LI's Jamaican community seeks aid for devastated island after Hurricane Melissa
At Nolan’s Cuisine, a Jamaican restaurant in Elmont, helping the Caribbean island nation reeling from the destruction left behind by Hurricane Melissa is a deeply personal affair.
Even as owner Nolan Alexandre-Baker sets out barrels at the eatery for donated essentials that will be shipped to the region, he is thinking about his 78-year-old Jamaican grandmother. She has reassured him that she is all right and told him relatives were storing up supplies because they didn't know how bad conditions were going to get.
"Right now, we’re going to try to do our best from America," said Alexandre-Baker, 25, noting that it hurts that they can't help in person.
At a news conference at the restaurant on Wednesday, Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages and other civic leaders urged Long Islanders to use the official Jamaican government website to donate to hurricane relief and to several local charities, such as the True Tribute Organization Foundation Inc.
They also said items such as flashlights, lanterns, blankets and other essentials could be dropped off at Nolan’s and Solages' legislative office at 1550 West Franklin Ave. in Mineola.
"I'm asking individuals not to become numb" to taking part in relief efforts, said Solages (D-Elmont).
Nolan Alexandre-Baker owner of Nolan's Cuisine in Elmont. His restaurant along with other places in the area will be drop-off locations to collect non-perishable items to be sent to Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean impacted by Hurricane Melissa. Credit: Newsday/Drew Singh
Melissa, the most powerful hurricane to hit Jamaica and one of the strongest Atlantic storms to ever make landfall, sliced through the island on Tuesday and was over Cuba on Wednesday afternoon. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Wednesday that about 77% of the island is without electricity.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that, before it weakened, Melissa had slammed into Jamaica as a Category 5 storm — the most powerful — while packing sustained winds of 185 mph and measuring a record-low 892 millibars of central pressure. Areas of Jamaica saw more than 30 inches of rain and record storm surge, NOAA said.
On Wednesday, Haiti and the Dominican Republic were also sustaining damage from the storm.
LeRoy Graham, Jr., a South Floral Park civic leader and founder of the True Tribute Organization Foundation Inc., said he was still awaiting word on the safety of his family in Portland Parish in northeast Jamaica and in the nation's capital, Kingston.
"I am hoping and I am hopeful, because there is always hope, that we see a response led by compassion and empathy," Graham said.
The effort to help Jamaica is also taking off in other parts of Long Island.
In Hicksville, Patrick Walters plans on placing two barrels outside of his Jamaican restaurant, Uncle Don's Kitchen. His goal is to fill the containers with essential items and deliver them to people on the island who need them.
Patrick Walters is owner of Uncle Don's Kitchen in Hicksville, Wednesday. He and his family will soon be collecting items to be sent to Jamaica to help residents impacted by Hurricane Melissa. Credit: Newsday/Drew Singh
Some of those people in need might include his brother and other relatives. Walters, 69, said the hurricane has left them without food, water, or electricity.
"Everything is kind of locked down now," the Kingston native said.
Eventually, Walters said he wants to take a trip to the country to provide food. But at this moment, Walters has a message for fellow countrymen in the aftermath of the storm: lean into their Jamaican resilience.
"We have to build back because we always build back," he said.
Newsday's Virginia Huie contributed to this story.
Bitter cold on the way ... Rally against ICE detention ... Elmont stabbing victim ID'd ... Local bubbly for New Year's
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