OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE
DESPERATELY NEEDED AID!
Macario Advantage is soliciting donations of funds to purchase personal care items in bulk, such as tooth brushes and toothpaste, bar soap, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, adult diapers, detergent, toilet paper, roll on deodarant (male & female), etc., to meet minimum needs while the local businesses and jobs, banks, shops, homes and infrastructure are being restored. Restoration of the facilities that we previously upgraded will be given priority for hands-on projects. Volunteer work will be devoted mostly to restoring facilities that service the community includiing churches and schools.
Reconstruction of the islands is obviously going to be a long-term process considering the extensive damage that was inflicted on them and the limited resources available to the local governments. Please donate by clicking on the word GIVE highlighted in green or go to www.macarioadvantage.org/donate and provide as much assistance as you can to these people that are now homeless, hungry and unable to see hope for the future. Every dollar collected, and every item received for shipment, will go to the benefit of the impacted islanders. Please know that no salaries, overhead costs or travel expenses are paid out of your donation. We will keep you informed about where your money was spent.
We are very grateful to those that have already contributed since the storms passed.
Note that Macario Advantage is a registered 501(c)(3) organization, so US citizens can claim a tax credit for any donation. Macario Advantage also has a subsidiary company, Macario Advantage Inc., in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
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LOOKING BACK 2016-2017
Macario Advantage completed planning for new projects in the eastern Caribbean islands, building on its successful completion of community development projects in recent years. Care for the elderly and support for young students have significantly benefited from these endeavors. See the video below highlighting some of these projects, including Lamb’s Feast (meals on wheels), Operation Youth Quake (shelter for abused youth), Home for the Aged (nursing home), and Roosevelt Douglas Primary School, all on the island of Dominica. Please CLICK ON PICTURE to view the video and share the good news!
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LOOKING AHEAD
The massive damage inflicted on the northeastern Caribbean islands by Hurricanes Irma and Maria has caused our priorities to shift from community development projects to supporting disaster recovery efforts.
As communications on the most heavily impacted islands in the northeastern Caribbean are restored, the Macario Advantage home office in Houston has received first-hand reports from its contacts in the affected islands confirming the staggering magnitude of the damage done, and have received urgent pleas for help in getting almost all of the basic needs for survival.
While there has been a terrific and heart-warming outpouring of aid to the hurricane-affected regions of Texas, Florida, and elsewhere in the US southeast following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, relatively little aid is, so far, being directed to the devastated Caribbean islands. The US is providing some relief to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands; the UK is providing some relief to the British Virgin Islands; and France and Holland are providing some relief to St. Martin. However, the independent islands, like Dominica and Antigua/Barbuda, that were severely damaged are left largely on their own.
Thankfully, some modest assistance is beginning to reach these independent islands, primarily from the neighboring islands of Trinidad, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada and Cuba to name a few, but the volume of aid reaching the most heavily damaged islands is miniscule compared to the real needs of the local people. None of the people that we have spoken with have received any aid at all. Fortunately, European nations have helped local authorities to restore order in the wake of the storms.
Since a large percentage of the population of these islands is very poor, their simple wooden homes were reduced to scattered fragments of wood. More substantial buildings, including the hospitals and churches that had been designated as storm shelters, had their roofs destroyed along with their contents. Only some of the buildings that had concrete roofs survived largely intact. Bridges were washed out, and landslides and fallen trees closed roads. Therefore, heavy equipment and vast amounts of construction materials are needed in short order.
As much as we would like to, Macario Advantage is not in a position to fix these large problems. To their credit, the local governments are doing everything they can to restore order, to restore power and water, and to clean up the mess. However, progress is slow because the government coffers are perpetually low even without these storms. To the maximum extent possible, Macario Advantage will do everything it can to support local organizations that, in turn, support the neediest elderly and youth.
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