The dancehall icon has flown in food, water, and supplies for Black River as residents face widespread loss of housing, power, and basic essentials.
joins our call from the car. He’s making his second trip from Kingston to Black River, the capital of Jamaica’s southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth. Under normal circumstances, the drive takes about two hours; on the night of Oct.
30, it took six.— the strongest storm to hit Jamaica in modern history — has left the town in ruins, he says, echoing. “There’s no running water, there’s no electricity, there’s no shelter. They were sleeping on the streets. We came in last night, we gave out water, we gave out food. There are actually bodies trapped in homes that people haven’t been able to clear.” Still, he and his business partner Sharon Burke — one of Jamaica’sLast week, the diamond-certified reggae and dancehall star was at his second home in Miami when Hurricane Melissa was upgraded to a Category 5 storm headed toward Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba. Realizing the scale of what was coming, he began making calls — to friends like Florida injury attorney Dan Newlin, and to the U.S.-based Jamaican charity— Shaggy has devoted roughly half his time to charitable efforts. Through his Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation, he has helped raise up to $1 million for Kingston’s Bustamante Hospital for Children viaof himself aboard a small jet loaded with water bottles, canned foods, paper towels and more. He’s since coordinated a total of four flights filled with necessities to fly into Kingston from the US, he tells us. “We also have the bay of the plane filled with supplies,” he mentioned in one video. “I’m asking everybody to help and make sure you donate.” Below, Shaggy explains how the relief flights came together. To support Hurricane Melissa recovery yourself, Shaggy encourages you to visitHow did you manage to get your own plane full of supplies to Jamaica? Could you start from the beginning? Well, when we realized that it was a Category 5, that we knew there was going to be a lot of destruction. We have survived through , which was a Category 3, and that was devastating as is. So what we decided was to be ahead of the curve. I really couldn’t do as much at that time because the airport wasn’t open. , who does a lot of humanitarian things. He has a lot of connections to help be my partner in getting everything moving. He and I worked together before, it was like, “Okay, let’s get a couple of planes lined up.” We made a list of things we’re going to buy. We made calls. We loaded up the planes and came back down to Jamaica. As soon as opened , that very morning, we left out. Then once I got here, we got in touch with Sharon Burke from the Solid Agency, and of course my wife – she was on the ground because she rode the hurricane out . She was the first actually Black River and told us what to expect.The Marleys’ Jamrock Reggae Cruise Rerouted as Hurricane Melissa Nears JamaicaDanny has two planes, so it wasn’t hard.Yeah, we’re using both planes to carry things down. There’s one coming tomorrow now with cargo also. And then we’re also dealing with getting bigger cargoes coming in.So grateful to every one who assisted, big shout out to Dan newlin for helping out, we are bringing supplies out to st. elizebeth, and to everyone reaching out how to help,we appreciate it a lot, stay tuned we are working on a few things. Thanx again for the outpouring of love and prayers, Jamaica strong 🇯🇲 Foodforthepoor.org SupportJamaica.gov.jaBoth of us are putting together to get it done. Both of us are coming out-of-pocket right now. It’s a true partnership between both of us.We’re going to try and do as much as we can, but that’s the place that is pretty rough. There’s a lot of aid coming into Jamaica. A lot of people are focusing on Montego Bay. So you guys decided to direct your first efforts towards Black River and St. Elizabeth because there was less being provided in that area? How are you amassing volunteers? What hands do you have helping you move things from place to place? Yes, and it’s just friends and family right now. And listen, this is all preliminary. This is us just moving on impulse, coming in and getting it done. So we’re just having volunteers and friends. Everyone is calling anyway, so we do have a lot of support. One thing about Jamaicans, we’re resilient and we’re all gathering. Even going down yesterday, there were people from the neighborhood that were clearing the roads for us and helping us to get in. They all helped us to organize in Black River. The community is also assisting us. How many total flights are you hoping to come in and out through your efforts? How long do you intend to have your network of folks on the ground? I don’t know how long that is. As you can imagine, we’re trying to organize as we go. It’s a little chaotic as it is. 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