Puerto Rico Relief Efforts

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From the mayor’s office:

· Below and attached are a few relief efforts taking place throughout the City of Bridgeport. For more information about a particular fundraiser please contact the administrators of that particular project.

The efforts were also published on the CTPost: www.ctpost.com/local/article/Donations-being-accepted-for-Puerto-Rico-12233064.php

1. Council of Churches–Convey of Hope

Date: Ongoing

Time: Drop off donations Monday 10am-1pm, Tuesday 7pm-9pm, Wednesday 10am-1pm & Sunday morning 8am-2:30pm

Place: Church of God Center of Life, 594 Harral Ave, Bridgeport, CT

Accepting monetary donations for Convey of Hope

For more information call Pastor Yolanda Hernandez (203) 449-4386

2. Greater Bridgeport United & Puerto Rican Parade of Fairfield County, Inc. Puerto Rico Relief

Date: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017

Time: 9am-5pm

Place: East Side Senior Center, 1053 E. Main Street

Accepting monetary donations for the Red Cross

For more information call (203) 371-0813

3. CTBPT United for PR Radio Telethon

Date: Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017

Time:1pm-6pm

Place: Sazon y Mambo, 1691 Main Street

Accepting cash or checks, water, feminine products, waterproof flashlights, medicine, powered milk for babies & adults, diapers, wipes, antibacterial wipes, generators, chainsaws for Puerto Rico’s Mayor’s Association Federation

For information call (203) 336-3636

For radio telethon call (475) 209-8788

4. El Flamboyan PR Relief Effort

Date: ongoing

Time: Drop off donations Monday-Friday 4pm-8pm

Place: 1001 E. Main Street, Bridgeport, CT

Accepting monetary donations, water, medicine, flashlights, batteries, baby food, candles, matches, medical equipment, bandages

For more information call Barbie at (203) 610-3056

5. Madrinas United 5th Annual Dance–Liceo Cubano

Date: Friday, Oct. 6th

Time: 7:30pm

Place: Liceo Cubano, 2790 Fairfield Ave, Bridgeport, CT

Tickets $20, Proceeds go to a non-profit for Puerto Rico

Meeting for Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 2:30pm

Senator Chris Murphy and Rep. Chris Rosario want to hear directly from families & friends of those currently in Puerto Rico, community leaders, and organizations leading relief efforts on how they can best be supportive with immediate, ongoing recovery efforts, as well as addressing the systematic issues that have long impacted the island on state and federal levels. Let’s all come together and have an important discussion on ways that we can work in solidarity to support Puerto Rico moving forward.

WHAT: What’s Next for Puerto Rico with Senator Chris Murphy & State Representative Chris Rosario

WHEN: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 2:30pm-4:30pm. The meeting will start at 3:00pm.

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43 comments

  1. Puerto Rico Relief Efforts is so important and critical and it’s great that Bridgeport is reaching out. These American citizens need to be treated the same way as those Americans citizens in Texas, Florida and Louisiana is sleeping on a cot in a shelter while 45 is going to play golf today. Below is what 45 has tweeted this morning.

    “They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort,” Trump said in a series of tweets a day after the capital city’s leader appealed for help “to save us from dying.”

    “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help,” Trump said.

    “We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency,” Cruz said at a news conference. “I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying.”

    Trump, from his golf club in New Jersey, took to Twitter to accuse Cruz of partisan politics.
    “The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” the president charged, without substantiation.

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  2. Puerto Rico has been devastated by a hurricane. The island’s infrastructure has been destroyed. No phone service, no electricity, food and water in short supply. People are dying from lack of emergent medical care. A cabinet official noted the  administration’s response as “a good news story.” The mayor of San Juan was highly critical, reaching out to the international community for help. Trump fired off a clusterfuck of defensive Tweets replying the mayor “made me look bad,” that Puerto Ricans “want everything done for them” while he hits the driving range at his private club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

    God, my God, you must be joking. People are dying and Trump, lacking musical skills, is playing golf while Puerto Rico burns.

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  3. Jennifer, not sure what the rapist analogy is but this has many layers. Between hurricane Irma and Maria and the destruction they caused in the Caribbean Islands, there are a lot of people in need. Puerto Rico’s San Juan’s mayor Cruz, boosted how her “country” helped out the people whose lives were devastated on the other US territory Islands, after hurricane Irma, and now her country’s people needs help whose lives were devastated by hurricane Maria. Mind you both of these hurricanes hit some Islands twice and were only weeks apart. Hurricane Irma road along the entire coat of Cuba as a CAT 5 hurricane, something the US said it would have been the worst cast possible for the West Coast of Florida, as a CAT 3. So I don’t even want to think what’s going on in Cuba or the other Islands. I think a lot of this is not solely based on the essential for the people of Puerto Rico, like food and water etc. or the response of the US. But its ability for the Puerto Rico’s government to put itself back together.

