Peace Boat US and Global Green partner to provide funding to organizations which are supporting community development and continuing disaster relief in Puerto Rico. Peace Boat fundraised through various events with Parties4Peace in New York after the natural disaster in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017. The storm reached Category 5 strength and brought catastrophic disaster to the island. Most of the people suffered from flooding and lack of food, supplements, and shelters. The total loss of the Hurricane is estimated to $91.61 billion and around 130,000 Puerto Ricans have lost their homes. The storm caused the worst electrical blackout in US History and thousands of homes and businesses are still out of power (Giusti, Carlos. “Puerto Rico issues new data on Hurricane Maria deaths”. NBC News. Retrieved August 2, 2018). Day-long power outages still happen from time to time, especially in rural areas. Some homes still have tarps instead of roofs. Collapsed utility poles and uprooted trees are common (Emma Schwarts. “Quick facts: Hurricane Maria’s effect on Puerto Rico”. Mercy Corps. August 27th, 2019). Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans from the island are continued to face the challenges every day.
It has been about 2 years since Hurricane Maria, and people are still slowly recovering from the storm. Puerto Rican residents stated that people are dying from the lack of food, medicine, and health services. Another hurricane is imminent to arrive in Puerto Rico and it is crucial to support sustainable communities in Puerto Rico.
Global Green USA is the U.S. arm of Green Cross International and a national environmental organization. For 20 years, Global Green USA has been a national leader in advancing smart solutions to climate change that improve lives and protect our planet. Partnering with Global Green, Peace Boat US will fund the local communities that can provide medical and food supplies to the Puerto Rico residents to fight hunger and can support local community development.
Peace Boat US has now partnered with two organizations who are from Global Green’s network in Puerto Rico to dedicate the funding: Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico and COSSAO.
Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico
Established in 1988, Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico have a network of 128 Agencies and partners who serve annually over 1.2 million persons in the Island. Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico is an organization that aims to mitigate hunger in Puerto Rico by distributing food and improve their lives by providing personal hygiene, cleaning products, and educational programs to Puerto Ricans. Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico is recognized as the leading food bank in Puerto Rico for providing programs, nutrition, education, and excellent service and reach through its partners and collaborators. Having distributed over 18 million pounds of food last year, Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico, Inc (BAPR) proved its steadfast commitment to mitigating hunger. Its donor contributions allowed the organization to distribute over 15 million meals to over 1.2 million people in all 78 municipalities. These food products and other essential supplies are distributed to non-profit organizations and churches who in turn help the sick, the needy and families in poverty, particularly children.
Child hunger is an epidemic in Puerto Rico. According to the Kids Count Data Book 30 Edition, over 57.8% of Puerto Rico’s children population live under the federal poverty levels. Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico believes the best place to start fighting this health problem is within elementary-aged students because it will promote a healthy growth at a time when they need it most. The consequences of child poverty in Puerto Rico are shown in the high costs of physical and mental health, high index of food insecurity, low academic achievement, and high index of absenteeism and desertion.
The Mochila Alegre Backpack Program
Since 2008, Mochila Alegre has been helping children receiving the nutritious and easy-to-prepare meals they need. Mochila Alegre is an ideal program that leads students to practice healthy habits, promotes access to quality education, and improves their quality of life. By providing nutritious food to children during the weekend, the program was able to fill in the gaps when they may not have easy access to healthy food. This program is an enabler for healthy growth, confidence, and ability to achieve life goals. Administration, volunteers, and nonprofit agencies of the Mochila Alegre provide these children with supplemental nutrition on the weekends. The Peace Boat US grant will help Mochila Alegre achieve greater impact, site expansion, and provide meals, education, and so much more. Peace Boat US will ease the cost of over one hundred backpacks that are necessary to expand the Mochila Alegre program starting in September 2019. The Peace Boat US grant will support children that have to overcome hardships in their lives with resilience to survive in extreme conditions.
This donation will increase the availability of food served to children in need. Many of the community members have lost their principal source of meals since the disaster in September 2017 (Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico, Inc).
It will also contribute to the success of “Mochila Alegre” Backpack Program by supporting poor municipalities with free meals after Hurricanes Irma and María heavily affected Puerto Rico.
COSSAO
COSSAO is a community organization created in 2013 that has developed projects for community health. COSSAO is a non-profit clinic that also provides medical services to the nearby municipalities of Jayuya, Florida, and Ciales. “The hurricanes of September 2017 sharpened the challenges facing our residents to gain access to health services. We needed new strategies to address this reality. The seven community health promoters will be respected neighbors of the community who will be trained to support residents to obtain the health services they need and coordinate health promotion, health education and disease management activities,” Francisco J. Valentín the president of COSSAO explained.
This post was published by Amanda Simonsen (Intern from Peace Boat US).
The inaugural voyage 