Hurricane Eta Relief Pt. 1
Today Edmy and I took the first batch of donations - 15 family care packages - to one of the shelters in Los Pinos. Thanks to our connections within the community, we were able to ask the families directly what they most needed. Almost all the families responded with the same list of items, so we packed up care packages with blankets, toothbrushes and toothpaste, laundry soap, underwear, baby wipes, diapers, and formula (for families with young babies). At the top of everyone’s list was also a mat to sleep on (the government supplies each family with one mat, but for families of 4,5,6 people, one isn’t near enough), however they are sold out EVERYWHERE, but we hope to find some by tomorrow or later this week.
Yesterday when we got the list of families, there were only 15, but when we showed up today there were already 22! I couldn’t believe how full it was; there were kids everywhere! Unfortunately more homes keep falling down the hill, causing people to lose everything. It has rained consistently every afternoon for the past three days, so nothing can dry out.
One of the most recent families to join the shelter is a mom seven months pregnant, whose house just slid down the mountain, and was sleeping on the floor because there are no more mats (thankfully someone lent her their own mat). We plan to keep shopping this week to be able to help out all of the new families as well!
Tomorrow we will be bringing donations to two other shelters in the same community. What we’ve heard from these shelters is that their biggest need is food, so we’ll be donating food bags to each family currently staying there (8 families in one, 11 families in another, and 9 more families who sustained serious damage to their homes, but don’t want to go to the shelters for fear of COVID).
Thank you to all of our supporters for helping us help the community during this time. It’s another one of those situations where the need is so overwhelming; so many families are going through a nightmare right now. I won’t lie, it was an emotional day for me witnessing everything. Knowing that these families were already suffering due to the economic impact of COVID, and now on top of everything they’ve lost even their homes. We will keep trying to do all we can to walk beside them and be God’s hands and feet to serve them during this tragedy.