    We take about how Bridgeport’s governing body is bring this city financially over a cliff because of its spending (or how it spends) and pension obligation, that only really benefit the few that work for the government. Puerto Rico went off that cliff years ago and it’s a lot steeper. Let’s not forget tourism is a major factor in their financial means, which is going to suffer because of the storm. We can talk all we want about Harvey’s response in Texas compare to Puerto Rice’s, But Texas has money and means. They can raise the price of gas to help pay for its destroyed infrastructure, Puerto Rice don’t have that luxury and you can’t donate it, and that I think is the missing story and the real problem for the Island. But maybe it is Trump’s and FEMA’s fault as Ron has suggested.

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      1. But Trump’s not the perpetrator(rapist) either though. Clearly this is an undertaken for all the islands, Florida, and Taxes. If their grid and down like they say it is there’s no arm of UI crews and a equipment amassed nearby like it was for Harvey and Florida to get the grid back up.

        Taxes called up its entire National guard to keep order while the rebuilding process takes place. Does anyone here think things are back to normal fore those effected my Harvey. 90% of the flooded homes didn’t have flood insurance because they were not in a required flood zone and FEMA cap for assistance is around $30,000.

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          1. Try this – he stopped the ability for help to arrive from other countries
            Countries for over a week, including fuel, food, water and medical help – he’s now blaming the mayor and citizens for their lack of ability to provide for themselves when he is the reason they had nothing to work with. I’ve lived there, the people of that Island are hard working resourceful people. If they have nothing to work with, and their supplies are cut off because Trump had shipping companies asking him not to lift the Jones Act, why doesn’t this analogy apply?

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          2. Also, the French, British and Dutch all had ships with extra supplies to dock in Puerto Rico, because their countries islands were also hit. They were there in the area and wanted to help, but were blocked by Trump. For over a week. Texas and Florida – I have many friends from Indiana in both states working there now – they arrived with semi trucks loaded with supplies and equipment. It’s a bit difficult to drive to Puerto Rico.

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          3. Jennifer, if one of the neighboring nations would like send emergency items by ship to Puerto Rico like Jamaica that Jamaican ship would have to sail to Florida and have all of those emergency items unload and then those emergency items have be loaded on to a American ship and then bought to Puerto Rico. Now how stupid is that?

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          4. Ron what’s the difference between Puerto Rico and Florida?

            Jen and Ron are you saying if Jamaica, France, British, or the Dutch wanted to help Floridians after hurricane Irma, they would have to go to port in Puerto Rico and unload their ship, to be reloaded it on an American ship before it goes to Florida? At some point any foreign ship will have to dock at an American port. That is not what the act is about. It can’t be. Any ship that has docked at any American port can dock at Puerto Rico. That being said, what I think the Jones act says no foreign ship can’t go to any US port pick up supplies in one US port and bring it to another US port, and or maybe some other stuff. At any rate, Jen how long would it have taken the British, French, and Dutch in the Caribbean to do what Ron suggested needed to be done before Puerto Rico got supplies for them or comply with the Jones’ act (whatever it is) to bring the supplies they have to Puerto Rico, a day or two tops. So the six remaining day is what, Trump or FEMA Fault? I see the honeymoon between you and Trump is over.
            http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/28/jones-act-what-is-it.html

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          5. Robert, I can certainly understand your point, Trump wasn’t the cause of the hurricane- but he sure wasn’t much immediate help after. Bashing the Mayor of San Juan because she’s holding him accountable was wrong. I hope after his visit on Tuesday his eyes and heart are opened and he makes up for his errors in judgement. One would think our government would learn from past events like this – Katrina comes to mind as a lesson….

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        2. Robert,
          Get your facts straight. No one is blaming Donald Trump for the hurricanes. What he is being held accountable for is his apparent antipathy for the Spanish speaking world. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz criticized the Trump “administration” for its rather tepid response. Trump responded with a barrage of Tweets accusing Puerto Rican public officials of not doing their jobs, that the people if Puerto Rico “want everything done for them.” the Donald also noted the island’s debt crisis and wondered loud about the cost of rebuilding Puerto Rico’s infrastructure. (He didn’t wonder how much it ill cost to rebuild Houston and the rest of Texas’ Gulf Coast.)

