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The ongoing effort to collect relief supplies for the Bahamian people left homeless and impoverished by Hurricane Dorian continues, with the goal of shipping some much-needed goods to the islands in early October.

“We’re going to, once they pick up the stuff at the warehouse, take it to Daytona Beach International Airport,” Deltona City Commissioner Maritza Avila-Vazquez said, after a meeting Sept. 16 to firm up plans to transport the donations to the Bahamas.

Avila-Vazquez has taken a leading role in the Bahamian relief effort. She met with Bahamasair Senior Sales and Marketing Consultant Woodrow Wilson, who said the airline will provide aircraft to deliver food, hygiene supplies, and sheltering items such as tents and tarpaulins to the disaster zone.

Other heavier items, such as bottled water, generators, and flammables such as propane or kerosene, will be put aboard cargo ships, perhaps at Port Canaveral or Port Everglades and sent to those in need.

The City of Deltona is sponsoring a relief drive that is supposed to end Sept. 30. Donations of things needed in the Bahamas may be taken to the Deltona Community Center, 980 Lakeshore Drive, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, or 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Besides the standard food and bottled water needed, other necessities include mosquito repellent, portable stoves, generators, flashlights, chainsaws, debris-removal tools, portable radios, cleaning supplies, blankets, cots, air mattresses, first-aid kits, diabetic supplies, and baby supplies, including diapers, wipes and bottles.

For more information about the relief effort, call 386-878-8910.