Help for Puerto Rico #WarriorAngels
Donation protected
Friends, my name is Valerie Edmondson Bolanos and I am a native Puerto Rican living near Los Angeles CA. After Hurricane Maria carved its way across Puerto Rico, my homeland, I was gutted. We have received first hand accounts of people desperate for relief: pregnant mothers, mothers who delivered their babies during the hurricane and have had no medical attention for 10+ days, elderly family members living in nursing homes with no water, power, hospitalized cancer patients that cannot get the treatment they need, and many, many more heartbreaking stories.
The state and federal response to this catastrophe has been too slow to help those people who are most vulnerable and need immediate aid. So we jumped into action, have quickly organized a group of friends and volunteers and we're calling ourselves Warrior Angels Rescue (look for our group on Facebook, #WarriorAngelsRescue).
To date, Warrior Angels Rescue has procured 1 to 3 flights per day that fly into Puerto Rico filled with emergency supplies, medical personnel and volunteers, and return to the mainland filled with evacuees including expectant mothers, medically fragile adults, and the elderly.
We have been working closely with charter flight companies to provide evacuation flights to these desperate individuals. And while companies have generously offered to provide the flights at cost, the flights are still expensive. We are actively looking to partner with donors wherever possible, asking those who can pay for a flight to do so, and also raising funds through this GoFundMe page.
You can get involved by:
1. Donating to this GoFundMe campaign
2. Volunteering: our volunteers coordinate logistics on the ground in Puerto Rico (including transportation to the airports), and help meet the needs of our evacuees in Florida, New York, New Jersey, California (and anywehre else we have volunteers).
Please do whatever you can to help!
Thank you!
Valerie
P.S. GoFundMe has requested more detail around how funds raised will be used: We have opened a separate bank account to manage these funds and will pay the charter companies out of that account. Any additional funds that are not used for rescue and evacuation efforts will be donated to San Jorge Childrens Foundation. (However, right now we dont have enough to cover the flights that are going out daily so please help!)
The state and federal response to this catastrophe has been too slow to help those people who are most vulnerable and need immediate aid. So we jumped into action, have quickly organized a group of friends and volunteers and we're calling ourselves Warrior Angels Rescue (look for our group on Facebook, #WarriorAngelsRescue).
To date, Warrior Angels Rescue has procured 1 to 3 flights per day that fly into Puerto Rico filled with emergency supplies, medical personnel and volunteers, and return to the mainland filled with evacuees including expectant mothers, medically fragile adults, and the elderly.
We have been working closely with charter flight companies to provide evacuation flights to these desperate individuals. And while companies have generously offered to provide the flights at cost, the flights are still expensive. We are actively looking to partner with donors wherever possible, asking those who can pay for a flight to do so, and also raising funds through this GoFundMe page.
You can get involved by:
1. Donating to this GoFundMe campaign
2. Volunteering: our volunteers coordinate logistics on the ground in Puerto Rico (including transportation to the airports), and help meet the needs of our evacuees in Florida, New York, New Jersey, California (and anywehre else we have volunteers).
Please do whatever you can to help!
Thank you!
Valerie
P.S. GoFundMe has requested more detail around how funds raised will be used: We have opened a separate bank account to manage these funds and will pay the charter companies out of that account. Any additional funds that are not used for rescue and evacuation efforts will be donated to San Jorge Childrens Foundation. (However, right now we dont have enough to cover the flights that are going out daily so please help!)
Organizer
Valerie Edmondson Bolaños
Organizer
Santa Monica, CA
