Imagine standing in the middle of your living room with your possessions laying around everywhere, some are broken beyond repair. You look up and see the blue sky and bright sun shining down and realize the roof was ripped off your house by a force of nature that you survived, but now you have no place to lay your head to sleep. Last week a powerful inland hurricane pummeled through the Midwest. If your only inconvenience was a loss of power for a couple of days, you are the lucky one because some people ended up without a place to live.
Iowa residents were affected the most by the Derecho. Even now Cedar Rapids is struggling to help many residents displaced by the storm. Many refugees and immigrants in Cedar Rapids are finding themselves lacking resources and many are actually living on the streets because their residences were destroyed. Many of these people also do not speak or understand English.
Latino organizations in the Quad Cities have banded together to bring a little relief to these families.
Hola America, Mercado on Fifth, LULAC Davenport and LULAC Muscatine are organizing a 2-day supply drive this Thursday and Friday to gather items of immediate need for these families. The items needed are:
• Diapers and wipes (all sizes included pull-ups)
• Gift cards for gas, clothing, food (gas stations, Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee, etc)
• Batteries
• Battery-operated fans
• Flashlights
• Food (fruit, applesauce, deli meats, peanut butter, bread, etc)
• Hygiene products (toilet paper, wipes, feminine hygiene products, toothbrushes/toothpaste, etc)
Also on Thursday morning Mr. Michael Reyes will be presenting a significant monetary donation from LULAC Davenport and the Quad Cities Latino Foundation to the LULAC Cedar Rapids Council who are working in conjunction with the Young Parents Network of Cedar Rapids to bring some relief to these families.
The times and locations of the supply drives are:
Moline
Esperanza Center, 335 5th Avenue, Moline, IL
Thursday from 5 to 7pm and Friday from 4 to 6pm
Davenport
Newton Law Office, 605B West 53rd Street, Davenport, IA 52806
Thursday and Friday from 8am to 5pm
According to people who visited the affected people, the desperation is starting to set in. They implore anyone who can and willing to help to donate the items they ask for. Cash donations are also accepted.
Thank you for all the organizations participating and thank you to everyone in advance for your support.
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