FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — As the island of Puerto Rico struggles to recover from Hurricane Fiona, local efforts in Western Washington are underway to help those impacted. World Vision is planning to send supplies to the island but right now, it can’t because the port is closed and the majority of the island is still without power. Some of the supplies that will eventually go to Puerto Rico include cleaning supplies, clothes, blankets, tents and fans.
“Socks, Bombas socks,” Roberta Taylor, the warehouse manager for World Vision in Fife, said. “Those are things we definitely will send there.” She said World Vision is doing everything it can to help the people there.
“I couldn’t imagine being in such a place and not getting the assistance and the help that I need and you know people can’t reach me. … I’m sorry I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional,” she said. “You see the water or whatever’s going on still in place and then you see all these people displaced by this disaster, you know nowhere to go.”
Taylor has been with World Vision for several years. She has been on the ground many times, whenever disaster has struck.
“When I went to Louisiana there was a lady there who had lost everything and I gave her a pillow and she says I got something that I can call my own and it’s so heartbreaking,” she said.
You can help now by donating online and the funds go directly to helping those impacted by the hurricane.
“We want to help, we’re there for them but we need your help you know any financial donation will help us to bring more and more hope and that’s what we want to do,” Taylor said.