Caribbean nationals in NY rush to provide much-needed hurricane relief

Ever since Hurricane Beryl ravaged several Caribbean islands in its passage last week, nationals in New York have stepped up relief efforts to assist their homeland.
Many are also offering prayers for nationals particularly those of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – notably Union Island, Canouan, Mayreau and Palm Island; Grenada – notably Carriacou and Petite Martinique; and Jamaica, particularly the rural areas.

On Tuesday, the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relief, USA, Inc. said in a statement that Hurricane Beryl has “taken its toll on our beloved nation of SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), and you may be wondering how and when this collective body is going to respond.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Relief Committee said executive members met via Zoom with Consul General to the United States Rondy McIntosh to formulate a plan to execute relief efforts for our nation.”

The Relief Committee met on Saturday and Sunday, July 7, 2024, at Friends of Crown Heights, 671 Prospect Place in Brooklyn, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., to collect donations of items, as well as monetary donations.

“Several stakeholders have been contacted to make all the necessary arrangements to get these items into St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the statement said.
McIntosh told Caribbean Life Thursday morning: “This is our time to activate and show our brothers and sisters at home that they are not alone.
“SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), we will rise again,” he added.

As nationals gathered supplies and donations at the Friends of Crown Heights on Sunday, McIntosh said he was “grateful for all the prayers and sentiments for all those affected by Hurricane Beryl in our sweet St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We’re even more grateful for all who have made tangible contributions to the various relief efforts,” he told Caribbean Life. “We can assure you that your supplies will get to our people in the shortest possible time.
“Let me also take this opportunity to assure all affected that we in the Diaspora are here to support you, and we’re all in this together,” the consul general added. “We’re satisfied with the contributions so far, but we’re asking persons to reach out and make contributions.”

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relief, USA, Inc. Chair Verna Arthur also told Caribbean Life that she hopes donations will intensify.
“Despite the donations, we’ll get through this,” she said, referring to rehabilitation from the hurricane’s onslaught. “Our beautiful nations are not in this alone. We’re going to get better. A couple years ago, we (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) were ravaged by volcano (La Soufriere’s volcanic eruptions), and we did this effort.

Arthur said her committee is focusing on items required by the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, such as generators, cots and tarpaulins, as well as monetary donations.
“At this time, they are not collecting items of clothing, water and food,” she said, referring to NEMO.

Dr. Kinta Alexander, a native of Union Island, who lives in Brooklyn, also said on Sunday that 99 percent of homes in Union Island were destroyed by Hurricane Beryl and that the island’s “hospital, schools, faith-based organizations, shelters, businesses, and even its airport have been obliterated.
“This devastation is personal to us,” she said in her appeal. “Why, you ask? Well, Union Island isn’t just any island—it’s our island. We were conceived, born, and raised there; our navel string is buried there. This little island is where we learned our ABCs and our life lessons. It’s the place that turned me from a wide-eyed child into the person I am today.

“Imagine, if you will, the island’s hospital—where many Unionites first screamed our way into the world—now silenced,” Dr. Alexander added. “The schools that bore witness to our early (and let’s be honest, often misguided) academic attempts, now rubble. The churches that heard our childhood prayers, the businesses that thrived with the hustle and bustle of daily life, all gone. And yes, the home where I was conceived, birthed, and raised, now lost to the storm.

“As if the destruction weren’t enough, the death toll of our beloved family members, schoolmates, and neighbors continues to rise,” she continued. “Each loss is a personal blow, adding to the collective grief of our tight-knit community.
“But in typical Union Island spirit, we won’t be kept down for long,” she said. “I’m reaching out to you, not just to share the story of this calamity, but to rally some hope and support. Let’s sprinkle some love and kindness on Union Island, just as it has sprinkled memories and life lessons.”

Dr. Alexander shares her list of needed items on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2FQ2HE5VIQZBA?ref=cm_sw_em_r_un_un_tM6V3WcAchqqX
Items can also be shipped to: 18 Paerdegat 14th Street, Brooklyn NY, 11236.

On Sunday, the Caribbean Diaspora United (CDU), headed by former Grenada United Nations Ambassador Eugene Pursoo, said it was “working with the Caribbean Consular Corps and the Caribbean Community in New York in organizing a donation campaign to raise and transmit financial support to the islands hit by Hurricane Beryl.”
The Brooklyn-based Support Every Life Beyond Yours (Selby, Inc.) is also hosting a Hurricane Beryl Relief Drive for Union Island, Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau and other islands of the St. Vincent Grenadine islands, as well as mainland St. Vincent and Carriacou and Petite Martinique that are part of the tri-island nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

Vincentians pose with national flag, with Consul General Rondy McIntosh, fourth from left, in back row. Photo by Nelson A. King

The relief effort, which began on Wednesday, runs until July 31, and is supported by Sen. Kevin Parker; Assembly Members Brian A. Cunningham, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, and Monique Chandler-Waterman; and Council Members Farah N. Louis, Mercedes Narcisse and Rita Joseph.
Bichotte Hermelyn, the Haitian-born chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, on Sunday urging Brooklynites to help the Caribbean from damage wreaked by Hurricane Beryl through the relief drive listed below.

“I urge Brooklynites to rally together and offer support for the victims, and I also encourage you to be comforting neighbors for our borough’s outsized Caribbean community, many of whom have loved ones abroad affected by the hurricane,” said the representative for the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.
“I pray for the people of the Caribbean, and for the people in the storm’s continued trajectory, and here in Brooklyn, who are feeling the pain of uncertainty, or deep loss,” she added. “I also remind our Caribbean community here that you are not alone, and that there are mental health resources to help with any trauma.”

