Hurricane Aid Washburn School Ponce
Dear Washburn School,
We are proud of our 15-year commitment to service and education in the Coto Laurel, Ponce, Puerto Rico community. Just a week before we were hit by Hurricane Maria we were able to give TWO truckloads of donations to our neighboring Caribbean islands who were hit by Hurricane Irma. Now, we are faced with a much different reality.
Hurricane Maria has hit our home. Our Washburn campus. Our Faculty. Our Staff. Our Students. Our family. Our Coto Laurel, Ponce Community. No one was spared from the devastation .
From the uprooting of all our beautiful trees to losing the roofs of our just recently renovated summer investments and elementary school classrooms.
Maria affected each and every one of us. All of us have no power, no water, no communications. The needs are varied; everything from the smallest luxury like ice, to the most basic requirement: a place to sit down or lay one's head.
EIGHT of our teachers and staff members lost their roofs and even whole homes. Our janitor, Rosa, who had the 2017 graduation dedicated to her and her son, also and employee lost their homes. One of our English teachers, Mrs. Elizabeth Garcia lost her roofs and all her property during the storm. Her daughter, a kindergarten student at Washburn, is shown to the right in the following picture.
Our high school Math teacher, high school English teacher, elementary school Science teacher, our librarian, and security guard also lost their homes. They need to rebuild or may be forced to move to the United States.
Since communications are down in almost 90% of the island we have, we have yet to hear from many students that indicated they had metal roofs or wooden structured homes before the storm.
We started class on October 4th (two weeks after the HURRICANE hit) after spending over $5000 in cleanup efforts. Students are studying half a day since we do not have electrictity and Ponce, Puerto Rico is scorching hot year round.
ALL the money goes to the actual rescue and and recovery of the damage Maria has caused to our school, contributions to the teachers most affected, and our community.
We hope to relieve some financial pressure from our teachers, buy an electrical plant to be able to power our cafeteria and start serving food again, and even some classroom fans to improve our students learning conditions.
We have pledged to make a mural representing the re-building efforts and will write the name of each donor as a symbol of their contribution. There is no minimum or limit to the amount you can contribute!
All contributions will be handled by Ronnie Lopezcepero, member of our Board, who will participate in the distribution effort, based on who has the most needy and urgent life situation. If you were waiting for the right time to give, this is it. This is an opportunity to help your school, and the people who make up the community around it. He is able to handle communications from Florida as he was activated with a FEMA contractor. He will be traveling to Puerto Rico this Saturday.
Until the school is up and running again with full communications, you can contact Ronnie Lopezcepero at further information or email him at [email redacted] or please feel free to read his bio at http://www.washburnschoolpr.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=323648&type=u&pREC_ID=394636
The Go Fund Me Page will be turned over to Washburn School for administration and ultimate management once communications re-establish in Ponce.
Before the Storm
