AVENTURA, FLA. (WSVN) - - Nonprofit organizations continued sending much-needed supplies to Jamaica a week after Hurricane Melissa charted a path of destruction across the Caribbean.
7News cameras captured several pallets being loaded onto a cargo plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Tuesday morning. The aircraft was loaded woth about 6,000 pounds of supplies and was scheduled to fly to Jamaica in the afternoon.
Organizers with Greater Good Charities said it will take weeks, if not months to help the people of Jamaica get back on their feet in the aftermath of the catastrophic storm.
The nonprofit began gathering and storing donations well before Melissa barreled through Jamaica as a Category 5 storm. Representatives rode out the hurricane and then relayed back to South Florida exactly what supplies are needed on the ground so they can pack planes accordingly.
“We will kind of have people on the ground in Jamaica assessing what the needs are, and then we’ll prioritize the supplies so that we can send out the most important things first,” said Greater Good Charities spokesperson Gabbie Vilanova. “The most important thing is that we listen to the local communities who are in the disaster and make sure that we know what they need so that we send them the supplies that are essential to them in that moment.”
The plane scheduled to fly to Jamaica on Tuesday is filled with food, cleanup supplies, pet supplies and other items.
“Greater Good Charities supports these communities even long after the disaster happens, so we help the so they can sustainably grow after the disaster happens, and they continue to do all the great things that they do,” said Vilanova.
Down south in Aventura, Mobile Mike Public Relations partnered with the Florida Highway Patrol to collect goods to send to Jamaica. Organization officials say that following Melissa, the country basically needs everything.
“Hurricane Melissa absolutely destroyed Jamaica. It’s heartbreaking to say the least. People don’t have homes, they have no running water, no electricity, they have no pet food for their pets, no canned food products at all,” said Mobile Mike.
7News cameras captured residents offloading items from their cars to donate to the drive.
“We got lucky this year. We dodged a bullet, no hurricanes here in South Florida, so let’s re-gift the items that we collected,” said Mobile Mike.
Jamaica will need help for months on end and item collections will continue all week.
For more information about donating to Greater Good Charities’ relief efforts, click here.
For more information on the humanitarian relief drives occurring this week in South Florida, click here.
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