Connecting crew with communities in need

New Zealander Sam Stewart started out on the yachts like many others, hearing about the industry through friends and then walking the docks in Palma, Mallorca looking for work. Having intended only to spend a couple of years on board, he ended up working on superyachts for a decade, before deciding to take some time off to volunteer in refugee camps across Greece. Little did he know that his experiences there would inspire him to build an entire foundation, connecting his old life on the yachts with his new life volunteering for non-profit organisations. 

“When I got to the camp in Greece, it was immediately clear to me that yacht crew had such transferable skills for these humanitarian spaces, so that was the birthplace of the idea,” he explains. “Most of the practical, hands-on skills you need as a volunteer in these humanitarian situations are skills you just absorb naturally if you’ve spent a couple of seasons working on a yacht, so I knew that crew would be a genuine value add.”

Joining the dots between volunteers, owners and NGOs. 

While in Greece, Sam grew frustrated with the lack of tools in the camp and decided to put together a fundraiser video for friends and family explaining what was needed. “Donations started coming in, but the video ended up with the owner of a yacht I used to work on,” says Sam. “He contacted me saying he wanted to help and ended up donating a substantial amount. Because we had a good relationship, he knew I wouldn’t be involved in something that wasn’t worthwhile.” Overnight they had enough funding that they were able to finish a project in one camp and then replicate it at two others across Greece. “So we have the yacht crew with the skills, they are willing to volunteer and some have relationships with owners who are willing to support these kinds of projects – it’s just about joining the dots,” says Sam. 

Relief Crew Foundation was officially launched at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show and already, the response has been phenomenal. “It’s taking on a life of its own,” says Sam. “We’ve had so much support from people wanting to get involved. We’ve already been contacted by yachts whose owners are big into philanthropy and who are more than happy to support their crew going to help out on these projects. I’ve been blown away by it all.”

A trusted outlet for philanthropic owners 

For yacht owners with an interest in philanthropy, there are real benefits to working with Relief Crew Foundation. “These owners get approached hundreds of times a year to donate or support things,” explains Sam. “And it can be hard to know exactly how a donation is helping. If they know that their own crew are on the ground volunteering, there’s an automatic connection and they can get behind it. It’s a trusted outlet for their philanthropy.”

Sam also points to a crew retention element. “Money is not the number one thing that makes crew stay on a yacht – a positive culture is more important to many yachties, and experiences like those we offer at Relief Crew bring perspective to the team and boost morale.” 

The foundation has already carried out something of a pilot project in Morocco, following a powerful earthquake in the Atlas Mountains that saw half a million people displaced. “I was watching it on the news from Sanam, a yacht I was working on in Barcelona, and suggested to the captain that I flew there to help with a couple of crew.” Not only did the owner agree but he paid for flights and accommodation and didn’t deduct the time off as holiday. “He wanted to give whatever he could to help make the trip a success,” says Sam. The crew spent three weeks in Morocco building toilets and organising all the logistics and materials for what was needed across the different villages. “We were working long hours but that’s what we were used to,” says Sam. “At the end of the day we’d be shattered but we were going to bed knowing we’d made a genuine difference in the lives of the people who needed it most. That’s a really hard feeling to beat.”

 “The crew I’ve come through yachting with – they have been to Tulum, they’ve been to Bali, they have all that out of their system and now they want to do something more meaningful with their time off,” says Sam, and he has single-handedly made that possible. Relief Crew Foundation is now a registered NGO (non-government organisation) committed to supporting communities in need by organising purpose-driven adventures for crew. “Through this connection to volunteering, the entire yachting industry can become a catalyst for meaningful change,” says Sam.