A Northern Virginia organization is loading up planes with supplies to help thousands of Puerto Ricans still struggling to recover five weeks after Hurricane Maria.
“On the mainland today there’s approximately 3 to 4 million pounds of food that is ready to go,” said Deborah Garcia Gratacos.
Garcia Gratacos' full-time job is focused on mortgages and getting people homes, but her concern for her homeland has given her a new mission.
She began organizing relief efforts to get food donations to the needy in Puerto Rico.
That’s where Friends of Puerto Rico came in.
“In our case, Friends of Puerto Rico, we have been effective and we have successfully not only taken the items, but giving them hand to hand to the people that do need them,” said Angelique Sina, the executive director of Friends of Puerto Rico.
The group has been chartering jets filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds of food.
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“We’ve done a total of three flights, with our largest flight going out last week with a 747 where we took 265,000 lbs of food,” Garcia Gratacos said. “We are physically on the flight. We physically hand over the food and the goods to those people that have been designated to be the recipients.”
Sina said the need is still great.
“We need funds. We need more friends. Friends of Puerto Rico can be anybody: it can be you, it can be me, it can be a family member,” she said.
Visit the organization's website here to learn how to help.
