Hamilton’s Jamaica Foundation leads support campaign to help country rebuild after hurricane

As the clean up following Hurricane Melissa continues in Jamaica, the Jamaica Foundation in Hamilton is spearheading a campaign to rebuild the country, by calling on locals for support following the unprecedented devastation.

The campaign is a collaboration between the Jamaica Foundation, the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association of Hamilton (ACCA), and the Hamilton Caribbean Women’s Group.

It comes as members of the Canadian Red Cross, GlobalMedic, and other organizations are currently assisting on the ground.

“The trees are flattened, a lot of the towns up in the mountain are flattened,” said Robert McNamara with GlobalMedic.

McNamara and Stefan Mueller are on the ground in Jamaica, witnessing the devastation from Hurricane Melissa first hand.

“We’re in Negril in Jamaica right now,” said Mueller.

“We came in from Kingston via helicopter, so we had a chance to see the most devastated areas — there’s no electricity, there’s no plumbing, so they’re in a bad way for quite a while to come,” said McNamara.

WATCH MORE: Jamaican workers in Simcoe head home after Hurricane Melissa

The two are with GlobalMedic, an emergency humanitarian aid organization based in Ontario.

They say the biggest need right now is shelter, food, and water.

“We’re just at the new world central kitchen, setting up a smaller kitchen on this end of the island,” said Mueller. “We’ve finished in Montego Bay with them, we have set up their water filtration system there,  so we just drove to Negril today — we just scoped the site, and we have them up and running, hopefully they’re gonna be cooking here by Friday to be hand out meals.”

The Canadian Red Cross has also mobilized over 400 people to help.

“People need food, people need medicine, people need water, and people need shelter, so that’s been the main focus over the last week,” said Chiran Livera, the operations lead with the Canadian Red Cross. “Then of course to start thinking about rebuilding, so we’re accompanying people through their recovery process, so this is going to be a long process.”

There is also support coming from Hamilton, where multiple organizations in the city launched a campaign Tuesday to support Jamaica’s rebuild.

“I have a brother in Jamaica, I have nephews and nieces, and many friends so I am really distressed — our family is trying to get the word from them to see how they are doing,” said Evelyn Myrie, the President of the Afro Canadian Caribbean Association of Hamilton.

The campaign, called Hamilton Loves Jamaica, is helping Jamaica rebuild and is looking for local support in the form of monetary donations.

“We want to raise at least $100,000 in the Hamilton area,” said Myrie. “We have a huge population of over 700,000 — we know we can do this and we know we can do this with everyone.”

There are two events coming up where you can donate: a concert Saturday at 5:30 p.m., at the Michelangelo Banquet Centre on Upper Ottawa St., and there is another concert on Nov. 16th at the ACCA at 754 Barton St. East.

Tickets can be found here, and donations can be dropped off at the ACCA at any time.

READ MORE: Jamaica Foundation Hamilton to hold benefit concert for hurricane relief