          Virtually everyone on the island of Puerto Rico is homeless. Food and water are in short supply.  The entire electrical grid is destroyed. Hospital patients are dying for lack of medicine and required treatment. Meanwhile the so-called “president” is playing golf in New Jersey. 

          So get the facts straight, Robert.

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          1. A. Jennifer Blamed Trump.
            B. Exactuly “virtually everyone on the island of Puerto Rico is homeless and without power” This is not going to solve by just waiving the “Jones’ act. The Utility companies have to get the electrical grid back up, and they can’t drive their form other states like they do when a main land hurricanes hits.
            C. I’m not going to get into a “twitter war”

            http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/09/29/rubio-trump-puerto-rico-military-in-charge-sot-ath.cnn/video/playlists/puerto-rico/

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          2. Robert, waiving the Jones Act would have gotten supplies, equipment and food there within a day after the hurricane. Many homes have generators due to the instability of power on the Island. The fuel could not be delivered. The Jones Act basically says, any products on a ship to Puerto Rico must be on a ship flying a US flag, which means it’s owned by the US. So yes, to PR goods arriving VIa ship come from the mainland.
            Hope this helps. It’s a somewhat confusing law, much like most US regulations.

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          3. Again, a extra day or two. Come on,thing about it. You cleared it up perfectly Jennifer. “Many homes have generators due to the instability of power on the Island. The fuel could not be delivered.” If Puerto’s GOVERNMENT couldn’t give it US citizens electricity because the electrical grid was substandard to delivery electricity before hurricane Maria hit, How is the same government A Get the grid back up (even to it substandard levels) after the storm destroyed it? If what you said is true about the electrical grid in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s government has been failing it “US” citizens for decades.

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  5. Robert Teixeira, get your facts right before saying something. Read what the Jones Act does to Puerto Rico plus read up on the history of Puerto Rico. We all knew when Hurricane Irma and Maria were going to hit Puerto and the Virgin Island, Irma was a category 4 and Maria was a category 5 and they dead on all of those islands. 45 didn’t anyone on site right after these hurricane. President George W Bush had Lieutenant General Russell Honore, a three star General) on the site in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina with the power to whatever it took to get the entire flooded area up and running. 45 just assign a three star 8 days AFTER Hurricane hit and remember this hurricane tracked two weeks ago.

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  6. LOL Ron you are full of it. Bush got bashed for his response for Katrina. (same song form the left.) I repeated your response in your Jamaica bring in supplies to Puerto Rico.

    Ron Mackey // Sep 30, 2017 at 3:23 pm

    Jennifer, if one of the neighboring nations would like send emergency items by ship to Puerto Rico like Jamaica that Jamaican ship would have to sail to Florida and have all of those emergency items unload and then those emergency items have be loaded on to a American ship and then bought to Puerto Rico. Now how stupid is that?
    Robert Teixeira // Sep 30, 2017 at 4:56 pm

    Jen how long would it have taken the British, French, and Dutch in the Caribbean to do what Ron suggested needed to be done before Puerto Rico got supplies for them or comply with the Jones’ act (whatever it is) to bring the supplies they have to Puerto Rico, a day or two tops. So the six remaining day is what, Trump or FEMA Fault? I see the honeymoon between you and Trump is over.

    SMH

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  11. Puerto Rico’s status as a territory does not help its economic woes. While Puerto Ricans are American citizens, they can’t vote. Nor does the island territory receive the same federal funds as states. The Jones Act, which requires everybody in Puerto Rico to buy goods from an American-made ship with an American crew, limits business owners and jacks up prices.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/making-sense/jones-act-holding-puerto-rico-back-debt-crisis

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  12. Ron Puerto Rico’s GDP is over 100 billion dollars higher than 30 of the 50 states in America and twice of Hawaii. And according to Jennifer Their electrical grid was substandard and not reliable to provide power to its people, Americans, who can vote or not.

    PS The Jones Act prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between the US mainland and certain noncontiguous parts of the US, such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam. Puerto Rico’s GDP is greater than Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam and few more. combinded, and two are US states. But why do facts matter. Also it was a Democrat president who sign it into law.

    SMH

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    1. What the hell does it matter about any political party, American citizens are in trouble with the lost of life and property while 45 is out playing golf.

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    2. Robert,

      This is a humanitarian crisis, not a goddamned political issue. No one besudes you and the orangutan in the White House are making it a political issue.

