Hurricane Beryl Relief: Volunteers Help FFTP Pack Emergency Relief Aid for Jamaica
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (July 15, 2024) – With their hearts and minds focused on helping the people of Jamaica, more than 100 volunteers donated their time on Saturday at Food For The Poor (FFTP) to pack disaster hygiene and women care kits for families in Jamaica recovering from Hurricane Beryl.
As reggae music played in the background, volunteers organized by the Consulate General of Jamaica, United Way of Broward County, Jamaican Women of Florida, and other community groups worked in three one-hour sessions to pack 2,000 disaster hygiene kits and 540 women’s care kits bound for Jamaica.
“We have a number of volunteers who have come out to support relief efforts here at Food For the Poor, which is without question one of the main relief agencies supporting the effort to give back to Jamaica and the islands that suffered significant damage by Hurricane Beryl,” said Jamaica Consul General Oliver Mair, whose agency was a key organizer of the event. “We thank everyone who has come out to help.”
The storm caused devastation across the Caribbean, starting its destructive path on July 1 and making its way through Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, Barbados, and Jamaica before moving through Mexico and Texas. At least 21 people were killed, including 11 in the Caribbean and 10 in the United States.
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 90 percent of infrastructure was damaged, including houses, roads and the airport terminal on Union Island. Beryl made landfall in Grenada as a Category 4 hurricane, damaging 95 percent of homes in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Beryl’s eyewall brushed by Jamaica’s southern coast on July 3 as a Category 4 storm, leaving many communities without access to food, clean water, sanitation, and electricity. It destroyed $6.4 million worth of crops and infrastructure, and damaged over 1,000 homes. Hardest hit areas were Kingston, St. Andrews, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, and St. Elizabeth.
“It’s clear that Hurricane Beryl laid a huge swath of destruction,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “This packing event will help with some of the basics that are required in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, and this is something that’s going to continue for the next several weeks as we mobilize to help rebuild communities in Jamaica and the other islands severely impacted by the hurricane.”
FFTP launched a massive response to Beryl even before the storm made landfall, with hundreds of disaster preparedness kits staged in Jamaica and the Windward Islands.
Prior to the storm in Jamaica, disaster preparedness kits for 500 families were ready to be deployed. The day after the storm, the charity delivered 400 packages of food, hygiene kits, tarps, water boots, and blankets to affected families in the six hardest hit parishes in Jamaica, and an additional 140 kits arrived two days later.
FFTP also has 53 containers of food, hygiene items, and medical supplies, including 27 containers already in Jamaica. Eight containers of aid, six for Jamaica and two for Grenada, are planned for shipment in the coming weeks, with supplies provided by longstanding partners Matthew 25 Ministries, Midwest Missions, Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, Jezreel International Humanitarian Aid International, and Feed My Starving Children.
Additional assistance from FFTP trusted partners includes 720 family emergency kits and 720 emergency food kits from Toronto-based GlobalMedic, medical supplies and hygiene kits from Lenexa, Kan.-based Heart to Heart International, and $20,000 in gift cards from the Amazon Disaster Relief Team to order relief items through a partnership with Good360.
In addition, the Sandals Foundation has committed to donating $6,256 to support transportation needs in Grenada, and FFTP has partnered with Grammy Award-winning artist Cedella Marley to raise funds to help the repair or replacement of zinc roofs damaged and destroyed by the storm in Jamaica.
Like so many organizations and partners, the United Way of Broward County embraced the opportunity to join in the relief effort.
“United Way of Broward County is here in conjunction with the Jamaican Consulate,” said Alexis Basgil, the agency’s Director of Financial Prosperity and Emergency Management. “The situation is so unfortunate, so we want to do what we can to help.”
In addition, members of two community groups, Partners for Youth South Florida and the Kiwanis Club of Lauderdale Lakes, visited the packing event to donate funds to FFTP to provide emergency relief aid for families in Jamaica.
For many of the volunteers at Saturday’s packing event, the impact of the storm resonated deeply because of their personal connection to Jamaica. Davina Bennett, winner of Miss Jamaica Universe in 2017, was among the many who took time to help.
“I want to do some good and give back as best I can,” Bennett said. “I’m from Mitchell Town, Clarendon, and it was badly impacted by the hurricane. A lot of people lost their homes, their roofs, and I want to do what I can to help.”
Sandra Brown, a member of the Jamaican Women of Florida, shared Bennett’s sentiment.
“The needs are great, and it makes me feel good to give back,” Brown said. “I think we have a responsibility to help.”
In addition to hosting Saturday’s packing event, FFTP is encouraging cash donations to expedite aid delivery and make in-country purchases. Donors can support FFTP’s response at foodforthepoor.org/hurricaneberyl.
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 15 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
[email protected]