As many of you know, on October 28th, Hurricane Melissa devastated my birthplace of Jamaica. While officials are still uncovering the magnitude of the full impact all across Jamaica, we know entire towns have been almost totally wiped out and this is by far the strongest hurricane to have ever hit the island. Food and critical supplies are now rapidly dwindling while thousands of people grapple with the fact they have lost everything they own. Water supplies are becoming unusable — contaminated with decomposing livestock. Huge swaths of the island remain without electricity and running water with no timeline or foreseeable immediate path to regaining access.
Over the past week, the Fifteen Percent Pledge, Aurora James, Santigold, Brooke Hammerling, myself and various other friends have come together to drive critical aid urgently to the island for immediate dispersement in collaboration with local grassroots non-profits and more established orgs.
So, how can you help?
1) MONETARY — Should you have the capacity to make a monetary donation, please know it would go an incredibly long way.
In partnership with our friends at The Fifteen Percent Pledge, they will be allocating 100% of donated funds from this drive to four organizations to disperse aid to those who need it locally — Food for the Poor, Breds Foundation, MendDiGap and the GoldenEye Foundation. Wire instructions can be found below. Vanessa at The Fifteen Percent Pledge (vanessa@15pp.org) is a great person to speak to with any questions and will also be sending your donation acknowledgement letters within 48hrs of receipt. If you would like to donate online, you are also able to do so, here.
2) PRODUCT — If you would like to make a large production donation - we are able to accept shipments of non perishable food items, personal and baby care supplies. Please note we are asking for 500 unit minimums, that need to ship directly to our 3PL partner in Florida for immediate dispatch to Jamaica. Please see additional product donation information, attached.
3) WISHLIST — Our Jamaican partners at the Global Empowerment Mission have also created an Amazon wishlist, anything you purchase here will join the immediate aid shipment to Jamaica. Please consider sharing this list with friends or on your platform as well. Let’s work together to get these supplies to everyone!!
Thank you so much for your time and consideration of Jamaica.
Please know, anything you can do to help is so so so appreciated - by all of us.
With love,
Kadi + Aurora, Santi & Brooke
Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2ZMDO2B3IM0DS/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex?
