My name is Jessica and I am raising funds for the Spence family in Jamaica, whose small sustenance farm I stayed on from 1999-2001.

The whole west side of Jamaica has been affected incredibly severely by Melissa and it is going to take years for the island to recover. The west side of Jamaica is the “breadbasket” of the island and consists of a lot of small family farms that were already operating on incredibly limited budgets even before a Melissa hit. With the loss of entire buildings, loss of their water tanks, missing windows, crop loss, no electricity, no internet, and a long list of other damages, my host family the Spences’ are facing a long road to recovery. When I lived in Westmoreland they treated me like a daughter and a sister, and so I am hoping that by reaching out to my community in the US I can find some people who are looking for alternatives to donating to larger more inefficient disaster response orgs in favor of direct mutual aid to a known family.

Thank you! If you have an extra $5+ around please consider sending it their way.