Teen crowdfunds solar lamps and hand-cranked washers for (still!) powerless areas of Puerto Rico

For a moment, imagine your home without electricity. Not for an hour or a day, but for weeks. Then months. Four months to be exact. That's the case in rural areas of Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria hit last fall. Nearly half a million people, American citizens by the way, are still without power. Four months without lights, without washers and dryers, cell phone chargers, power for cooking and refrigeration, never mind TV and internet. 

Salvador Gomez Colon considers himself lucky - his San Juan home has had power since the early days after the hurricane. When the 15-year-old learned just how devastated the island's rural areas are, he started a crowdfunding campaign on Generosity. The campaign has raised almost $120,000 to date, which Colon uses to buy solar powered lamps and hand-cranked washers. He has distributed over 1400 lamps to folks who are (literally and figuratively) powerless, some with phone charging capability, with 1600 more ready to go. With the help of corporate donations, he has secured over 300 hand-cranked washers for distribution too. Time Magazine named him one of the most influential teens of 2017. 

This story calls to mind a couple things - our society's terrifying reliance on the infrastructure of electricity, water, etc., and our unconscionable neglect of our fellow Americans.

All he wants for Christmas is to give - this 8-year-old collects toys for kids in Puerto Rico

A New Jersey third-grader received an early Christmas gift from a family friend - two VIP tickets to a NY Giants game. Jayden Perez was overwhelmed by the generous gift. He decided to pay it forward with some generosity of his own.

Knowing the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, Jayden told his mom that any toys he got for Christmas should instead go to children in Puerto Rico. His mother was understandably touched by Jayden's idea and suggested they go one better. She helped him organize a toy drive. Some friends planned to travel to Puerto Rico for the holidays and agreed to take the toys with them for distribution.

Jayden's mom posted the drive on Facebook and set up a GoFundMe page. Donations poured in. Local media picked up the story about the boy with a generous heart. Word spread. The NBA sent 20 boxes of new toys and merchandise to the family's home. Donations arrived from all over the region, even from neighboring states. To date, over 1,000 toys have been collected, far exceeding expectations.

A shipping company has agreed to transport the toys to the island, and Jayden and his family will fly there themselves in early January to help with distribution. Amazing what happens when a kind-hearted child leads us.

Homeless teen joins volunteer relief group, finds a purpose

Chris Davis and José Aguilar are military veterans from Arizona. After Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit the US mainland, they helped out with local relief efforts. When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, they were determined to help there too. They hopped the first flight they could and a month later, are still hard at work. They head up a group of volunteers nicknamed the "Añasco Expendables" in Añasco, Puerto Rico. 

A local teen, Christopher Rodriguez, has joined their group, and the two men have learned his remarkable story. Rodriguez is estranged from his family, and has been living on the streets for almost 3 years. As a homeless person, he felt misunderstood by his community. He rode out the hurricane alone in a taxi terminal. 

Now as a volunteer within the community, he is able to connect with people who find themselves just as homeless as he is. He loves to see people's positive reactions when he delivers supplies or helps with a manual task. In giving to others, Rodriguez feels he has found renewed energy and purpose. He hopes someone will in turn extend kindness to him so he can fulfill his dream of studying aviation mechanics.

Davis and Aguilar have assured him 'good things come to people who do good things.'  In the meanwhile, the Expendables took Rodriguez out to dinner to celebrate his 19th birthday. 

Survivalist donates his stash of 'doomsday' food to Puerto Rico

Joe Badame was feeling pretty low. The 72-year-old recently lost his wife, and his house was in foreclosure. An estate auction was underway as part of the foreclosure, and Badame watched his worldly possessions slip away.

But he didn't want to lose all the food. He and his late wife Phyllis had constructed an underground 'doomsday' bunker beneath their home (8500 square feet!) large enough to shelter 100 people. Outfitted with kerosene refrigerators, coal furnaces, and lead walls, Badame spent decades stocking the bunker with barrels of dried and preserved food. 

The day of the estate sale, Tony and Tori's food truck was on hand to feed the crowd. Badame learned that the food truck's sales were going to help Tori's family in Puerto Rico. Tori's family was safe, but homeless and hungry in Arecibo following Hurricane Maria. Badame gave Tori $100, then showed her the bunker.

He then donated all the food barrels, about a hundred of them, containing rice, beans, flour, powdered eggs, and dry milk. Each barrel holds enough food for 84 people to live for four months on 2,000 calories a day. The barrels will ship to Puerto Rico starting Monday.

So the doomsday Badame expected never arrived. But his stored food will be eaten by people thousands of miles away surviving a different kind of doomsday.