Fort Myers woman’s social media post leads to donations for Puerto Rico

FORT MYERS, Fla. A woman’s plea for help on social media led to an outpour of donations for Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico.

Fort Myers resident Marilyn Santiago created a Facebook page called Puertorriqueños En SWFL the day after the storm destroyed the island.

Santiago and her group collected a cargo ship worth of items, just six days after she reached out for help on social media.

“The response has been great we’re very blessed and more than that, we’re very excited this is leaving soon to the island,” she said. “We’re looking forward to giving it to the right people.”

A local company offered to pay for the donations to be shipped to the island in a 52-foot container.

“They told us ‘We’d like to help them, if you can help us get some things, we can deliver goods to others,'” Santiago said.

The group collected so many donations they were even able to help Hurricane Irma victims in Southwest Florida.

“We found out about some communities in Immokalee that were hit hard by Irma. I’m happy we can help,” Santiago said.

The group will continue to collect items through Sunday. The most needed items are bug repellent, diapers and flash lights.

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