As Hurricane Fiona stormed through parts of the Caribbean and Eastern Canada, millions of residents in Puerto Rico are struggling without water and power.
On Sept. 18, officials announced Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 1 storm, knocking out power grids and causing an island-wide blackout.
According to LUMA Energy, the power company responsible for electrical transmission and distribution for Puerto Rico, 81% of the island’s residents have their electricity restored as of Thursday, Sept. 29.
With at least 15% of residents still waiting for their electricity to be restored, the president of Puerto Rico United, Inc. Joe Rodriguez, explained the magnitude of this issue.
“While Hurricane Maria devastated the entire island (five years ago), this particular hurricane, while it certainly had an impact throughout the island, devastated mostly the south region of the island,” Rodriguez said.
PRU is an umbrella organization that runs the Puerto Rican Day Festival in New Haven. They have helped raise awareness and monetary donations for Hurricane Fiona as well as previous hurricanes and earthquakes that have affected the island.
“The festival is held the second Saturday of August every year as a way to promote and preserve the Puerto Rican culture throughout the New Haven region,” said Rodriguez. “While the festival is the premiere event that’s held in August, the mission of Puerto Ricans United, overall, is to promote and preserve Puerto Rican culture.”
Focusing on this core value, the coalition of statewide Puerto Rican parades and festivals, including Hartford, Fairfield County, Meriden, Norwich, Waterbury and New Haven exchanged ideas to see how they could leverage support and resources to those on the island.
“We relaunched CThelpsPR.org as a way for those in our community to raise monetary donations for the island,” said Rodriguez. “We used the same link during the earthquakes that occurred three years ago and then we also used this link in response to Hurricane Maria, which was five years ago.”
In other efforts to gather aid for the island, many businesses around the nation are joining in. Freskos, a fast-casual Greek restaurant in Hamden, has also helped aid numerous causes.
“There’s a Greek ideal called philotimo,” said Freskos owner, Peter Vouras. He explained that this saying essentially is a virtue and way of life, “where you give back to the community.”
“I wish I could donate to something less catastrophic, but if people are in need, it’s just a way to help them out. It’s almost like a duty,” Vouras said,
Vouras is no stranger to hosting these kinds of funding events. “We did the last one for Puerto Rico. We did one for the Greek fires. We have a program called ‘Euros for Heroes,’ which during the pandemic we would bring lunches to those on the frontlines. We recently raised money for Ukraine, about $5,000,” Vouras explained.
During Freskos’ most recent funding event on Wednesday, Sept. 28, the restaurant collected 20% of their proceeds for the day, totaling $500. The proceeds will be donated to UnidosUS, launched by the Hispanic Federation which aids in long-term needs for residents of Puerto Rico.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Mayor of Hamden Lauren Garrett were among some of the many who stopped by Freskos throughout the day.
“Connecticut has the highest Puerto Rican population percentage-wise of any state in the country. So 8.5% of our people in Connecticut are Puerto Rican,” said Bysiewicz. “We want to step up and help as much as we can.”
Adding that she is half Greek and loves Greek food, Bysiewicz came to Freskos to support the fundraiser. “I wanted to come because I know there’s going to be a need for food, water, shelter, medicine, hygiene supplies,” Bysiewicz said. “I really think there’ll be a lot of people in the community who will want to help.”
Garrett shared her interest and support for Freskos, “We like to come to festivals pretty regularly, but especially when they are offering to do some good in the world, and we’re just thrilled that we have awesome partners around Hamden like the Chamber of Commerce and the Lieutenant Governor’s office, who will support all of these great causes.”
Those interested in donating to organizations that can help families in Puerto Rico can find more information at https://pruinc.org/donation/.
Izzy McClary contributed to this reporting.