Caribbean Hurricane Relief

Hello donors,

It has now been 9 months since Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the Caribbean, leaving hundreds of thousands of families in need of assistance. Our teams of staff and volunteers have been working every day to get communities back on their feet, rebuilding hope in communities across the islands.

In Dominica, we continue to work on the Paix Bouche Pre and Primary School. We have had a busy couple of months of masonry work to complete the new reinforced walls, and wrapping the existing columns to add an outer reinforcement jacket, for extra strength. Volunteer work has been focused on rebar bending, form-work building and cement mixing, whilst skilled masons have laid the blocks and welders work to fix the rebar in place. Work on the toilet block is well underway, as old, damaged fittings, tiles and roofing are removed to make way for new materials and fixtures. Volunteers have also begun to clear debris from the Pre-school, so that work there can begin soon.

In USVI, we continue our response work (mucking, gutting and sanitizing), and have also begun repairs on child care facilities. To date we have completed muck and gut and debris removal on over 300 homes across the USVI. Volunteers travel to job sites in St. Thomas and St. John each morning and return each evening to our base for a nightly meeting recapping the day. With 20 - 50 volunteers on base at one time, over 26 nationalities have been represented since September. We have made a long-term commitment to help the USVI recover and our work is just beginning.

In Puerto Rico, our work continues in the hard hit communities of Yabucoa and Barranquitas. Across both programs we have completed work on over 200 homes. We continue to complete repairs to concrete roofs in Yabucoa and complete repairs to pitched, CGI roofs in Barranquitas. We continue to complete other scopes of work like sanitation and critical repairs of doors and windows. We have also shifted some focus to renewal projects for the communities impacted like cleaning up on baseball fields, schools and playgrounds so that the community can regain a sense of normalcy. With anywhere from 40-90 volunteers on base at one time, over 32 nationalities have been represented since January.

None of the amazing work we complete would be possible without donors like you, thank you. As always, please continue to stay up to date with our programs across the world.