New Storm Bears Down on Central America: Families Still Dealing with Devastation from Hurricane Eta
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 13, 2020) As another storm threat develops in the Caribbean, Central Americans are reeling from the devastating hit from Hurricane Eta. All of this is on top of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new system is expected to become a tropical depression or tropical storm by early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center. If it strengthens into a tropical storm, it will be named Iota.
Food For The Poor is rushing to send additional aid to support relief in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Belize. The charity also is helping Jamaica, which experienced severe flooding.
“Hurricane Eta has left our Honduran families devastated. We are now threatened by a new storm,” said Linda Coello, President & Founder of CEPUDO, the charity’s partner in Honduras.
“We are appealing to your kind hearts, trusting in God and His hand over our beloved brothers and sisters,” Coello added. “Please pray for us and do not forget us in this time of need.”
Food For The Poor Collection Drive
The charity is collecting goods for Hurricane Eta relief at its Coconut Creek warehouse, 6401 Lyons Road, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Items accepted include: nonperishable foods, canned milk, baby food and cereal, baby items such as diapers, wipes, blankets and gently used clothes, adult diapers, personal hygiene products such as soap, tools such as shovels, rainboots, raincoats and work gloves, heavy duty trash bags and buckets for cleanup, non-aerosol insect repellent, cots or sleeping mats, and first-aid items such as Band-Aid bandages, gauze and kits.
Items should have expiration dates no earlier than May 2021 to ensure they can be shipped.
For more information, please to go to: www.foodforthepoor.org/etarelief.
Nicolas Arguello, Executive Director of the American Nicaraguan Foundation, the charity’s in-country partner, traveled to one of the hardest hit areas to survey needs and offer aid. An appeal for Nicaragua is under way, and relief supplies will be purchased in-country.
ANF initially is providing aid to 5,500 people, including 1,000 families plus 500 people in shelters.
Major League Soccer’s Roger Espinoza, of Sporting Kansas City, is rallying support for Hurricane Eta relief in his native Honduras. Espinoza and his fellow Hondurans are encouraging donations to Food For The Poor and two other nonprofit organizations.
“Being Honduran, seeing my people struggling, dealing with COVID and this hurricane, to see this initiative come together in support of my people, it makes me very happy because I know it will provide help to those that need it,” Espinoza said.
Eta has impacted an estimated 3 million people in Central America, leaving many children and families in need facing starvation and disease. The destruction of bean, coffee, corn and banana crops threatens the food security for an already vulnerable population.
In Nicaragua, 200 bean farmers supported by FFTP, saw their crops destroyed.
“That tells you the instant devastation that we’re looking at,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Ed Raine. “It is a catastrophe. We know the needs of the countries and families are great and will continue for weeks and months to come. Thanks to our generous donors, we will continue to do everything we can to alleviate their suffering and help them rebuild.”
The charity’s response has included:
- 3 disaster kits to Honduras and one to Guatemala.
- 8 containers of food to Honduras already in port at the time Eta made landfall.
- 16 containers filled with food, cleaning supplies and medical items, which are on the way to Honduras.
- 69 additional containers of aid, including 29 to Honduras, 29 to Guatemala, 9 to Jamaica, and 2 to Belize.
The disaster kits contain multiple pallets of food, face masks, personal cleaning wipes, disaster blankets, tarps, portable stoves and bandages. In addition to pre-positioning supplies each hurricane season, FFTP organizes disaster relief kits with essential items that can be airfreighted and distributed within days to affected families in countries served by the charity.
To help the victims of Hurricane Eta, cash donations are best. To make a donation, please go to: www.FoodForThePoor.org/eta.
Individuals who wish to donate relief items also can do so via Food For The Poor’s Amazon list: www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricanesupplies.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for orphaned and abandoned children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]