Aid shipments from South Florida going to those impacted by Hurricane Beryl
MIAMI - Shipments of aid from South Florida are arriving in the Caribbean to help our neighbors recover from Hurricane Beryl.
There are now drop-off locations throughout the county to bring donations. Those include the Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) warehouse in Doral and several county libraries.
They have a specific list of needed goods including sheets, blankets, cots, sleeping bags, trash bags, tarps, tents, and nonperishable items. They do not need clothes.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Cava Levine stopped by the GEM warehouse, 1850 NW 84th Avenue, and said South Florida is ready to step up and help.
"They just need direction, what to do, so we have, of course, the main donation collection center at the GEM warehouse but you can also donate supplies at the following county libraries; South Dade, North Dade, and Aventura," she said.
- North Dade Regional Library, 2455 NW 183rd Street, Miami Gardens
- South Dade Regional Library, 10750 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay
- Aventura Library, 2930 NE 199th Street, Aventura
Donations can also be dropped off at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street in Miami.
In addition to donating goods and cash, GEM is asking for volunteers to come to the Doral warehouse to put together boxes that can feed two people for up to three days. The box is full of toiletries like deodorant, shampoo, wipes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and non-perishable items. It also has items like perfume to help people feel good when they're going through the worst of times.
"We're gonna have a roof over our head, we're going to eat, we're going to enjoy each other," county Commissioner Oliver Gilbert said. "We should want that for other people."
County officials said they know South Florida is ready to help and so far thousands of the boxes have already been packed.
Levine Cava said the 30,000 county employees can donate in another way too.
"They will have the opportunity to donate, voluntarily, their accrued leave time, which converts to cash," said the mayor. "We do this in every major disaster and our employees are very generous, so it will be many thousands of dollars that will be donated."
If you would like to help, the county has more information on their website.
Food For The Poor (FFTP) in Coconut Creek is helping with emergency relief supplies in Jamaica for families affected by Beryl.
In the days leading up to its arrival, food items were prepositioned in areas that could be cut off during a storm.
The charity said critical aid ready to be deployed includes disaster preparedness kits for 500 families, 16 containers of food, six containers of healthcare supplies, and five containers of other essential items.
"Our distribution network in Jamaica goes out to more than 30 end points, which are typically churches," said FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine in a statement. "We have a very large network to distribute aid."
FFTP also is assessing needs in the islands of the southeast Caribbean that were devastated by Beryl. The charity prepositioned disaster preparedness kits in St. Lucia, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. Each kit contains supplies for at least 250 families.
Cash donations are encouraged to expedite delivery of aid and to make in-country purchases.
foodforthepoor.org/hurricaneberyl
In Lauderhill, supplies are being collected to support Jamaica and the Caribbean islands.
The collection drop-off is at John Mullin Park, 2000 NW 55th Avenue. The drop-off is open from Thursday, July 4th, to Sunday, July 7th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Items needed include blankets and sheets (new), sleeping bags (new), yard waste bags, work gloves (new), non-perishable foods, solar-powered lights/flashlights, industrial sponges, professional first aid kits, tarps, personal hygiene kits, and baby wipes.
