Hurricane Maria made landfall as a category 4 storm in Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017. The powerful winds ripped the roofs off of homes, uprooted trees, and brought down power lines, leaving 100% of the island and her 3.5 million residents without power, potable water, or communication. While some residents were blessed to have their homes and personal property spared, many people have suffered crippling losses from the storm.

Ridge to Reefs is asking for financial donations to continue to provide support communities in Puerto Rico. Specifically, to continue supporting small farms with direct assistance with rainwater harvesting and filtration, drip irrigation, off-grid refrigeration, and rebuilding processing and washing stations. We are also working to support community NGOs and health centers with the ability to harvest rainwater. This increases capacity to provision drinking water for long-term water security and to support communities after future storms.

Right after Maria occurred, we arranged for the donation of a private flight to Puerto Rico and have distributed over 700 water filters, six chain saws, food, four satellite phones, water, and medicine. We also provided two large community-based drinking water systems that could produce 2500 gallons of potable water per day. These treatment systems pull water from streams and rivers, provisioning it for drinking in places where they are needed most.

On January 7th, 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook the island. This was one in a series of earthquakes that continue to affect efforts to rebuild. Ridge to Reef’s’ work building resilience is critical in responding to these disasters and shoring up food security, drinking water, and power against future events.

Please, find more information in the link below. You can also donate here directly through our GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/f/sufxa6-emergency-relief-for-puerto-rico.

Donate to Relief Efforts