Nonprofit Solo por Hoy strengthens emergency assistance programs

Belinda Hill, founder and executive director of Solo por Hoy

By THE STAR STAFF

The organization Solo por Hoy, in addition to assisting people who are homeless or in danger of losing their home, as part of its mission has reinforced its programs to provide rapid response assistance to citizens who are left homeless by emergencies such as fires, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.

“Emergencies are actually our daily bread. That you are homeless is an emergency and our mission is to try to prevent you from sleeping on the street,” said Belinda Hill, founder and executive director of Solo por Hoy. “When this happens due to emergencies such as a fire or a hurricane, we have to be ready to react immediately and we do so, in coordination with government agencies that call us to activate us.”

Hill noted that the group is constantly meeting to update contingency plans in this hurricane season, so that in case a hurricane  arrives they will be ready. Internally, Solo por Hoy has its emergency plan that protects personnel trained and certified by the island Emergency Management and Disaster Administration Bureau before, during and after the hurricane. 

The equipment includes satellite phones, continuous communication to be clear about when to arrive at work, and even when to be in the office.

“Fires happen several times a year. The most recent were some that we responded to in Cataño and Santa Isabel just a few days ago,” Hill said. “We have responded to fires before in La Perla, in Bayamón and in Carolina. In Cataño I received the call at five in the morning; they told us the ages of the people affected by the fire who lost everything and at 7 a.m. we brought them two changes of clothes the size of each one, food, snacks, emergency kits with medicines and personal hygiene items. In coordination with the Public Housing Administration, we achieved different alternatives, from a shelter for an older adult, a temporary shelter, to public housing so that all families were under a safe roof that night.” 

In the other fire it responded to in Santa Isabel, the group coordinated so that through funds from an emergency program they could pay for hotel rooms for several days until housing was found for the victims.

In the hurricane season, Solo por Hoy fine-tunes its rapid response programs, mostly to better serve families affected by flooding.