Rise Up! Seattle for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is suffering of a Humanitarian Crisis.  Many experts have said this is the natural disaster that has affected more people in modern history. Maria struck September 20, knocking out power for nearly all the 3.4 million US citizens and demolishing structures on an island already struggling. Nearly 1.6 million electric customers in Puerto Rico are without power, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Energy Department, not counting those using generators as a backup.

I lived in San Juan and life was not much different than in Seattle. You go to work, you pick up the kids, you have few games on the weekend, and you do some family activities (in Puerto Rico you will go to the beach or the boat in Seattle you will go on a Hike or the lake). Imagine if you wake up one day and you don’t have any electricity, water, food in the super market or any type of communication – yeap, no Wifi, or cellphone!

Everything has to be purchased through cash. Since ATM machines no longer have cash, and just a handful of central banks are in service, the lines of people can take over 2 hours for you to get your turn.

There are so many cars waiting outside the functioning gas stations that the roads in the streets get easily blocked. Only a share of $15 per person is distributed for the gas tank. Also, over a hundred people line up outside the gas station hours before they open with an empty gallon container to get a portion of diesel, which will be used for electric generators. The few supermarkets that open for the public are closing earlier than usual. There are significantly less food items available and the lines of people to the cash register are very long. Tap water is available in some areas however there is no power to push it into the apartments (that is the case of my family). Bottled water is nowhere to be found. It is heart breaking!


The worst of all is the precarious shape of the island’s medical facilities. After the power went out, back-up generators at some hospitals failed quickly. Other hospitals are running critically low on diesel. Fuel is so precious that deliveries are made by armed guards to prevent looting.   Medical staffers are also running low on gasoline for their daily commutes to work.

In an effort to raise awareness and help the most in need, we are doing an event on October 15th at the Mercer Island Beach Club. We will donate 100% of the proceeds to the San Jorge Children’s foundation, the largest children hospital in Puerto Rico and the one that we visited many times when our kids were sick. This is a wonderful foundation we know and benefited first-hand and feel comfortable all proceeds will be in good hands.

This is how you can help:

1)      Attend to October 15th event anytime between 12:30 to 5:30 at the Mercer Island Beach club. We suggest a minimum donation of $35 per adult and $25 per kid, if you can donate more or less is ok. This will be a family event that includes Puerto Rican food, drinks (incl. wine & beer). Put Event- family name # of people and donation $ via gofundme.

2)      If you can’t attend, that’s ok! Simply  donate any $ to gofundme

3)      If you have any donations you can make for the event for the silent auction. Please contact me.

Thank you everyone, any contribution count! Help us raise $5K on behalf of the Mercer Island community.