NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Lending a helping hand to the Bahamas, that’s the goal for a group of workers from Norfolk following the devastation left behind from Hurricane Dorian.
They’re asking for the public’s help to get there.
The owner of NTP Construction started a fundraiser to give back to the Bahamas. He’s hoping to pack up and head out to the Caribbean island to help with the rebuilding process.
Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Dorian slammed the Bahamas, the people of the Caribbean island are still fresh on the minds of the team at NTP Construction.
“It’s horrible. It’s absolutely devastating, and I can only imagine how they feel over there,” said Carlo Cattaneo, a company employee.
“We were just watching it and made the decision that we need to get in there to help,” said Nicholas Padgett.
Padgett owns the construction company and has been in the industry for more than 20 years. Now he wants to take his experience and a group of seasoned carpenters to help restore the Bahamas.
Padgett said he felt compelled to do something after seeing the aftermath of the storm.
“We’ve been blessed here with a good livelihood and we’ve been blessed with work,” he said. “We’re going go in there and give it our best shot and try if we can.”
Padgett and six other workers plan to make the island their temporary home as they build new ones for those who lost everything.
“We’ve done several jobs off-shore, with no power, no water,” he said. “We’ve got friends that can take care of the homestead and we’re going to basically pick up the company and go.”
The group is fundraising with a goal of $250,000. The money will fund a few months of work and will help with shipping a forklift, tools and other equipment to get the job done.
“Like my boss said, we’ve been blessed with work so it’d be nice to go help the less fortunate,” Cattaneo said.
The fundraiser is on Facebook and has been verified by the social media platform.
Padgett says his company is also looking for sponsors. If you’d like to help, you contact him at ntpconstruction@cox.net.