the height of hurricane season and thus the resort my bf runs being closed for a couple of months, we take our 1 month of vacation every year in September.

Unfortunately, we only were gone for less than a week when Irma hit and we watched in horror from afar. Afterwards was beyond stressful trying to locate missing friends and help get them evacuated. Our home and business have been destroyed, so we haven’t been able to go back. My bf has been back and forth a few times to help and to do some stuff with the resort, but for the past month, we’ve been moving about, staying with wonderful friends on the east coast and now Hawaii.

We are currently in Honolulu, Hawaii, staying with the owners of the resort he runs to sort out next steps, etc. The future is incredibly uncertain at this point, so I’m just working on taking things day by day. Not an easy feat for a Type A planner like me - there’s definitely a lot that I’m being challenged to learn. Thankfully, our sweet dog Diego was with us, so he’s been a bright spot in my world even when things are deeply sad.

Check out Chrissann's instagram page to see more photos of Chrissann and her island adventures with the adorable Diego.

This weeks blog post from WOMEN WHO LIVE ON ROCKS is called 10 Things You Never Knew About Hurricanes. Another great story mixing humor in with the reality of island life, the hardest reality being HURRICANES!

Now because that little dog Diego is so cute, and so clearly a major part of Chrissann's life, and because I have seen some of the amazing work done by SXM Paw's who worked so hard to arrange evacuation for so many animals left homeless by Irma, lets do a Hurricane fundraiser for some Caribbean dogs and cats. Proceeds of our next fund raiser will go to St.Maarten Animal Welfare Foundation.