Living on a ship, Florida family makes it their mission to help hurricane-stricken islands

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It's been more than a month since Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas, killing dozens, and leaving thousands without basic necessities. Help has been steadily streaming in, and a lot of it has been from Florida. 

The Downs family and their 18-foot shipping vessel-turned family home have been working in Freeport. 

"We're serving four local churches this time. who are serving their communities. all in the Freeport or within 30 minutes of the port," said Shawna Downs, The Glory's First Lady, "This load we have about 100,000 lbs. of supplies."

The family of five gave up their lives on land about two years ago, to live full time on The Glory. Up until recently they focused their work in Puerto Rico, making runs back and forth from St. Petersburg to deliver supplies to the hurricane-stricken area. 

These days, you can find the Glory unloading in Freeport Harbor. 

The Downs just completed their second supply drop, and Shawna said their work is far from over. 

"People on the island are trying to rebuild, but they lack the supplies to do it. Those people that don't actually have their name on any official documents can't get government aid to fix their houses," Shawna explained, "So, we need teams to keep showing up and volunteers to come and skilled laborers to come and help them."

Shawna also said tourism dollars are critical, because it's the Bahamas main source of income.

"They need the tourists to still keep coming because that is their main economy, so if the tourists stop coming then how are they going to be able to rebuild," she said. 

The Downs, and Glory, are due back in St. Petersburg to pick up their third supply load sometime next week.