Coconut Creek, Florida — South Florida was saved from a direct hit Hurricane Melissabut Huge storm It remains home to millions of residents with deep roots in the Caribbean.
Now, the Caribbean diaspora from Miami to New York City is turning its grief into action: filling warehouses with emergency supplies to send to communities across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas hit by Hurricane Melissa, one of the countries affected by the hurricane. The strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.
Centers of global wealth – and vibrant exile communities that span generations – both cities have long been major entry points for immigrants and cultural melting pots. Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest county, is home to more immigrants than native-born Americans.
For many in Miami, the city is the unofficial capital of Latin America – where it is Salsa clubs Little Havana and Streets full of roosters The people of Little Haiti feel physically and culturally closer to the Caribbean than to the rest of the mainland United States
Across Florida, there are more than 1 million foreign-born Cubans and 231,000 foreign-born Jamaicans, while New York state has 22,800 foreign-born Cubans and 225,000 foreign-born Jamaicans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Many Haitian Americans know the pain of watching disaster unfold from afar, and Melissa was the latest in a long line of crises. Karen Joslyn, CEO of Brooklyn-based Diaspora Community Services, said diaspora members are doing what they can to support their loved ones back home.
She said the feeling of “donation fatigue” did not apply to Haiti, adding: “We can’t really say that.”
Even as gang violence continues to disrupt transportation in the capital, Port-au-Prince, Jocelyn says she hopes resources will still be able to come through Cap-Haitien and Les Cayes airports. She urged donors to donate to verified Haitian non-profit organizations to ensure aid reaches the communities most in need.
Nonprofit groups told The Associated Press that the cash is out there The best way to helpexperts recommend using sites like Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance to check out unfamiliar charities before donating.
Eugene Labine, president of the rural development and civic engagement organization Association des Paysans Haut Douzieme, is leading a rescue mission in communities near his mountainside town of Petit Goave in southern Haiti.
“People are leaving their homes in search of shelter,” Eugene said. “We are doing our best as a community to help each other through this.”
In a crowded warehouse on the outskirts of Broward County, Fla., in Coconut Creek, on Thursday, volunteers from the hunger and poverty relief organization Food for the Poor rushed to assemble emergency care kits and load dozens of pallets of food, water and personal hygiene products.
Susan James Casserly, who comes from a long line of Jamaican ranchers, was born on the island but came to South Florida in 1978, and now works for the charity. Next week she will travel to help with on-site relief efforts in her home country, where many are still recovering from last year’s disaster. Hurricane Beryl It hit when Melissa appeared on the radar.
“Jamaicans are very strong and resilient. I am afraid of what I will see. But one thing I know is that we are ready to help,” she said.
Kevett Silvera, who was born in Jamaica and now lives in South Florida, was among the Food for the Poor team who weathered the storm on the island, gathering in prayer as she listened to the wind howl and watched the trees bend.
“Words cannot express what they are going through now,” she said in an interview from the organization’s office in Spanish Town, west of the capital, Kingston. “It is devastating. It is devastating.”
Marlon Hill is a corporate attorney in Miami and helps lead the powerful South Florida Caribbean Group to mobilize volunteers and donors for the storm response.
“For me, being born in Jamaica and raised in the United States, this is different,” Hill told reporters.
In the Broward County suburb of Miramar — where every city council member is either a Caribbean immigrant or a child of one — residents were also quick to act.
Local officials organized a city-wide relief effort to collect and deliver essential supplies to the islands. Residents can drop off items such as prepared foods, water, tarps, flashlights, and sleeping bags at designated donation sites at fire departments and police stations, 24 hours a day.
In nearby Lauderhill, residents can take donations to City Hall, parks and Jamaican restaurants in the area.
In Cooper City, Brittany and Dwayne Wolfe offered their home as a drop-off location for diapers and other necessities. The couple are co-founders of The Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank, and many of the organization’s volunteers and supporters grew up in Jamaica or still have family on the island.
Dwayne, who was born in the central Jamaican city of Mandeville, is still unable to reach his cousins, friends and loved ones there in the wake of the storm. But while he waits for the call, he can focus on raising more donations.
“I really feel like a lot of people who live in South Florida can really relate, because we’re so close,” he said.
Contributions to the Diaper Bank’s online fundraising site are coming from all over the world, Brittany Wolfe said, as the organization prepares to send its first shipment of diapers to Jamaica.
“It’s home,” she said. “And when things like this happen, you know, you have to help.”
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Associated Press journalists Lisberth Guillaume in New York and Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed reporting. Kate Payne is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America It is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.