Hello ladies!!! As I was sitting down with my cup of coffee earlier today, I was struggling to find a topic to write about. I was originally going to write about tattoos or the weird weather we’ve been having but none of that felt right. Then, it dawned on me. I’ve been speaking to a lot of my family and friends that live in Puerto Rico and are dealing with the devastation of Hurricane Maria. So, today I am here to give my family, friends, and Puerto Rico a voice.
A lot of people fail to realize how impactful this hurricane was. I last spoke to my grandmother the morning of the hurricane. They hadn’t even seen the worst of the storm and she told me that she’d never seen anything like it in her life. This was the last time I spoke to her, which was the morning of September 20th. Little did I or anyone else know, we wouldn’t hear from our family again for 4 days. On September 24th we heard via satellite phone that many homes were destroyed but that our immediate family was okay.
“Okay” in this situation doesn’t cover how stressful life has been for them. Fuel is a rarity, all the airports closed, food has gone rancid in the power outage, and many homes were swept away with the storm. Many people don’t realize that Puerto Rico is US territory and that Puerto Rico has basically been stranded without any way to get aid. The majority of the aid that has been incredibly helpful has been from big name celebrities like Pit Bull, who has paid to have cancer patients flown to the United States so that they could continue their treatment.
My cousin was only able to get fuel for my grandmother’s scooter, (she is unable to walk), after crying and begging for it. People shouldn’t be stranded without a way out or without power for the next 3 to 6 months. At the end of the day, we are all humans. We should be doing more to help and we are capable of doing more.
For those looking to help out Puerto Rico, here are some of the largest groups to donate to:
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United for Puerto Rico
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UNICEF
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Center for Popular Democracy
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Hispanic Federation’s “Unidos” page
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Americares
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Direct Relief
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Save the children
Try and donate whatever you can spare. These people are in desperate need. Thank you guys for reading and helping me give Puerto Rico a voice. I hope you guys are having a wonderful week and are living life to the fullest!