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Silver Spring, November 2, 2017
Global Communitieshas partnered with Unidos por Puerto Rico to help repair homes near San Juan that were badly damaged by Hurricane Maria. Support to Maria Survivors will focus on providing roof repair and mold removal support to families impacted by Hurricane Maria. The three-month, $200,000 partnership is urgently needed in the ongoing recovery effort and will provide families with a safe place to recover, both mentally and physically, with dignity.
The Support to Maria Survivors Program will coordinate and manage youth volunteers trained by licensed Puerto Rican architects to install either zinc roof repair kits or tarp kits, and provide an immediate shelter solution to 200 damaged homes. About one-fourth of the houses in the Barrio Caimito outside San Juan have extensive roof damage, with mold quickly growing on walls and possessions. Without a solid roof, belongings continue to get wet with every storm, leaving families with mold on anything not already destroyed.
In recent assessments of the area, Global Communities found many small barrios with several families living in houses with no roofs, or damaged roofs that have yet to receive tarps or other immediate shelter assistance. All recipients will also receive a cleaning kit with disinfectant and information on how to kill and prevent further spread of mold. The project will prioritize female-headed households, and homes with elderly or disabled persons, who remain particularly vulnerable to the impacts of damaged homes.
“Support to Maria Survivors is an integrated, community-driven solution that borrows from past and current Global Communities efforts for relief and recovery from a natural disaster,” says Global Communities President and CEO David Weiss. “This project fills an important need for the countless people still suffering more than a month since the hurricane hit. We are grateful to Unidos for Puerto Rico for their very substantial funding and are pleased to partner with them in this vital work to help vulnerable families meet their shelter needs.”
In the process of providing immediate assistance, Global Communities considers the long-term recovery of a community and engages its individuals in all aspects of assistance and reconstruction. The result is innovative programming that provides immediate relief, while laying the foundation for long-term recovery. Assistance focuses on restarting livelihoods, increasing access to financial services, rebuilding homes and neighborhoods, and providing psychosocial support to help families recover from the trauma of disaster and conflict. In addition to the initial impact of Hurricane Maria, survivors face the additional burden of limited resources including electricity, water and security.
This initial collaboration with Unidos may expand into a broader partnership depending on continuing need and available resources.
To learn more about Global Communities, visit www.globalcommunities.org
To learn more about Unidos por Puerto Rico, visit https://www.unidosporpuertorico.com/
Read Unidos for Puerto Rico’s press release (in Spanish) here:https://www.unidosporpuertorico.com/unidos-por-puerto-rico-entrega-367944-en-donativos-a-3-organizaciones-sin-fines-de-lucro/
