Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund

Thanks to the generous support of nearly 50,000 donors like you who've raised more than $11 million to fund immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria, we have a new story of progress to share this month, this time from All Hands and Hearts, a GlobalGiving partner that’s been active in responding to numerous natural disasters, including Hurricanes Harvey, Florence, and Michael, and the 2015 Nepal earthquakes. 

Over the past five months of All Hands and Hearts' relief efforts in Puerto Rico, their team has determined that the greatest need in communities is roofing assistance. Blue tarps stand out prominently in every neighborhood they work in, and most have been up since Maria struck the island. The tarps are doing little to protect homeowners from the elements and are a constant reminder of a disaster that has so profoundly affected their lives.

There are two common types of roofs in Puerto Rico: flat, concrete roofs and pitched wooden roofs. Each poses its own set of challenges when it comes to rebuilding more resiliently ahead of future storms. But by not simply repairing roofs to their original designs and taking the extra step to make them hurricane resilient, All Hands is relieving the bottleneck in the pace of recovery and the challenges local groups and outside nonprofits face in affording the materials required to rebuild in a resilient way. Once the critical roof repairs are completed homeowners are able to move forward with the repairs inside their home and return to some semblance of life before Maria.

With support from GlobalGiving donors like you, All Hands and Hearts is also launching a house repair program in Dominica, where they'll be carrying out essential repair work for people whose homes have had no roof since September 2017, and some who were still recovering from damage from Tropical Storm Erika in 2015. As hurricane season is approaching, the vital funding you've provided will allow their team to recruit, train, and deploy teams of motivated volunteers to help repair roofs more quickly. 

Thank you again for your generosity and for standing with the people of Puerto Rico and Dominica as they continue on the path to a full recovery. We look forward to sharing more stories of the progress you’ve made possible in the months to come. 

As the people of Puerto Rico continue to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, we're proud to share stories from our nonprofit partners who have remained hard at work, leading ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts in their communities.

The incredible generosity of GlobalGivers like you and more than 49,000 others who've come together to raise more than $11 million has helped make these stories possible:

In southeastern Puerto Rico, Programa de Educacion Comunal de Entrega y Servicio (P.E.C.E.S.) delivers programs to promote education, at-risk youth intervention and health, and economic and community development. To help their communities recover from Maria, P.E.C.E.S. is rebuilding homes in coastal areas where residents received little to no support from FEMA or insurers, as well as launching a series of workshops and events aimed at using arts and sports to help old and young folks alike heal from trauma experienced during the hurricane. And thanks to funding from GlobalGivers like you, they're now able to purchase a passenger van to transport elderly residents to doctor and therapy appointments, pharmacies, and grocery stores.

Asesores Financieros Comunitarios is strengthening the capacity of Puerto Rico's nonprofit community, which experienced severe downturns in their finances and staffing due to Maria. Through a series of trainings for nonprofit staff and board members on issues of administration, accounting, legal compliance, and governance, they aim to help nonprofits achieve sound administrative practices and improve the overall delivery of social services on the island.

In the city of San Antonio on Puerto Rico's northwestern coast, Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza works with elderly residents who live alone to ensure they have access to medical care, meals, and other essentials. They've recently been able to increase their meal delivery program from two days a week to five, achieve their goal for improving living conditions among their program participants, and have announced they'll be starting repairs on storm-damaged homes in the coming months.

Jovenes de Puerto Rico en Riesgo’s mission is to prevent youth violence and help at-risk youth complete their education and develop into leaders in their communities. Maria dealt a heavy blow to their organization, hindering its capacity to execute their programs. While their staff has finally been able to resume its programs for at-risk youth, the nonprofit has a long way to go to fully recover in terms of financial and organizational capacity. With a recent round of funding from GlobalGiving, Jovenes de Puerto Rico en Riesgo will be able to bring on development staff to improve their financial situation as well as creating and implementing a community response plan in preparation for the next hurricane to strike the island.

