AMPI PA’ PUERTO RICO

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria brought a lot of need and sadness to our island. However, this powerful hurricane also brought many opportunities to organizations like AMPI to show their resilience and to increased their services to additional communities.

At such time of need, AMPI wanted to be part of that contingent of citizens that lifted our island at its most devastating time. As it happened, with many organizations and services closed due to the disaster, AMPI's facilities could not be used for service. That's when we decided to undertake new community aid projects, until we could return to some kind of normalcy within our services.  That's how AMPI began handing out aid, helping out communities, and searching to identify areas where AMPI could serve and provide help.

With this in mind, AMPI joined forces with several community leaders in the western area of PR and created the AMPI Pa’ Puerto Rico Project.  Through it and with AMPI as leader and sponsor, we submitted several proposals to Juntos y Unidos por Puerto Rico, a government lead organization that was providing funding to organizations willing to provide services to the communities. And thus, AMPI began a new chapter.

As early as February 2018, AMPI was actively handing out food, clothing, equipment, financial assistance and providing education to what would eventually be hundreds of families.  To this day, AMPI continues it’s work within the communities. Even after more than three years, as it is well known to all, the need still remains palpable in thousands of homes that, are still covered by blue emergency tarps. There are still thousands of families living in precarious conditions that have only been worsened by the impact of the 2020 Earthquake and the still soaring Covid 19 Pandemic.

 During the passage of Hurricane Maria through Puerto Rico, AMPI’s staff initially got involved in the task of caring for those residing in the three assisted living facilities managed by AMPI. Since none of our homes suffered major damages, Ampi’s commitment and love of service, once again, served as a vehicle for community help.

 Initially, and with the help of volunteers, AMPI collected many of the items from our social enterprise "La Tiendita de AMPI" and delivered them to the Municipality of Mayagüez. They were distributed among the families in need. Later, and with the help of volunteers, we prepared brigades to visit our participant’s families. Once everyone was safely identified, AMPI began handing out clothes and emergency articles to some of the most affected communities near our city. This was our way of joining many other local heroes who took upon themselves the challenge of helping others in need.

 Currently and after 3 years, we have continued to be the friendly hand of many communities, not only in our city but all across the western area. Through Ampi pa’ Puerto Rico, we have continued to distribute aid over the past three years. We adopted several communities in Guanica affected by the January 7th 2020 Earthquake and, more recently, we have reached out to thousands of families, handing out over 12,000 food boxes from different sources of support, during the needs exacerbated by the Covid 19 Pandemic. 

AMPI pa' Puerto Rico has served families from Isabela to Ponce. AMPI has taken care of more than 10, 000 families in the last eight months. AMPI has distributed medical equipment, hospital beds, educational assistive equipment, we have rebuilt ceilings at over 150 homes, hand out appliances and furniture, power plants, help families with emergency primary services and many other aids.

This was the greatest opportunity which have made AMPI feel useful in such significant and frightening moments.  It will take many years, a lot of effort and tenacity on the part of many organizations, to repair the damage that Hurricane Maria caused to our people.  AMPI has become an intrinsic part of this selfless love project and that's why we have continued these programs, in order to help those most in need.

Presently, AMPI pa' Puerto Rico is working on a project under the sponsorship of the MCS Foundation. Through this new project, our construction team evaluates the needs of thirty elderly families in order to identify possible hardships that can cause them to be prone to falls within their homes.

AMPI also continues to work handing out non-perishable food boxes through an agreement with the Puerto Rico Food Bank's Zero Hunger Project.

In the month of October, AMPI distributed over $30,000 in food and equipment vouchers provided by Hispanic Federation to help families that were affected by Storm Isaiah.

InNovember, in a collaborative agreement with United Way Puerto Rico and Wal Mart, we prepared and distributed over 500 “Bags of hope” to five elderly housing communities, providing them with basic necessities related to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

From our facilities in Guanajibo Industrial Park, we continue our information and referral work for any family in need.

Since May 2018, we have worked closely with La Chorra Community in Mayagüez, a community that AMPI has adopted since Hurricane Maria. There, in collaboration with other organizations like CMTAS and the Mayaguez Municipal Administration, AMPI has restored over 40 roofs destroyed by Maria, sponsored the construction of a biodigestor, and we intend to complete the necessary legal process, so the actual and longtime residents of this community can become the legal owners of their land and homes, which are presently owned by the local government. We expect to complete this process during 2021, with the help of our Honorable mayor, Jose Guillermo Rodriguez and his municipal legal staff.

For more than three decades, AMPI has served as a vehicle for various services which are targeted specifically to improve the quality of life of intellectually disabled and functionally diverse individuals from all over Puerto Rico. Although unknown to many, through our programs we have provided, employment, education, international sports opportunities, summer camp, recreational therapies, transportation, home health services, food,  family therapy, permanent housing and many other services to hundreds of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Now, we can add to our legacy, the thousands of families that we have been able to served, during these continuous emergency disasters that have impacted our island, changing our lives and capacity forever.