Through the “ Mi Barrio Se Levanta”  initiative, FBV partnered with Cleveland Indians baseball shortstop Francisco Lindor. In his hometown of Barrio Hato Caguas, Lindor helped us deliver emergency supplies like warm meals and water to victims of Hurricane Maria.

Assisted and financially sponsored the reconstruction of five new homes in Vega Baja, pre-selected by the Trap artist Bad Bunny and coordinated through local organization Almirante News. Volunteers also handed out emergency supplies during the initiative “Mi Barrio Se Levanta” (My Neighborhood Rises).

Morovis

The “Tu Estrella Vive” (campaign focused on local business rehabilitation post Hurricane Maria and re-emphasize our commitment to help strengthen local economies. Heineken staff, community leaders, and volunteers worked together with Madeco to help revitalize local neighborhood businesses: Alcapurria Doña Fela and Pa’l Campo in Morovis. In Pa’l Campo, volunteers and staff helped reconstruct the business which had been completely destroyed. They helped remove debris, installed new roofs and gave both businesses a fresh coat of paint.

Naguabo

Volunteers and contractors worked on the a local restaurant: La Casa del Mofongo, helping to install a new roof and repaint the restaurant. Volunteers also revitalized public spaces around the boardwalk in Naguabo, cleaning the beach, removing debris, and replanting vegetation around the boardwalk, or as locals call it, “el malecón”.

Guaynabo

In Guaynabo, volunteers and staff impacted the local business of El Guayabo. The campaign also impacted local park and community spaces, along with distributing electric generators to clients, portable gasoline and oil tanks, and emergency supplies such as  cases of water to individuals.

In collaboration with Whirlpool Puerto Rico and Méndez & Co, our organizations helped open a community clothes washing station.

Collaborated with IRONMAN Foundation staff and volunteer athletes to revitalize four homes of aging residents. Teams of volunteers removed debris and repainted homes. The crew also repainted the local baseball field, the heart of a community that has grown up with the sport all their lives.

Our contracting partners then sealed roofs and installed new windows and doors in selected homes. Community leaders helped us identify how we could use the remaining resources from this grant to continue impacting more homes and public spaces in the community.

Worked with the executive team of the Minnesota Twins to impact two homes. Cleaned houses with pressure washing machine, painted the house’s exterior and front gate, and sealed the roofs of one home. Primed and painted the interior of the two bedrooms in the other home, installed two new interior doors and helped seal the roof.

In partnership with the organization Para La Naturaleza, volunteers from Columbia Business School’s graduating class of 2018, assisted with field work and farming in Proyecto Yucae at the Punta Yeguas natural reserve in Yabucoa.  Yabucoa is also the municipality where Hurricane Maria entered Puerto Rico. Volunteers also helped with reforestation efforts in Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve in Fajardo preparing the soil and planting dozens of trees.

Worked directly with the New York Stands with Puerto Rico initiative for a three-day intensive initiative. The selected project focused on clearing the surroundings of a local lake to help mitigate future flooding disasters in the region. Volunteers included students and staff from the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College, SUNY University at Albany and SUNY College of  Environmental Science and Forestry.

Volunteers were trained by the Municipal Public Works Director and staff to properly and safely remove debris. Post-hurricane, the area suffered greatly with floods impacting close to 5,800 of Levittown’s habitable houses. Many residents were left traumatized, many of them with families. The clean-up efforts on this lake are incredibly important to Toa Baja, as it will help mitigate and control the overflow of unsanitary water if another hurricane were to impact during the season which started June 2018.