Instituto Nueva Escuela, which supports and promotes Montessori teaching methods in Puerto Rico, is working in the communities it serves to implement reforestation and renewable energy projects, expand access to potable water, and launch volunteer programs in Maria-impacted neighborhoods.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico's facility in San Lorenzo suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Maria, so much so that the building remains closed more than a year and a half after the storm. They've continued to provide their hot meal and educational programs to children in the community, but working out of a rented property has caused logistical challenges. With support from the GlobalGiving community, they will be moving into a former elementary school that will provide a safe, welcoming space for the youth they serve.

We're also excited to share that one of the leaders of our partners working on Hurricane Maria recovery efforts, Ana Yris Guzmán of Nuestra Escuela, was selected as a member of the first class of Disaster Feedback Fellows of the Disaster Recovery Network at GlobalGiving. She joined nine other fellows from community-based nonprofits to spend a week in Washington, D.C. this past October learning from each other, promoting their disaster recovery projects to peers and funders, and speaking at and attending the 2018 Feedback Summit.

Thank you again for your generous support of our community-led nonprofit partners who are leading recovery and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Maria. Look for more stories of progress in your inbox in the coming months.

With gratitude,
Will + the GlobalGiving Team

Even as we near the one-year mark since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, we continue to learn about the true scope of the devastation wrought by the storm. In just the past few weeks, the island’s government updated its estimate of deaths due to Maria to 2,975, up dramatically from its original count of 64. This new estimate reflects the storm’s widespread destruction and disruption of critical systems and infrastructure, which led to thousands of people dying of storm-related causes in the weeks and months that followed the hurricane’s initial impact.

Immediately after landfall, our community-led nonprofit partners quickly responded in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean, and they've remained hard at work over the past year, striving toward a complete recovery with generous support from GlobalGivers like you. To date, 47,924 of you have raised an incredible $11.4 million to support 39 vetted nonprofits that provided emergency relief in the days and weeks following Hurricane Maria and have now transitioned into long-term recovery work.

To mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria and support vital ongoing recovery efforts, we're launching a new matching campaign that will match 100% all donations to our vetted nonprofit partners continuing to work with the people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean recover and rebuild.

Since our last report, your donation has provided vital support to a wide range of long-term recovery work, with a focus on repairing and replacing damaged homes, reopening schools, and improving the ability of communities to withstand future storms:

