Update from Our Head Start Programs in Puerto Rico
When hurricanes Irma and Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico one year ago, all of The New York Foundling’s 44 Head Start and Early Head Start centers on the island sustained significant damage, and life changed dramatically for the nearly 1,500 Puerto Rican children and families that we serve.
Thanks to your critical support, in the months that followed, our community began the long process of rebuilding. Your donations helped to ensure that home-based services continued and that our staff was able to provide thousands of meals to families – even when sites were not operational.
To date, we’ve reopened 39 of our 44 Head Start centers, including one of our most severely damaged centers in the Bajuras community of Vega Alta (see below for photos). None of this would have been possible without the support of people like you.
Top photos: Damage to our Vega Alta center after Hurricane Maria (December 2017). Bottom: The reopening of our center in Vega Alta (June 2018).
A year has passed, but we know there’s still much work to be done. The Las Flores center in Coamo needs to be entirely reconstructed. Every site requires new technology infrastructure. Our services continue to be an essential support system for families who are still struggling post-hurricanes.
Thank you for partnering with The New York Foundling to positively impact the lives of so many people in Puerto Rico. We look forward to sharing more successes from the island in the year ahead, and are deeply grateful for the impact that your support has made possible over the last year.
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