The Bermuda Police Reserves are currently raising funds to send a group of volunteers to the Bahamas to help with hurricane relief work, almost a year after the Bahamas helped Bermuda in a similar way.

?What touched us most about the situation was that last year when we had Hurricane Fabian, six Bahamian girls came here to perform for us to raise money for Bermudian families who lost loved ones,? said retired Commandant of the Reserves, Eugene Vickers. Mr. Vickers is vice president of the International Association of Reserve Police, an organisation he helped to form a few years ago.

He said the group of Bahamians, called The Rising Stars, sang in several Bermuda churches to raise $6,000.

?They by no means came from wealthy backgrounds,? said Mr. Vickers. ?We thought there should be something we can do in Bermuda to help people recover in Grand Bahamas and Freeport where they were worst hit. They lost 90 percent of their homes with one of the hurricanes.?

Mr. Vickers said the Royal Bahamian Police Reserves are raising funds to buy plywood and other carpentry supplies, and the Bermuda Police Reserves want to help them with the actual rebuilding work.

?Unfortunately, Florida was so badly hit that there is no plywood available in the Bahamas,? said new Commandant, Huw Lewis. ?The plywood normally comes from Miami, because that is the closest point. We are waiting for a ship from Brazil to arrive in the Bahamas. We are buying plywood, nails and that sort of thing.?

Mr. Vickers said that the Reserves have a great relationship with their counterparts in the Bahamas.

?We had a Commandants? Conference two years ago,? said Mr. Vickers. ?We had Commandants from eight different islands. Out of that came an international organisation.?

Mr. Vickers said that the Superintendent of police in Nassau, Bahamas, Mr. Richard Gardiner is in Bermuda at the moment with 12 of his officers.

?He attended the swearing in ceremony for Mr. Lewis,? said Mr. Vickers. ?We were talking with him about the situation in the Bahamas. He said they need all kinds of things including water, plywood and clothing. Any assistance is needed. We are calling out to Bermuda to support this initiative in any way.?

So far, the Reserves have raised about $3,000, but more is needed. So far the volunteers are paying for airline tickets and supplies out of their own pockets.

?I hope that Bermuda will support them and support the Reserves to make it happen,? said Mr. Vickers. Mr. Vickers stepped down as Commandant on September 30 after five years in the position. He has been with the Reserves for forty years, making him the longest serving officer ever.

To help with the Bahamian relief effort, telephone Mr. Vickers at 236-0829.