• G-8, Grupo de las Ocho Comunidades Aledañas al Caño Martín Peña is repairing storm-damaged roofs in the string of communities along San Juan’s major canal, Caño Martín Peña. They’ve determined that an estimated 840 new housing units will need to be built over the next decade to accommodate Maria-affected residents living along the canal.
• Coastal communities in Humacao and neighboring towns were among those most severely impacted by Maria’s landfall. Programa de Educacion Comunal de Entrega y Servicio, Inc., or PECES, is helping these communities recover through distributing food, replacing furniture and household items, and organizing community clean-ups. The organization is also helping people in Humacao become better prepared for future hurricanes by distributing solar and electric generators to small businesses and homebound residents.
• Comprehensive Disaster Response Services is repairing damaged homes, including many roofs, in Las Marias, Mayaguez, Morovis, Sabana Grande and San German, as well as a Boy Scout cabin in Guajataka to provide basic shelter to residents before the next hurricane season begins.
• Corporacion La Fondita de Jesus is repairing roofs, stairs, and sidewalks in the communities of La Perla, Colectora and Playita in San Juan, They’re also installing solar lamps to illuminate streets and public gathering spots, and identifying and training community leaders to coordinate emergency response ahead of future storms.
• Jovenes de Puerto Rico en Riesgo, Inc. is launching a pilot project to empower and train youth and young adults to become leaders in their communities, giving them the skills to lead local recovery efforts.
• Nuestra Escuela’s school in Caguas, which supports disadvantaged youth who  are at-risk of dropping out, suffered extensive flood damage from Hurricane Maria. They’ve begun rebuilding their school and have expanded their daily lunch program beyond their students to serve community members still struggling with food insecurity.
• Taller Salud, Inc. is restoring damaged homes and building new ones, as well as providing rent vouchers for relocation or home acquisition expenses to women and their families in Loiza, Puerto Rico.
• Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza, Inc is providing vital services to the elderly in San Antonio, who account for roughly 32% of the community’s population. They’re delivering meals, bringing people to medical appointments or the supermarket, and transporting community members to recovery-related meetings in San Juan. With support from GlobalGivers, they’ve been able to replace one of their badly damaged service vehicles.
• Instituto Nueva Escuela is rehabilitating damaged Montessori schools in traditionally marginalized communities in Barranquitas, Humacao, Luis Llorens Torres, Cantera, and Vieques, and is also installing solar panels and access to potable water.
• Asesores Financieros Comunitarios and Red de Fundaciones de Puerto Rico, Inc. are focusing on strengthening Puerto Rico’s nonprofit sector by providing workshops and training for local nonprofit staff on how to manage the changing demands on their organizations in Maria’s aftermath.
• Internews is supporting local media and public accountability efforts through their Community Correspondent’s Network—a group of residents from across the island who provide news coverage on the communities where they live. They’re also working with the island’s nonprofit community to improve communication and coordination between organizations ahead of future storms.
• On the island of Dominica, IsraAID’s staff is empowering local women to take the lead in recovery efforts. Together, they’re repairing damaged roofs, launching a beekeeping association to provide new economic opportunities, and providing job training to unemployed young people. All Hands and Hearts is recruiting and training local volunteers to assist with house repairs, with a particular focus on installing new, storm-resistant roofs.

Thank you again for your generous support of our Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund, and for making the smart decision to donate cash to fund an effective, community-led approach to disaster recovery. We'll be back in your inbox in the coming months with more stories of progress toward a full recovery for the people of Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean.

Warmly,
Will Frechette + the GlobalGiving Team

When the wind peeled away roofs and sent debris hurling into homes, they set up tarps and cleared away debris. When families were thirsty and hungry, they gave away bottles of water and hot meals. When neighborhoods were suspended in a state of darkness, with no access to electricity, they distributed generators.

“We were the first face many of the residents saw after the hurricane. We were the first ones to come to help and verify that this is not a lost cause,” said Mario of the ENLACE Project.

Your donation to the Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund is helping Mario, and leaders at more than 20 other locally driven organizations, respond to their community’s most urgent needs.

Today marks six months since Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico. I visited the island last month to meet with our partners on the ground and saw how your decision to invest in their relief and recovery efforts is making an incredible difference!

Because our local partners know their community’s needs better than anyone else, they were able to quickly distribute emergency supplies, identify neighborhoods in need that others overlooked, and marshal multiple sources of support, from local businesses to community volunteer groups.

One nonprofit—situated in hard-hit Punta Santiago on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico—has been able to serve 44,000 people in 13 municipalities since Maria made landfall just 15 miles south with winds of 155 miles per hour.

P.E.C.E.S. has delivered more than 250,000 pounds of food and supplies to hurricane-impacted families, coordinated health and psychological services to 600 people in need, and donated nearly 50 diesel generators to powerless homes—vital projects still in progress when I visited Punta Santiago in late February.

“We have found what we can do together,” P.E.C.E.S. Founder Nancy Madden told me, “and we know we can do even more things together. So, there’s great hope.”

José L. Aponte Cruz is also hopeful despite everything Maria took from him. The hurricane destroyed his family’s beachside restaurant and his car. He told me P.E.C.E.S. has been there for him, providing basic supplies and helping him find affordable rebuilding options.

“After the crisis, we cried and screamed. But now we want to rise,” said Cruz. "We are trying to get back on our feet, by the grace of God.”

Our partners in Puerto Rico are now busy planning for the future—and thinking about how to help people deal with PTSD, develop resilient housing, promote sustainable businesses, and much, much more.

