Miami Dade Donates to Regional Hurricane Recovery Effort

Jamaica has benefited from a donation of construction material and relief supplies from the Miami Dade City Commission to assist in the post hurricane recovery and reconstruction efforts.
The donation, comprising 40,000 pounds of construction material including roof nails and tarpaulins; bottled water, canned foods, babies’ food and clothing, was presented to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) last Thursday (Oct. 28) on arrival from the Port of Miami.
Similar donations were shipped to other islands including Haiti, Grenada and the Bahamas, which were also affected by hurricanes.
The relief effort was initiated by the members of the City Commission on hearing of the recent hurricanes, which devastated several Caribbean islands causing extensive damage to the region.
According to Commissioner, Dr. Barbara Carey-Schuler, some US$93,000 was allocated for the acquisition of food and materials while local corporations also contributed to the effort.
Several community agencies throughout the County including fire stations, and libraries, donated space to accept donations from members of the community as they responded overwhelmingly to the effort.
Other corporations including Fedex, Seaboard Marine, Port of Miami and Betty Cay Shipping also rallied to the cause to ship the items to the region.
Jamaica’s Consul General to Southeast United States and chairperson of the Caribbean Consular Corp in Miami, Ricardo Allicock, expressed gratitude on behalf of the islands, emphasizing that several persons stood to benefit from the donation.
Mr. Allicock praised the South Florida community for its generosity, notwithstanding their own challenges from hurricane damage during the year.
Attending the presentation ceremony were several members of the Caribbean Consular Corp as well as members of the Miami Dade City Commission, and Director of the Port of Miami, Chuck Towsley.