      The home generators you noted are useless because there is no fuel to operate them. While Donald Trump plays golf and enjoys burnt steak at his private club in Bedminster, New Jersey, the people of Puerto Rico are living in squalor, little food, little drinking water, extremely limited medical facilities. Reporters in the ground have likened it to a war zone.

      If you have money, clothing, blankets or nonperishable food items to donate by all means het your ass in gear and do it. Otherwise stop the argumentative bullshit.

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        1. She didn’t refer to Donald Trump as a rapist. The question was “Why do rapists blame their victims?” the analogy was harsh but apt given Mr. Trump’s ineffective leadership. The Jones Act prohibits foreign flagged ships from docking at Puerto Rico. Waiving the law for ten days will help, but not much. 

          The entire island has been wiped out. 3,500,000 people are effectively homeless. Food, water, medicines and other essentials are in short supply. The people of the United States of America are compensating for an incompetent president. The mayor of San Juan criticized the administration’s inability to manage a disaster. The president responded with a barrage of angry Tweets accusing the island’s public officials of incompetence, saying Puerto Ricans “want everything done for them.” People are living in squalor and filth and all Donald Trump can say is “they want everything handed to them.” I doubt they wanted to be handed a hurricane. 

          So why don’t you unglue your ass from the chair in front of the computer, go down to one of the locations collecting donations and make yourself useful. 

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        1. Robert, you’re doing a lot of shaking your head – perhaps if you googled how a generator works when the grid is down, rather than off topic links you might be nodding your head. You might find that help was delayed 8 days rather than a couple of days. You might find that people died in hospitals because there was no fuel for the generators to run because their emergency supply ran out before ships with fuel were allowed into the island, those “couple of days” you pointed out was the difference between life and death for real humans. But please, rant on and continue to defend the actions of the person who could have made a difference by a couple of days.

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          1. Again a day or two to comply. I don’t think it was and is about getting the fuel to the dock, but more about getting it to the people.

            It’s not normal for a country/state to run out of fuel, two days, and for its citizens to have generator because of the power grid’s instability. If refer back to the Puerto Rico’s ability to deliver the fuel and supplies, and help after the storm, and that is why the Army has taken over the operation of the recovery. If the government of Puerto Rico could built an electrical grid where its citizens don’t need back-up generators because its instability to delivery electricity says something about its ability to deal with the effects of this strom. But maybe you’re right it is the rapist’s fault.

            Jen I’m not going to get into the weeds with you. Like the blame game I think what actually going on it the twitter war. You only made a post to attack Trump. You didn’t make any constructive statement about the relief effort. You just wanted to post a rant an attack on Trump by referring him to a rapist.

            PS If Puerto Rico ran out of fuel in two days. What about the regular deliveries of fuel or any other supplies that comes to the island, with the Jones Act? What happen to that normal supply chain? SMH Up and down.

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        2. Robert,
          You’re missing the big picture. The electrical grid is completely wiped out. The gasoline was washed into the sea. Generators are good but they run on gasoline.

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          1. Here’s a picture, besides not hearing anything about all of Puerto Rico’s fuel reserves washing away in the ocean. The Jones act was lifted. Mayor Cruz should have all the fuel she needs. However if most of those home were destroyed what good are those generators, and for those who home weren’t destroy should have no problem getting fuel to power those generators. Right.

            The rebuilding process is not going easy or quick to get thinks back to normal. Whoever has family members in Puerto Rico pick up you nieces and nephews, and cousins to stay with you. After Katrina half of its population was displaced. This just as much as an evacuation as it is a rebuilding relief effort.

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  13. I don’t know. You tell me. You seemed to skip a over a Democrat “44” president. Not to mention you praised Republican president R 43 for his actions in handling the “natural” disaster of Katrina to condemn Republican 45 for playing golf over Hurricane Maria. Which is mind boggling to say the least. But I’m sure you have your motives and facts is not one of them. SMH

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUzLpO1kxI

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    1. Michael Hiltzik Contact Reporter
      “Republicans claim they voted down the Sandy relief bill because it was filled with pork. Don’t believe them”

      http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-sandy-pork-20170830-story.html#share=email~story

      A platoon of Texas lawmakers who voted against aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2013 are scurrying to explain their votes in advance of being asked to vote for the same relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

      New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of Mitt Romney’s leading supporters, praised President Barack Obama and his reaction to the hurricane, and toured storm-damaged areas of his state with the president.

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