They told me substantial barriers still stand in the way of full recovery, including issues with FEMA, years of economic decline due on the island due to debt, and an ever-shrinking government budget. You can find more in-depth coverage of these and other issues in a story published in Forbes last week, and I will send you additional updates from Puerto Rico over the coming weeks and months.

At this pivotal juncture, please know your support means everything to our Puerto Rican partners. 

With gratitude,
Britt + the GlobalGiving Team

More than three months after Hurricane Maria made landfall, life has not returned to normal for millions of people in the Caribbean, especially in Puerto Rico. Some parts of the island are predicted to be without power until May, and the lack of reliable access to electricity has hampered recovery and rebuilding efforts and severely impacted public health and education.

Given the ongoing challenges facing Puerto Ricans, I’m especially grateful that nearly 50,000 donors like you have decided to support locally driven organizations who are committed to following through on what is sure to be a long recovery—and have raised more than $10.6 million so far to fund their work.

Today, I’d like to share the progress being made by six GlobalGiving partners who’ve been assisting survivors in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, with the backing of your generous donation.

• Red de Fundaciones de Puerto Rico’s island-spanning network of grassroots organizations have been tackling the myriad problems residents are facing on the road to recovery, including preventing disease outbreaks by controlling burgeoning rat and mosquito populations, clearing debris from roadways, helping farmers restore their storm-damaged fields, delivering psychosocial services for families dealing with the hurricane’s emotional toll, and providing educational opportunities for students while many public schools remained closed.
• After being hit by Irma and Maria, 1,000 families living in eight communities along the Caño Martín Peña, a 3.75-mile-long tidal channel running through the heart of San Juan, lost the roofs to their homes. In response, a local NGO called Grupo De Las Ocho Comunidades Aledañas Al Caño Martín Peña (G-8) launched the Roofs for the Caño campaign to replace roofs the hurricanes destroyed with more storm-resistant solutions. Their determination to tackle problems government agencies have been unable to address has been profiled in Rolling Stone and Mother Jones.
• The city of Humacao and its neighboring towns, located on the island’s eastern coast, were among the worst-hit by Maria, and are still lacking consistent electrical power and access to basic services.  Programa De Educacion Comunal De Entrega Y Servicio (PECES), which provides tutoring and after-school programs to thousands of students in the Humacao area, has seen the deep impact the storm’s aftermath has had on the children they serve. To address their needs, PECES is leveraging the access they already have in elementary schools to offer programs aimed at healing the emotional trauma children have experienced through arts and recreation.
• IsraAID’s Emergency Response Team has been on the island since September 27th, and the team continues to provide emergency relief, and is now planning and implementing longer-term and sustainable solutions. Their team’s current focus is on ensuring communities have access to safe sources of water and providing post-trauma mental health support to survivors.
• With the storm badly damaging Puerto Rico’s electrical grid and disrupting deliveries of gas and propane to the island, fuel has been in high demand. Fuel Relief Fund has helped 40,000 residents across 15 cities get the fuel they need, whether it’s for transportation or electric generators.
• Since 2000, Nuestra Escuela has helped more than 1,500 Puerto Rican youth graduate from high school after having previously dropped out for various reasons. Their school buildings in Caguas suffered extensive damage in the storm, and they’ve now begun the process of rebuilding, ensuring that their more than 120 students continue on their path to graduation.

While we’re likely to read more stories in the coming months about the continued impact of power outages and logistical challenges facing government relief efforts, seeing the difference that community-led GlobalGiving partners on the ground are making for the people of Puerto Rico gives me hope that we’ll see a full recovery on the island—and I hope their stories do the same for you.

I’ll be back in your inbox in the coming weeks to share more stories of progress from our partners in Puerto Rico, as well as reports on recovery work underway in Antigua, Barbados, Cuba, Haiti, and all across the Caribbean. Until then, thank you again for your generous support.

Warmly,
Britt Lake + the GlobalGiving Team