Illinois cross country and track and field All-American Olivia Howell and the University of Illinois Student-Athlete Advisory Committee have organized a supply drive and fundraiser toward hurricane relief and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.
The supply drive will be held on Wednesday, October 26, from 4-7 p.m. on the west side of State Farm Center. Several Illini student-athletes will be in attendance at the event.
SAAC has partnered with Brigadas Salubristas, and all funds and items collected will go directly to cities and towns in need across the island.
Howell is Puerto Rican and has family who still lives on the island, and they were impacted by Hurricane Fiona. Though her family lives in an elevated area and did not deal with any flooding at their house, island-wide power outages and a lack of clean, drinkable water caused major problems.
Though Howell's family is accustomed to hurricanes, which are common in Puerto Rico, they left their house and took shelter and went to a location that had a resource their home lacked during the storms: clean water.
"At first, one of my cousin's who's in college and is my age, she wasn't able to go to her school because the power was out. You can't do online school once the power is out, so she was just home," Howell said. "They didn't have electricity or water. It was really hard for them to navigate around the island, as you can imagine, because pretty much everywhere else was underwater."
The recovery and rebuilding processes on the island have been slow, Howell says, especially since Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria, which hit five years ago.
"They don't get much help with rebuilding and getting back on their feet," Howell said. "Even before the hurricane, they had problems with power outages. The company there is very, very bad, like the power goes out on the whole island pretty easily, so that's still a condition that they're going through. I know there's a lot of people helping set up temporary housing to help with medical and food, but it's a very slow process and there's a great lack of resources."
Howell visited Puerto Rico for the first time over the summer. She says her family usually make the trip to the U.S. since it is during hurricane season, but she made the journey south this year. After getting a first-hand glimpse into her culture, Howell was inspired to pay more attention to "everything that's happening there," from politics to gentrification.
The visit also served as a main motivator behind organizing relief efforts on campus, using her star status at Illinois to generate interest and attention in collecting items and money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.
"After this hurricane, I wanted to do more than just help my family," Howell said. "I'm thankful enough to be a part of a program such as SAAC to give me the resources to do so."
The SAAC set a $40,000 fundraising goal, and those interested in supporting the cause can donate here, and Howell says portable water filters, blankets, sleeping bags, and pillows are the biggest needs on the island right now. All donated items will be transported by Howell's aunt to a boat that will then deliver them directly to Puerto Rico.
"Anything is helpful," Howell said. "I just want people help us. That's all we can ask for."
