Mercury Marine And Boat-Builder Partnership Raises $15,000-Plus For Hurricane Relief
A team effort launched on Facebook and spearheaded by Mercury Marine and Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats has raised more than $15,000 for American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Dorian relief efforts in the Bahamas. The news was announced today in a press release from the Fond du Lac, Wis., marine engine and accessories company.
As previously reported on speedonthewater.com, the effort began with Mercury Marine selling Bahamas relied-themed T-shirts through its apparel website, MercuryDockstore.com. According to the press release, Mercury began offering the shirts shortly after Hurricane Dorian devastated the area in early September. Shirt sales were so strong that Mercury management opted to extend sales through mid-November.
Based in El Cajon, Calif., the team at DCB Performance Boats represented the West Coast in the Hurricane Dorian Social Media Relief Challenge (click image to enlarge).
“Many of our customers were affected by the storm and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to help,” said Michelle Dauchy, Mercury Marine chief marketing officer, in the release. “Threds, Inc., our partner in hosting and managing the Mercury Dockstore, played a huge role in conceiving this initiative and spooling it up quickly.”
The Facebook piece came into play in the go-fast boating world when Nor-Tech launched its “Hurricane Dorian Social Media Relief Challenge.” To kick off that charitable effort, the Fort Myers, Fla., high-performance powerboat company purchased shirts for its staff, took a group photo, posted the image on its Facebook page and challenged other boat builders to do likewise.
“There was a snowball effect,” said Stuart Halley, the general manager of Mercury Racing, in the release. “From there, the challenge spread to Fountain Powerboats, Cigarette Racing Team, MTI, Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats, DCB Performance Boats and even (high-performance) powerboating media outlet speedonthewater.com.”
Spearheaded by Nor-Tech, the fundraising included the teams at Cigarette Racing Team, Fountain Powerboats, MTI, Outerlimits Offsore Powerboats and speedonthewater.com.
The T‑shirts featured Mercury Marine branding, a line‑drawing map of the Bahamas, the Bahamian national flag, and the words “2019 Hurricane Dorian Relief Effort.”
With sustained winds of 185 mph, Dorian was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Bahamas. The Category 5 storm slammed the island chain for more than 22 hours and caused an estimated $3 billion in damage.
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