By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | A crowd of hungry people with hollow looks on their faces gravitate toward Bill Herbkersman’s plane every time it lands on devastated Treasure Cay in the Bahamas. But guards, seemingly new to the rifles they carry, stop the horde from moving forward.
In the air is the stench of death. Herbkersman, a Bluffton developer and Republican state representative, can’t get it out of his nose.
“I smell it right now,” he said Thursday after ferrying more than 3 tons of supplies to the island this week. “I don’t know if it is in the mind or in the nose. It is more acute every time you go in.”
Normally, the islands offer beautiful air-to-sea views of deep blue water surrounding lush green islands. This week’s visits looked vastly different, Herbkersman said. The islands were black from all of the dead vegetation. As he circled to land on the island where 1,200 people lived in 2010, he spied bodies floating in the sea. There’s no telling how many people died, he said. It’s all completely heartbreaking.
“When you see something floating, it’s either a body or a log — and logs usually float in toward the island.”
So far, he’s made six volunteer relief trips over three days in his Cessna 182 single-engine plane, which he calls a “Suburban on wings.” Through next week, he plans five more days of twice-daily round trips, each leg of which takes 90 minutes. On each trip from a Florida staging airport, his plane is packed with 1,100 pounds of whatever he can get — water, food, disinfectants, cleaning supplies and medical supplies, such as stethoscopes, gloves and medicine.
“They need everything over there,” he said earlier this week. “The people who are doing triage over there said they can really use baby powder and those bottles with bubbles in them for kids so they can keep the kids’ minds off of what happened. … Even a book club can get a case of baby powder.”
A veteran lawmaker first elected in 2002, Herbkersman generally is recognized as a cool-headed moderate. He sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which drafts the state’s annual $8 billion budget.
He said he’s learned as a volunteer ferry pilot how to be smarter in what he’s delivering. Instead of water, which is heavy, it’s better to take water purifiers. Another example: Solar-powered lights.
“I’m just humbled every time I go over there,” Herbkersman said later in the week. “Humbled and thankful I can do what I can do.”
Herbkersman’s journey started Sept. 7 when he loaded up some supplies in Bluffton and flew to Charleston, where he took on more relief material from MUSC and longtime friend and state Sen. Sandy Senn, a Charleston Republican who has some property and connections to the Abacos. Then he flew to Fort Pierce, Fla., before heading out early Sunday to ferry supplies.
Each round trip costs about $350 in fuel, which Herbkersman is covering.
“It makes you feel good,” he said of the volunteer effort. “We’re all in this together. Those folks have absolutely nothing.”
The generosity of Americans is on full display, Herbkersman said as he prepared to resume his volunteer effort.
“The American spirit is to help,” he said. “Everybody just seems to want to help. They just don’t know how to help.”
Herbkersman suggested for people to donate through reputable organizations with connections in the Bahamas. Some examples:
- He said the Knights of Columbus in Charleston, which filled a trailer full of supplies and took to Florida, is able to get things to those who need help through the Catholic church.
- Local Rotary clubs are coordinating cash donations with Rotary clubs on the islands.
- Water Mission, based in North Charleston, is sending water purification machines that can clean thousands of gallons of water daily. It’s matching donations dollar for dollar up to $1 million.
- Mediterranian Shipping Company in Charleston coordinated a trailer filled with supplies to take to one of its Florida ships to get aid to the Bahamas.
- Charitable donations of money also is fueling disaster relief. Other organizations raising money to help victims include the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and Americares.
Andy Brack’s latest book, “We Can Do Better, South Carolina,” is now available in paperback and for Kindle via Amazon.
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