hurricane patricia FUND

On October 23, 2015, Hurricane Patricia hit Careyes and the surrounding communities. Recorded as a Category 5 only because Category 6 does not exist, Patricia was, at the time, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in history. The storm devastated the region, leaving 40% of the houses in the area without roofs and 58 out of the municipality's 118 schools too damaged to operate. Immediately following this disaster, we created the Hurricane Patricia Fund (HPF), which quickly raised $194,705 USD thanks to the generosity of our donors.

In accordance with the mission of the Careyes Foundation, the HPF has funded a long-term initiative focused on improving local school facilities so that they can be used as emergency shelters. In addition to providing a refuge for each community in the event of future natural disasters, these shelters will also enable students to promptly resume their educational activities and will prevent the loss of school materials. 

To implement this plan, we began by working with various government agencies, compelling them to fulfill their obligation to repair the damaged schools in the ten villages that we serve. Once the government had completed each school repair, we began to convert the schools into emergency shelters. In each school, we installed hurricane panels (specially-designed removable steel window shields) on the classrooms indicated for shelter use. Additionally, each shelter is fully equipped with all supplies necessary in the event of a natural disaster, including collapsible cots for sleeping, an electrical generator, a first aid kit with medical supplies, and an emergency kit (containing axes, pickaxes, machetes, and a chainsaw, as well as additional water filters and battery-powered lanterns with rechargeable batteries and battery chargers).

We have completed shelter installations in each of the ten villages we serve: Agua Caliente Nueva, Agua Caliente Vieja, Arroyo Seco, Juan Gil Preciado, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco Villa, Miguel Hidalgo Nuevo, Miguel Hidalgo Viejo, Punta Pérula and San Mateo. With the support of the Happy Hearts Fund, we are now repairing and improving area preschools that are still damaged two years after Hurricane Patricia made landfall. 

Click here to view a summary of our spending to date.