Against Adversity

Annette and I took on the task of following yesterday's report in Dando Candela where they presented an Aibonito family in great need and that FEMA denied help. Today we find the family thanks to the sister of the young father who communicated with me. The Family lives at "El Fresal" sector in the Cuyon neighborhood of Aibonito, PR. Daniel Rodríguez and Zulmarie Martínez are the parents of four children of two, four, five and eleven years old. The family lost their house and all their belongings to the fury of Hurricane Maria. They are without electricity and water service and the tanker of the municipality goes to the sector only once a week and distributes water to the residents of the place in a rationed manner. Daniel, who is a Welder by trade, lost his job some time ago and since then he has been raising pigs, guineas and rabbits to earn a living from his family. Unfortunately the hurricane killed all the animals so the family was left without income. They have made several attempts to request help from FEMA and the municipal government of Aibonito but so far that help has not arrived. They did not receive the $ 500.00 from the emergency funds at the beginning of the crisis, they were uncommunicated for more than two weeks and finally FEMA granted them $ 7,000.00 in aid that is not enough to rebuild their house. Those funds are barely enough to put up the foundation and floor of the house according to the contractor who claims to be doing it without any profit. Today neighbors of the place came to help them remove the rubble from the house and the friends of Community Solidarity Networks visited them to start coordinating some help. Friends and neighbors help them with food, some clothes and gas for the generator that Dando Candela got them. They have also helped them with beds for the children. The family is living in the house of Daniel's parents in which at the moment 12 people are staying. The youngest child suffers from a kidney condition and it is necessary to keep their medications refrigerated. The little one is waiting for an operation of his kidneys.
This family needs help. The priority for this family are construction materials, clothes for children, diapers, food and gasoline for the generator. If you want to help, please send whatever you can to the family in El Fresal, or you can bring it to my house in the town of Aibonito and I'll make sure it gets to them.

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