LAND O'LAKES, Fla. — Like a cruel case of deja vu, Jeannie Calderin said she's once again watching her home country of Puerto Rico torn apart by mother nature.
"Unfortunately, it devastated the island. Most of my family is telling me that it was worse than Hurricane Maria, but there was a difference between the two. Hurricane Maria was a lot of wind, this one came with a lot of water," she said.
Just like in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Calderin's nonprofit — Somos Puerto Rico Tampa — is mobilizing to bring help. Though she said this time around, they're also taking some hard-earned lessons with them.
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"We made a lot of mistakes and started getting stuff here and getting donations here, but it was a logistics nightmare getting it to Puerto Rico and making sure it got to the right hands," she said.
To avoid that nightmare and to avoid duplicating other ongoing efforts to help, Calderin said they're going to focus on meeting the needs of the people in real-time. So this time around, she's focusing on raising money so she can buy what people need as those needs change.
Right now a major need is electricity.
"We want to bring light from Florida. So I want to buy lanterns that they can put outside, and they can recharge [them] with the phone, solar lanterns," she said.
Calderin said she and her team would also be personally delivering the items to the island in the next few weeks.
As the people of Puerto Rico bounce back, she said she hopes we all walk away with one major lesson.
"Preparation. Preparation. Preparation. Preparation."
To learn more about Somos Puerto Rico Tampa and how to donate, head to their Facebook page.
