Londoners collect donations to help Grenadians with hurricane relief

A group of residents in the London area are coming together to organize a donation drive for people suffering in Grenada after Hurricane Beryl ripped through the eastern Caribbean.

There are three drop-off locations where people can donate clothes, non-perishable food items and hygiene products until late Friday evening. Drop off locations can be found here.

"We are looking for toiletries, diapers, baby wipes, bedding, non-perishable food items, tarps, new and gently used clothing. Same for shoes, first aid supplies, batteries, work gloves, PPE masks, and some tools to help those who need to rebuild," said Cherie Leslie, president of The Barbadian Canadian and Friends Association in London Middlesex.

Hurricane Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic Ocean, peaking with winds of 270 km/h on Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4 storm.

Hurricane Beryl caused major damage in Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Jamaica and Mexico. The hurricane ripped down buildings, downed power lines and killed livestock and at least 10 people.

Leslie's extended family in Barbados suffered minor structural damage and reported seeing wrecked trees in surrounding areas.

Miranda Wayne and her husband have been organizing humanitarian aid for islanders in the Caribbean for over a decade now.

Wayne's husband has family in St. Lucia that witnessed destroyed boats and structural damage but are lucky to still have their home, Wayne said.

"His family has actually been [organizing aid] for several years and they started when Hurricane Thomas hit St. Lucia in 2010," said Wayne. "Then we just continued to bring donations to the communities there through the libraries, schools and community centres."

Wayne is anticipating approximately three barrels of donations will be shipped to Grenada through the National Disaster Preparedness Agency of Grenada in Toronto.

She wants to extend aid to other countries affected by Hurricane Beryl and is co-ordinating with agencies on the islands to receive it.

"I think it's important to help out in crises like these because countries in the north are the main contributors of climate change, and yet the ones that suffer are in the islands in the South," said Wayne. "We take advantage of these beautiful countries for holidays but often forget about them in times of need."

Sharifa Fakira, a Londoner with family and friends in the Carribean, plans to drop off water, diapers and baby formula to help those in need.

"I've just never seen it so bad," said Fakira. "The people that I've spoken to in Jamaica seem to be okay. There's nothing much more they can do but rebuild and put things back together again."