Casa Puertorriqueña Works to Provide Help To Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria, the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. territory in almost a century, ravaged the island of Puerto Rico, demolishing homes and knocking out all electricity. It could take half a year to restore power to the nearly 3.5 million people who live there. It's been heart wrenching watching people I know endure not knowing if their family is ok, it's frustrating to know that I personally have family on the island who are likely encountering incredibly difficult times. The island is in dire straits. There’s still no power on the island.  The main exception here is of generators powering only the highest-priority buildings like hospitals. That means in many places there’s no water to drink or bathe in or to flush toilets. There’s limited food, fuel, and cell service, and it’s taken several days even for reporters and rescue workers to to be able to reach remote towns and villages.

Puerto Rico’s infrastructure has been severely impacted. These are major problems that will make living even in a house that has not been ruined more difficult in the coming weeks and months for the people of Puerto Rico. The storm knocked out 80 percent of the island’s power transmission lines, the Associated Press reports. As of Wednesday, nearly all of the island’s 1.57 million electricity customers were still without power according to energy.gov. Fresh water is scarce and cell phone towers have been knocked out making communication with anyone on the island difficult. 

“Make no mistake — this is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million US citizens,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Monday in an interview.

There are 3.4 million US citizens who live in Puerto Rico. The reality is that they are entitled to the same government response as any state. But half of Americans don’t even know that and it seems as if aid to the island has been occurring incredibly slowly. Many organizations in Chicago have been working hard to coordinate donations on their own.

Humboldt Park based, Casa Puertorriqueña has been a leader in the relief working with Representative Luis Arroyo to coordinate these efforts. They will collect donations and send additional resources to Puerto Rico and Mexico in response to the crises after Hurricane Maria and recent earthquakes in Mexico.

La Casa Puertorriqueña has organized a regional collection center in Humboldt Park in Chicago. In addition to monetary donations, material donations needed include flashlights, batteries, diapers, baby formula, canned food, toiletries, and female intimate products. To arrange drop off of donations, please call 312-647-4108..

If you would like to make a monetary donation you can do so at: http://lacasapuertorriquena.org

Local photographer Danny Cantu (you may remember him from our feature in our past issues) has been documenting the efforts of Casa Puertorriquena on his block on Instagram. He captures the beauty of the community coming together for something bigger in his latest series. His photos deeply touched our hearts and the people he captured showcase the deep connection those  of us in the states have with the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.


If you want to learn more about ways to help if you are not based in Chicago and if you need help connecting with family, check out the FEMA site here: https://www.fema.gov/hurricane-maria

Need to connect with someone?

Survivors with internet access are encouraged to connect with friends and family members via social media platforms. Additional resources below are suggested for those both outside and inside the impacted areas.

The American Red Cross Safe and Well website allows individuals to register themselves as safe or search for loved ones. The site is always available, open to the public, and available in English and Spanish. There are a number of ways to use this service:
Registrations and searches can be done directly on the website.
Registrations can also be completed by texting SAFE to 78876. Messages exist in both Spanish and English.

To speak with someone at the American Red Cross concerning a missing friend or relative who has a serious, pre-existing health or mental health condition, please contact 1-800 Red Cross
(1-800-733-2767).