No food, no water, and no power. All three are on the mind of every Puerto Rican after Hurricane Maria’s Category 4 winds pummeled the island with sustained winds of over 155 mph. While the island slowly recovers from the hurricane, over 80% of Puerto Rican homes are still without power, a third are without running water, and 90% of Puerto Rico’s population is without phone service. With dozens of deaths, Hurricane Maria is one of the most violent storms in Puerto Rico’s history. Now the effort to rebuild begins, with over 10,000 federal workers on the island from dozens of federal departments and agencies delivering food, water, and supplies to all Puerto Ricans looking for and in need of it. However, the recovery will be painful with many rural towns still not having received the sufficient aid that they need to feed their residents. With companies such as AT&T, Cisco, T-Mobile, and Facebook all trying to rebuild the network sites in the area, communication is nonexistent for most Puerto Ricans. While both the government and corporations struggle to care for Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, there are great charities on both the local and international level trying to help in any way they can. I will highlight several of the charities that stand out above the rest in their efforts to help the people of Puerto Rico to recover from this devastating storm.

One of the organizations that stood out as a beneficial  was All Hands Volunteers. This is an international organization that works with local volunteers, mainly in the Caribbean and Central America, and teaches them how to dismantle and repair their homes and property. This organization stuck out to me because it does not only donate food and water, but it builds and funds infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals, community centers, clinics, and daycare centers. The organization has been active for over 12 years and has provided the tools and funding for over 37,000 volunteers to donate years of their time helping victims of natural disasters. All Hands Volunteers focuses on long term solutions, which will help rebuild the communities affected by Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters throughout the Caribbean.

Another organization that seemed worthwhile was Convoy of Hope. The organization is a religious-based aid program that focuses on feeding children, providing medicine, building clinics, providing clean drinking water, offering financial incentives to women in developing nations, and providing natural disaster relief. The organization is far-reaching and has almost 45,000 volunteers spending almost 600,000 hours of their time volunteering to rebuild infrastructure, distribute water and food, and rebuild communities years after disasters have occurred. Convoy of Hope is effective and charitable, donating over 70,000 meals to the people of Puerto Rico as of October 2017. Convoy of Hope is truly bringing hope to the people of Puerto Rico and is making the world a safer and kinder place to live.

A final organization that I feel is deserving of attention  is MedShare. MedShare is a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization that focuses on providing medical services to victims of storms and providing medical supplies for hospitals. MedShare has over 20,000 volunteers and has donated over 6,000 tons of medical supplies. MedShare has also set its sights on disease prevention and maternal care in developing nations. MedShare has recently been in touch with local communities in Puerto Rico and has put experienced doctors and medical professionals on the ground there in order to tend to any injuries or subsequent disease that may affect survivors of the storm.

I believe each of these charities has their own merit and can transform the current situation in Puerto Rico if enough funding and donations are given to them. I hope and believe that each charity is fighting to make a difference in Puerto Rico. After reviewing each organization thoroughly, I personally plan to donate to the All Hands Volunteers charity, and I hope whoever is reading this does the same.