After Puerto Rico hit by Hurricane Fiona, here’s how to help and provide relief from NC

Five years after a devastating hurricane hurtled through Puerto Rico, killing thousands, Hurricane Fiona struck over the weekend, creating widespread damage across the island.

Puerto Rico’s power was knocked out, and the Category 3 storm killed at least four people, left hundreds of thousands without running water and caused landslides, according to several news reports.

National Guard troops have rescued around 1,000 people. About 1,200 people were still in government shelters Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Fiona is the first hurricane to make landfall on the island since Hurricane Maria, which struck in September 2017 and destroyed Puerto Rico’s power grid. The island started a long road to recovery but had yet to finish when Fiona struck.

The government has called the hurricane “catastrophic” and said that restoring power to millions will take days as electricity returns to a few hundred thousand, The Miami Herald reported.

In North Carolina, home to over 100,000 Puerto Ricans (also known as Boricuas), people are organizing around helping their homeland in the hurricane’s aftermath.

“Our goal in the next 24 to 48 hours is to provide and validate the legitimacy of many (relief) organizations that were formed because of, or after, Hurricane Maria,” said Freddy Medina, in Spanish, in a Facebook message.

Medina is co-founder of the group Boricuas in North Carolina. He is part of a team of people who created North Carolina for Puerto Rico, a grassroots group formed in 2017 to respond to the mass need after Maria. The group is now organizing Fiona relief efforts and relaying needed information through social media.

“We have the duty to bring our Boricua community the most accurate information,” said Medina. “At the moment, it isn’t cost-effective to ship supplies to Puerto Rico.”

How to help Puerto Rico

Supporting organizations with monetary donations directly is the most dependable and efficient way to help, he said.

In the aftermath of Maria in 2017, several aid and relief organizations came under fire for their involvement with the Puerto Rican government. The government was criticized in protests after the hurricane and accused of corruption and mismanagement around its hurricane preparedness and response.

North Carolina for Puerto Rico is working to vet several relief and mutual aid groups. The group is doing so as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit Esposas Militaras Hispanas USA Armed Forces, a group for Hispanic spouses of military service members founded by a Puerto Rican.

Here is a list of organizations and mutual aid groups based in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico providing hurricane relief that to donate to:

▪ ConPRometidos — A nonprofit based in San Juan dedicated to raising funds for hurricane relief across Puerto Rico. The group is currently aiming to raise $60,000.

▪ Taller Salud — A nonprofit focused on women’s rights is based in the city of Vieques and is providing first-aid supplies and meals on the ground in the hurricane’s aftermath.

▪ Samaritan’s Purse — The Boone-based Christian humanitarian organization is sending airlift shelter materials and large-scale water filtration systems to Puerto Rico, according to its website.

▪ Techos Pa’ Mi Gente — Translated as “Roofs for my people” in English, this nonprofit was formed in 2017. It’s dedicated to building proper roofs for homes and reconstructing housing in communities affected by natural disasters.

▪ Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico — A nonprofit focused on battling food insecurity.

▪ True Self Foundation — A nonprofit organization that focuses on relief through legal and economic help for LGTBQ+ people.

▪ Brigada Solidaria del Oeste — A volunteer-led group that serves food, supplies and more to those affected by the hurricane, formed after Hurricane Maria.

▪ Casa Pueblo — A grassroots mutual aid group “committed to appreciating and protecting natural, cultural and human resources” that promotes autonomous organizing among Puerto Ricans and works on several projects, including disaster relief, according to its website.

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