BNB will be shipping our next container load on May 26 to the St. Maarten Bicycle Initiative. On September 6th 2017, hurricane Irma, a record breaking Category 5 storm devastated St. Maarten and other leeward islands in the Caribbean. Motivated by the tragic death of her mother, native born Patricia Helliger decided to reach out to four local schools and ohter institutions on the island to help with the recovery efforts. Their response was to ask for bicycles to offer to children ages 6-14 and for a "cops on bikes" project. Patricia began to collect bikes, volunteers and help from bike shops in New Haven, Connecticut. Soon after she approached BNB with a request to help fill a container and came to our last loading. The island is divided into French and Dutch sectors each with its own infrastructure and school systems, initially most of the bikes will be distributed between 2 French schools and 2 Dutch schools and the police project will also help to train the youth in bike safety. The container loading is a joint effort between volunteers in New Haven and BNB volunteers and staff. We expect that the bike initiative will create quite a stir and provide needed recreation and mobility for St Maarten youth.