In an attempt to pull my weight in the relief effort, I've worked together with other community advocates by actively collecting donations and personally delivering them to the island via organizations like the group Direct Relief. What started as a facebook group called Operation Bring Light to Puerto Rico, has grown in to a passion and a priority. Today, the relief effort continues and the need for assistance and volunteers remains. If you would like to help, but are unsure how, please email me directly and I will point you in the right direction.

Here are a few organizations I have had the pleasure of working with in giving back to the Puerto Rican community.  

Their mission: 
Improve the health and live of people affected by poverty and emergencies.

Donations collected in Chicago, organized by my friends and colleagues Alejandro Marin and Melissa Blackmon, were directly delivered to the community of Toa Alta (donations are not restricted to this one town).

Direct Relief is composed of community volunteers, many of whom work a full-time job, as well as organize the local community effort. It's a great example of how a community can come together to help each other in these
 

More information about their programs, donating, and volunteering is available at their website: directrelief.org

The Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust developed this project as a response to the need for clean water in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. This program has hand delivered Kohler water filtration systems to over 700 families in the municipality of Utuado. Their campaign has gained momentum and continues to provide clean water to the barrios, reducing bacteria by over 99% for up to 5,000 liters of water, approximately 1 year's worth of typical use.

More information about the project, donating, and volunteering can be found at their website: prsciencetrust.org/proyectoagualimpia/

The word of our efforts with Operation Bring Light to Puerto Rico gained the attention of solar light manufacturer MPOWERD and have resulted in my next volunteer visit to the island.

 Save The Children is committed to helping the 3.5 million Puerto Rican's in need, 700,000 of which are children under the age of 18. Their support covers both physical needs as well as emotional ones. Recently, they have begun to distribute shelter repair kits to communities in need. 

For more information on how to help the Save The Children program in their relief effort, visit their website: SaveTheChildren.org