Key Club Hurricane Relief

Last month, when Hurricane Dorian left many in the Bahamas without power or supplies, Jesuit's Key Club stepped up to help out by assisting the University of South Florida's Bahamas Medical Relief Mission. On Sept. 15, Key Club members helped prepare 3,000 pounds of medical supplies for shipment to those in need.

For their humanitarian effort, those Key Club members recently received a letter of commendation from Dr. Asa Oxner of USF's Department of Internal Medicine. The Key Cub members who participated were Daniel Fuentes '22, Tyler Girsch '22, Carson Jeffords '21, Frankie Machado '21, Nico Machado '21, Cole Mangan '22, Daniel Prashanth Hevia '21, and Josh Williams '23.

"We were all humbled by the simple act of coming together and reflecting on our efforts to help our fellow men and women in the Bahamas," Dr. Oxner's commendation letter said.

That Sunday morning, Sept. 15, the Key Club members, along with other volunteers from USF, St. Joseph's Hospital, and Tampa General Hospital, transported some 60 boxes of supplies to a hangar at Tampa International Airport.

They were met there by a host of volunteers from USF's community partner organizations, and they proceeded to repack, label, and weigh boxes – which included many additional supplies already delivered to the hangar – while categorizing into medical and non-medical packages. The end result was some 3,000 pounds of desperately needed supplies transported to the Bahamas, accompanied by the USF medical relief team.

Category 5 Hurricane Dorian's 180 mph winds devastated the Bahamas on Sept. 1-2, with news reports indicating at least 61 people killed and thousands impacted and in need of medical care.