Valley Stream raises funds for Fiona victims

As communities across the South Shore reflect on the scale of devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy a decade ago, members of the Valley Stream community gathered to raise money for two organizations providing on-the-ground relief to Puerto Ricans currently recovering from their own crushing storm surge — Hurricane Fiona.

The Oct. 27 fundraising event, organized by the Valley Stream Latino Society and Latina Moms Connect Inc. and hosted in the banquet hall of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1790, brought a wide patchwork of community groups.

Local businesses joined student and teacher organizations and school board members to chip in for the night’s refreshments and entertainment. The banquet hall also displayed hurricane recovery-inspired artwork by Junior Memorial High School students. Attendees were treated to a Latin dance ensemble performance by North, Central, and Junior Memorial High School students followed by a poetry reading in solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico.

As of press time, Maribel Padin-Canestro, director of the event, and her team raised upwards of $3,000, which will be divvied up evenly between the non-profit organizations Puerto Rico Rise Up and Utuado’s Lion’s Club House Inc. The deadline to donate was Nov. 1.

“Our team has vetted and researched and is fully confident that the two organizations we’ve selected to be the beneficiaries of the fundraising we are having tonight are legit and reputable,” said Padin-Canestro, addressing the audience. “They’re the real thing and we believe in their mission.”

The funds are much needed, said Karen Caraballo, chief executive of Puerto Rico Rise Up.

The relief response by the federal government has been underwhelming. According to Puerto Rican observers, after President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency on Sept. 18, the pace of federal aid has been slow to support communities inundated by rainfall, grappling with power outages, and cut off from water services and vital medical supplies.

Puerto Rico has been here before, said Caraballo.

“Our organization was created in response to Hurricane Maria because my team members and I were frustrated with the response or lack of response,” she said.

“FEMA had a low supply of key emergency supplies leading to delays, and many staff sent to the island were trainees and unqualified for the disaster relief work needed on the island,” said Migna Guzman, Chief Financial Officer of Puerto Rico Rise Up.

”Not only did the island suffer from one of the longest blackouts in its history, but some communities had no power for nearly one year after Hurricane Maria. To make things worse, the government blocked aid that had been congressionally approved in 2018.”

“The challenges Puerto Ricans are facing are still enormous,” said Caraballo. “They face a lack of access to medicine and basic necessities. We wanted to close that resource gap by providing food security, rehabilitation, and reconstruction initiatives with our partnership with community leaders on the ground. We often have a higher response rate than the local or federal government.”

Other non-profits and community organizations are also taking the lead in creating a recovery fund, still wary that Florida’s latest recovery struggles from Hurricane Ian will take a bite of Puerto Rican federal relief efforts, something the Biden administration promises will not happen.

“Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and entitled to the same governmental relief response as any state,” said Caraballo. “But people forget that.”

Still, experts project a lengthy recovery for the island and economic fallout in the billions of dollars even as the American territory is still reeling from the damage from Maria’s landfall, a Category 4 Hurricane, in 2017.

“Despite what the Island has gone through, we tell Puerto Ricans that we are standing here with you and by you,” said Guzman. “We’ve been at it for five years non-stop, and our ultimate goal is to empower the communities and become self-sufficient.”

More than money will help Puerto Rico recover. It will take its strong people to lead the way.

“The Island and the people of Puerto Rico are so resilient,” said Dorothy Santana, President of Latina Moms Connect Inc., to the audience. “That in the midst of their struggle, trauma, and devastation, communities come together, and they celebrate because they have hope, they have each other, and they have a love for one another and their Island. And they will rebuild with the support and the empowerment of Puerto Rico Rise Up and your donations.”

Have an opinion about the Puerto Rican hurricane recovery fundraiser? Send an email to jlasso@liherald.com.