Rat infestation spoils donated food supplies from Orlando residents, never sent to Puerto Rico

A government office in Kissimmee that was storing donations destined for Puerto Rico was closed down to a rat infestation according to Bianca Padro Ocasio writing for the Orlando Sentinel. The contaminated boxes of supplies were never sent to the island.

The office of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration “does not have the budget to finance the shipping costs” of the supplies, according to PRFAA’s executive director Carlos Mercader. He added that previous efforts to send the boxes of water, food and other supplies through other organizations “have been unsuccessful.”

The amount of boxes contaminated at the warehouse is unclear at this point. The items had been donated by residents and businesses in Orlando after Hurricane Maria barreled over the American territory last summer.

Instead, Puerto Rican’s that have evacuated to Florida will be the recipients for the donated meals.   “We will soon conduct an inventory of the donations to identify which ones are fit to be given out to Puerto Rican evacuees in Central Florida.”

The agency, which represents Puerto Rico through its Central Florida and Washington D.C. offices, promotes public policy issues related to the island and was created to support Puerto Ricans moving to the region. The Kissimmee office is currently managed by Mercader since the most recent director, Frances Ortiz, resigned last month.

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Juan Hernandez Mayoral, who directed the PRFAA office in Kissimmee from 2013 to 2017, said the news was “baffling.”

“Every day, those employees would go into that office and saw those boxes and they did nothing,” said Hernandez Mayoral, who is a former Puerto Rican senator and is affiliated with the island’s pro-commonwealth party. “As if there was no need on the island. This is government negligence.”

Approximately 350,000 Puerto Ricans have evacuated to Florida since October 3, 2017. 

This is the kind of parade I can get behind. Instead, of a military parade for Trump, why don’t we donate those funds for reconstruction of the USVI and Puerto Rico? Just a thought.