Yachting Gives Back: Helping the Hungry and Homeless

During the Christmas season in 2018, Nick Entwisle of Pinmar was at his desk looking down at a packed STP Shipyard and thought to himself that they must have a few packets of rice, pasta, or beans they could spare. With that, it was the first step toward the charity Yachting Gives Back (YGB).

While looking ahead to his retirement after 22 years with Pinmar, Entwisle wanted something to do, to stay connected to the yachting community, and to make himself useful.

“Mallorca and the superyacht industry had been very kind to me, so something voluntary was already in my mind,” he says. “And once I began to research the problems of hunger, poverty, and homelessness (with great help from Sarah Drane) it was very clear that there was a need that perhaps the yachting community could help to alleviate.”

With some assistance from Suzie Black, founder of youth empowerment charity Fundación Shambhala, who had a list of suitable food charities for him to consider, Entwisle decided to focus his efforts on two: Asociación Tardor, a Palma-based soup kitchen serving 350 hot meals a day, and Mallorca Sense Fam, a food bank that assisted 4,757 families in 2018.

With support from Pinmar Supply and Deli Delicioso, YGB handed out flyers and reached out to its industry contacts to collect 650 kilograms of food for its Easter 2019 campaign. Despite yachts leaving for the summer season, it was not as quiet as they figured it would be. After an interview with Radio One Mallorca, Louise Balfour reached out and took over their social media accounts. A post featuring a human chain passing 25 bags of food from 96-meter M/Y Palladium to two cars reached 26,500 people.

In August, Simon Relph of The Islander Magazine mentioned the organization to the TP52 Super Series and they donated leftover Deli Delicioso lunches to be served at Asociación Tardor. An 80-second video was made on this fight against food waste, which led to the Oyster Palma Regatta to donate its leftover lunches in October. Also, Sunsail and The Moorings plan to donate all surplus food at the end of each weekly charter in 2020.

The organization has raised awareness of the problems and encouraged the yachting community to do what they can to help. As a result, Yachting Gives Back has provided a great deal of food to hungry people, along with warm clothing and sleeping bags to people sleeping in rough conditions.

“The new homeless shelter we have been collecting for is now very nearly finished,” Entwisle says. “We have been very pleased to make a substantial contribution to the electrical and hot water installations thanks to a couple of private financial donations.” The homeless shelter will give 40 people a roof over their heads.

For those interested in getting involved and are in the area, you can donate food (unopened and in date), soft drinks, used but clean clothing (excluding used underwear), personal hygiene products, bedding (but no more mattresses for now), toys, mobile phones, cleaning materials, and any other miscellaneous items. You can find cardboard boxes from Pinmar Supply outlets in Cami Escollera or inside STP and contact YGB to collect them from you when you’re ready. STP has also donated a storage container that is being used as a drop-off, sorting, and distribution point at the shipyard. Because of this, YGB is closer to the boats, more visible, and receiving more donations. Also, they tend to have a revolving door of between-work crew who are keen to help out, usually with a flyer in one hand and a CV in the other.

Entwisle also mentions the option of following in the footsteps of the M/Y Slipstream crew, who every year donate a percentage of their charter tips to a charity wherever they happen to be at Christmas. In 2019, they provided a huge donation of food to the local soup kitchen in Palma.

“What I really want is for YGB to be the default option rather than the rubbish skip when anyone in our community has things they no longer need,” he says. “The superyacht industry works to incredibly high standards and therefore tends to discard things that we can find a use for.”

While YGB focuses on Palma, Entwisle urges crew to find local causes to support wherever they are because there is always going to be someone nearby who could use something they no longer need.

Following the success of its collaboration with the TP52 and Oyster regattas, he is currently exploring similar opportunities with other regattas and events and planning to collect leftover food from charter companies. This will help to fill the gap in the summer when many of the big yachts are away, he says.

“The yachting industry represents the epitome of luxury and owners and crew are very aware of that fact and want to give back,” Entwisle says. “I think we’ve captured a moment and we all feel honored to help this beautiful island community we call home.”

To learn more about their efforts or how to donate, visit: www.yachtinggivesback.com.