Help for Puerto Rico
I absolutely love Instagram and the way it connects me with people all around the world. Like with Tina, a German teacher, a mom of four and sewing queen, who lives in California, too. Last week she posted a picture that inspired me to follow her lead and to give to “Bags of Hope for Puerto Rico”. Her former neighbor told her about this organization. He and his family have lived in Puerto Rico until a couple weeks ago, before they were able to get out after hurricane Maria hit.
It is a non-profit organization in Plantation, Florida. “Two back-to-back hurricanes, Irma and Maria, ravaged the Caribbean Islands in September. Living in Puerto Rico, we experienced this firsthand and are seeing the devastation of our once lush island and its beautiful people.”
Donating is easy.
They assemble bags for kids in Puerto Rico with items like mosquito nets, snacks, toothbrushes, insect repellent or crayons and coloring books. Bags of Hope for Puerto Rico has provided this list on amazon.com to help you with the shopping. You can basically just order a few items in bulk and have them send to their Florida address.
The other way to help is to put a bag together yourself.
That’s what we did. We picked up backpacks on sale and many of the other needed items at our usual Target run. Each of my girls wrote a little “note of hope” and we sent it to Florida. With the flat rate boxes of USPS it costs only $18.
Help is not only needed in Puerto Rico though.
I’m aware that there are so many people we could help right now. There are wildfires in California, an earthquake in Mexico and hurricanes in the Caribbean and many more areas of need. It was a spontaneous reaction to Tina’s picture that made me decide that this is our random act of kindness for October. Whatever you decide, any help matters for all these people in need right now. Either it’s this charity you want to donate to or it can be another one.
