As Hurricane Beryl heads to Jamaica, Jamaicans in Massachusetts watch and wait
BOSTON - With Jamaica in Hurricane Beryl's path, Bostonians who grew up on the island are worried about family and friends at home. People like Ernie Campbell, who owns Boston's Jamaican Mi Hungry and whose 80-year-old mother still lives in Jamiaca.
"The best thing we sell is rice, beans, plantains, jerk chicken - it's called The Classic," Campbell said.
Local Jamaicans keep an eye on Hurricane Beryl
This Jamaican comfort food tastes like home for Campbell, and he's thinking about his family now more than ever.
"We try to do what we can for the family," said Campbell."It's going to be a lot of flooding. ... supermarket will be closed."
Campbell is relying on friends in Jamaica to protect his loved one - a custom in the tight-knit community. And people in Jamaica are getting creative, boarding up windowns and using cars to build protective perimeters around homes as the Category 4 storm bears down.
"People come together and they help her out. They'll put plywood over the big glass windows. People that has concrete houses, they take in other neighbors that just have, like, a board house, and they protect them," said Campbell.
Campbell can only wait, axiously anticipating landfall of Hurricane Beryl.
"I know there's going to be a lot of nails and hammer over the next couple of weeks," said Campbell.
How to help those affected by Hurricane Beryl
The U.S. Census said there's roughly 35,000 Jamaicans living in Massachusetts. The members of the local community are promising to support each other - in Massachusetts and Jamaica. That includes Denzil McKenzie, former honorary consul of Jamaica to Boston.
"What we are doing is what we customarily do. Organizations of Jamaicans rally together to provide aid as needed," said McKenzie.
McKenzie said that while organizations are preparing in Jamaica, local Massachusetts agencies stand ready to respond. He said money may be the most effective way forward, since sending supplies can be costly and their arrival unpredictable.
"We do have people who will be collecting medical supplies, food supplies, but there's a leaning towards collecting monies. We've suffered hardships, but we also have ways of living with hardships that we've had to endure," Mckenzie said.