June 15, 2010
When not working as relief captain for freighters or delivering yachts, Capt. Joei Randazzo volunteers to help people in need.
Most recently she was on the case when the S/Y Halie and Matthew pulled into Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale requiring medical assistance and a berth after a relief mission to aid victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. Randazzo called Seafarers' House at Port Everglades and soon local charities and good samaritans rallied to the dock.
The vessel had sailed back from Haiti to Ft. Lauderdale without fresh water and was low on fuel, said Lesley Warrick, executive director of Seafarers' House. She said the group's limited funds were depleted by mechanical troubles on the way to Haiti, leaving them with no finances to cover medical attention and dockage on their return to the United States. Eighteen of the 20 crew onboard were volunteers and most were ill from drinking water in Haiti, she said.
Randazzo is a common denominator in the charities involved with the Halie and Matthew. She had delivered a 60m freighter to Haiti and had met the organizers of Diakonos International. They were trying to feed local children and were creating an orphanage for those left homeless after the earthquake.
Five years ago she began sending money for three children to attend school. She said other yachties added their assistance and they had six kids in schools within the next year.
"We were supporting 19 kids for school this year because they had no means to go to school ever before," Randazzo said. "Most are orphans."
She had also met the crew of the schooner Liberty when they donated their vessel for the Ft. Lauderdale Winterfest boat parade to Shake-A-Leg Miami participants, another group on Randazzo's list. She was organizing supplies to go to the orphanage and knew of the Liberty's mission.
It came together when Phillip Duplessis and his wife, Sharon, organized the initial relief mission on their vessel, the Liberty, and needed another vessel to take the subsequent shipment of donations to Haiti, Randazzo said.
The Liberty was unable to transport more than 2,000 pounds of supplies, so the group contracted to deliver the Halie and Matthew to Maine under an arrangement that they could first detour to Haiti. Able to take up to 40,000 pounds of goods, the Halie and Matthew was loaded up for sail.
"The captain and crew of Halie and Matthew are true heros for the efforts they had volunteered for and accomplished," Randazzo said. "It's refreshing to see such a young captain and crew with such huge hearts. They brought life support to people in need because they could, therefore, thought they had to."
Randazzo and Warrick listed donations and support including free dockage arranged by Port Everglades and the Seafarer's House, with the required security provided by McRoberts Protective Agency. McAllister towing provided welding, Big Mama's Team of Life and Diakonos International helped organize provisions for the crew. John Muir of Shake-A-Leg Miami arranged medical care, Nance and Underwood Rigging supplied rigging and hardware, and an anonymous donor supplied 500 gallons of fuel.
The Halie and Matthew is repaired and sailing with healthy crew and is scheduled to reach Maine this month. Read more adventures of the S/Y Halie and Matthew at www.sailblogs.com/member/libertyschooner.
"This is a wonderful story of collaboration and mutual support for a good cause," Warrick said, "the relief effort to Haiti."
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