As Hurricane Beryl wreaks havoc in the Caribbean, Jamaica’s New York Consul General Alsion Wilson last Wednesday appealing to members of the Jamaican Diaspora Community for “fervent prayer” and divine intervention.
“As Hurricane Beryl impacts our beloved homeland, Jamaica, we stand united in prayer and solidarity for the safety of all Jamaicans,” she said. “I urge you to join me in fervent prayer for our friends and families back home, asking for divine protection and guidance during this challenging time.

“I understand the anxiety and concern many of you feel, especially those parents who have sent their children to Jamaica for the summer,” she added. “The separation from your loved ones can be particularly distressing during such uncertain times. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your children.”

Wilson said the Jamaica Consulate General had already initiated discussions with various stakeholders, including Diaspora leaders, to be prepared to assist in the aftermath of the hurricane, “should broad governmental assistance be required”.

According to USA TODAY, “a more complete picture emerged Wednesday of the extensive damage wrought by Hurricane Beryl’s trek across the Windward Islands, revealing destruction and at least seven deaths.”

Relying on information from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the newspaper said “at least three islands report more than 90 percent of the homes and buildings either destroyed or severely damaged,” and that “all three are within the chain of Grenadine Islands, where Beryl roared into the Caribbean on the southern end of the Windwards, between St. Vincent and Grenada.”

On Tuesday, the United Nations called for international solidarity with Grenada, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and other Caribbean islands hit hard by Hurricane Beryl.
UN Spokesperson Stephané Dujarric told journalists at the regular press briefing in New York that seven agencies based in Grenada and nine in St. Vincent and the Grenadines “will be augmented by additional UN emergency teams in the coming days.”

“Logistics are going to be a challenge, given the islands’ dispersal, damaged infrastructure and limited accessibility,” he said, adding that the Secretary-General is “very much appealing for strong international solidarity” with Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the other islands that have been hit by the hurricane.
“These small island states that the Secretary-General has often visited are again bearing the brunt of natural disasters,” Dujarric continued. “And it is critical that we see international solidarity,” he added.

The UN said Hurricane Beryl is only just the start of what is forecast to be extremely intense 2024 hurricane season, amid worsening impacts of climate change.
The UN Spokesperson also voiced concern for Haiti, which was already in a dire situation before the hurricane.
“The security situation is not making it any better. We are prepositioning, we are ready to help as soon as the storm hits and before,” he said.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), aid agencies there are in close contact with Haitian authorities have amplified early warning messages.
“UN agencies, of course, stand ready to assist and have already taken anticipatory measures,” Dujarric said.
Also on Tuesday, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) raised alarm over the rate at which Hurricane Beryl intensified from a tropical depression to a Category 3 in 42 hours, and Category 4 in 48 hours.

“This is unprecedented for June but is in line with the recent trend towards very rapid intensification,” the agency said, recalling that such was the case with Hurricane Otis which grew to a Category 5 hurricane overnight and hit the Mexican resort of Acapulco last October.

At least 52 people were reported to have been killed by Hurricane Otis, and a further 32 remained missing, the UN said.
WMO noted “record high” sea surface temperatures, warning that the stage is set for an “especially active and dangerous” hurricane season for the entire basin – Atlantic, Caribbean and Central America.

“It takes just one landfalling hurricane to set back years of socio-economic development. For example Hurricane Maria in 2017 cost Dominica 800 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said Ko Barrett, WMO deputy secretary-general.

Relief items needed and locations for donations:
1. Hurricane Beryl Relief Drive: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relief USA, Inc.

2. Hurricane Beryl Relief Drive: Many New Yorkers from the Caribbean are collecting donations for their loved ones back home. Please see some GoFundMe links: Help Rebuild Lives in Carriacou Island; Carriacou Recovery from Hurricane Beryl; Ayuda tras el Huracán Beryla; Rebuild Carriacou: Support for Local Families!; Help Drezelle’s Family Rebuild After Hurricane Beryl; Support St. Vincent’s Hurricane Recovery; Help Pat Rebuild Carriacou (Grenada) After Hurricane Beryl; Hurricane Relief for Carriacou & Petite Martinique

3. Hurricane Beryl Relief Drive: Support Every Life Beyond Yours (Selby Inc.) Hurricane Beryl Relief Drive for Union Island, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Carriacou, Bequia, Grenada and Petite Martinique’s collection dates for donations, July 3 to July 31, 2024. For more information, email selbyvillas@gmail.com or call 917-773-8252. You can also go to: https://www.facebook.com/100010828057842/posts/2164903973880517/?mibextid=xfxF2i&rdid=YcveLQZxljJ23e8x

Urgently Needed Items:

• Water
• Essential Medicine & First Aid
• Cots & Sleeping Bags
• Pillows & Sleeping Blankets
• Non-Perishable & Canned Food
• Flashlight & Batteries
• Soap Powder
• Diapers, Wipes and Formula
• Tarpaulin & Tents
• Toiletries & hygiene kits

Items may be dropped off at:

DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER
450 Clarkson Avenue
(Mon-Friday)
open 24 hours a day
GOD’S BATTALION OF PRAYER
780 Schenectady Avenue Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
CHRIST AMBASSADOR MINISTRIES
5007 Beverly Road
Monday – Friday
5 p.m. – 9 p.m.

BK COMMUNITY BOAD 17
4112 Farragut Road
Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Council District Office 45
1434 Flatbush Avenue
Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.