Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept 20th, 2017
The Effects Were Catastrophic:
- Nearly Cat 5 winds and rain lashed island for 30 hours
- Electricity across Island was out. It has slowly been restored but still remote areas don’t expect it until the end of 2018.
- Cell service was nearly nonexistent and still and not fully restored.
- Gas, Water, and food shortage
- Death rates continue to be way above normal. Mostly due to lack of electricity, suicide, and higher amounts of violent crimes.
- There has been a mass exodus from the Island. This affects schools, churches, communities, and the economy.
- 100’s of thousands of houses, businesses, churches destroyed.
CitiIMPACT and Our Partners Nationally and Locally in Puerto Rico:
- Shipped millions of dollars of products (food, water, hygiene, mattresses, cleaning, generators, vehicles to aid in distribution, etc.)
- Local folks on the ground helped distribute to hardest hit areas.
- A local resort we partnered with, surprised their 700 employees (who lost homes and job as hotel closed for months) with the aid.
- Teams have gone to serve. Both church mission groups and corporate. Recently 300 people served during their annual conference.
- Long Term Transformation Team has formed under CitiIMPACT. This is made up of local church leaders, business owners, civic leaders, resort managers, etc. They want to make a difference and are asking you to help them do so.)
Here is How You Can Help:
Bring Teams
Serve, build, buy, and play! Teams going to Puerto Rico must fund a project. Costs vary. Housing also varies from floors of churches to resort on the beach, depending on size of team, availability, and your preference. A good size team at this point is 8 to 12. Over 12 is doable but logistics are harder and housing options more limited.
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Bring Leaders
We need good minds to guide, give ideas, encourage the transformation team. (specifically looking for pastors and ministry leaders skilled in leadership development).
Bring Contractors
to assess needs and lead teams.
Bring Your Company
Book a beautiful place for a conference or convention. We can connect you to a beach resort with conference rooms, tourism/adventure packages, transportation, etc. Spend a few days volunteering as a part of your overall experience.
Give Financialy
towards the massive cost of supplies and shipping.
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Come!
So much of Puerto Rico’s economy (and therefore it’s recovery) is dependent on tourism. CitiIMPACT usually does not get involved with this aspect of recovery. However, this is a different scenario. People need jobs. So please come and see this beautiful country and beautiful people. We will make sure you have time to explore the island beaches, rainforest, and streets of Old San Juan through our fabulous partnerships with adventure and tourism groups.