Dear Guests and Friends of Coco Point Lodge,
Thank you all for your overwhelming outpouring of support for the Barbudan people, the island, Coco Point Lodge, its amazing team, and the Kelly family throughout the enormously difficult time it has been and continues to be since Hurricane Irma devastated Barbuda on September 6th. The level of care expressed has been so greatly appreciated, and the financial donations to The Coco Point Fund to help Barbudans simply astounding. We truly can’t thank you enough.
The priority is the lives of the Barbudans who we all care so deeply about and yearn to see fully recover as absolutely best they can from the horrific negative impacts that Irma had on all of them. We are so very grateful to say that this is what The Coco Point Fund is entirely and wholeheartedly dedicated to doing: trying to help the strong, resilient, hardworking people of Barbuda help themselves in putting their lives, their homes, and their community in Codrington back together. We have been pleased to assist The Fund in these efforts.
For those of you who read The Coco Point Fund Board’s update email on Oct 24th, you know the damage to Coco Point Lodge is extensive and the impact it has had on our entire team and our family is devastating. We realize that after 57 consecutive years of operation, opening for the 2017-2018 season is not going to be possible. This is obviously extremely sad news for all our Coco Point family of guests who have so enjoyed their vacations with us. We are very aware that for many guests, spending time with each other and the Coco Point staff has become an integral and important part of their annual travel and/or family traditions. We have been thinking of you all and we will continue to through the upcoming holiday season and into the new year.
As for our plans and progress for the future, all of this is a very slow process and one which we are and have to take one step forward at a time, one day at a time. The Barbudans are only just starting to return to Codrington from Antigua for any length of time more than just a night or two, and there have been numerous issues with their transportation by ferry between Antigua and Barbuda, not enough capacity and proper organizing, not to mention that water and electricity in Codrington have still not yet been fully restored. There are so many questions up in the air and so much uncertainty that we wish we had more answers and solutions that we ourselves could give, but we and Coco Point are at the mercy of this ever-changing situation that continues to evolve and morph every single day. We will do the best we can sending out further update emails when we know more.
But in closing for now, we thank you all again so very much for your enormous expressions of care and concern and your very generous support to help the absolutely wonderful and steadfast people of Barbuda recover. We are truly thankful for the friendship and love that you have shown for our family, not just the Kellys, but the Coco Point family, all of us, from Ray and Denise, to Aldis, Charles, Myra, Alcon, Ruth, Anne-Marie, Mulvane, Brittney, William, Devon, Bentham, Latoya, Glenford, Dalma, Primrose, Irwin, Eva May, Hickroy, Phil, Whitfield, Nickie, Terrance, Claudette, Avenella, Josea, Joanne, Triphina, Dorciah, Kenrick, Palo, Mark, Henry, Carlon, Ricklee, Lestroy, Shane, Dion, Nelson, Bernette, Kaiwah, and so very many more that they cannot all be named here.
We are all, ALL, the Coco Point Family, and we thank you for being members of that family.
Our warmest and best regards,
Pat and Chapin