HOME AT LAST: John McInnis and Kenny Chesney’s boat captain, Ben, head to Jost Van Dyke, an island in the British Virgin Islands. McInnis is president of the Kenny Chesney Love for Love City Foundation, an organization set up in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma to help get aid here.
[ad name=”HTML-68″]CRUZ BAY — Flora-Bama owner John McInnis heads back to St. John today, but it’s not for vacation.
McInnis, 39, has traveled to the territory every week since Hurricane Irma devastated the area in early September.
McInnis teamed with his friend, country superstar Kenny Chesney, to deliver disaster relief to residents of St. John.
“We’ve been delivering food, water, generators, medicine, bug spray — all the things they need immediately,” McInnis said. “They have no infrastructure. They’re totally dependent on outside supplies and we’ve been blessed to be able to help supply them since the hurricane.”
McInnis is president of the Kenny Chesney Love for Love City Foundation, an organization set up in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma to help get aid to the Virgin Islands. The group is also delivering supplies to Jost Van Dyke, a small island that is part of the British Virgin Islands.
Chesney has a home in St. John, and McInnis said the Virgin Islands “are like a second home” to him, as well as to his Flora-Bama employees.
“Ever year, we send 30 Flora-Bama employees to St. John,” McInnis said. “I don’t have a home down there, but I rent down there or stay with friends and I’ve always felt at home there.”
The Love for Love City Foundation utilizes private planes, including Chesney’s, to fly emergency supplies from the U.S. mainland to the territory.
The missions are ongoing, McInnis said.
“We’re still operating 24 hours a day,” he said. “We’re buying supplies stateside and literally buying in bulk and shipping everything down in these private planes. I’m going down again (Wednesday). The situation on the ground is horrible. There’s limited communication, so I’m going down there and finding out what’s needed then I’ll come back and get more supplies and ship them. We have a supply chain that we’re operating.”
McInnis’ family has extensive experience in building and contracting, and have built bridges across the United States and worked to rebuild areas after disasters on the mainland, including local and regional disaster’s like Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
“My background is in large government contracts,” McInnis said. “So Kenny and I talked and decided I would go down there and do what I’m good at — overseeing disaster projects.”
In 2014, the country star performed at the famous Flora-Bama, which is known as one the nation’s great honky-tonks.
“He’s every humble,” McInnis said of Chesney. “He doesn’t want publicity for himself. He just wants to do what he can to help and keep a spotlight on what is happening there.”
Want to help?
For more information on Kenny Chesney’s Love for Love City Foundation, including ways to donate, go to kennychesney.com
HELP ARRIVES: Generators are loaded onto a relief plane in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The supplies are part of efforts by the Kenny Chesney Love for Love City Foundation, an organization set up in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma to help get aid to the Virgin Islands. (Photo: Special to the V.I. FREE PRESS)