Lin-Manuel Miranda Pens Plea for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief
Lin-Manuel Miranda penned a powerful essay asking for help for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, where members of the Hamilton creator’s family resides.
“There’s no shortage of stories about the devastation experienced in my beloved Puerto Rico in the past week,” Miranda wrote for The Hollywood Reporter.
“From the children still searching for signs of their parents, to the families who’ve lost everything but one another, to those displaced from the only homes they’ve ever known — Hurricane Maria’s collision with Puerto Rico has been the most brutal in the island’s modern history, leaving a destroyed power grid and unprecedented destruction in its wake.”
Miranda added that while hurricane aid was quickly deployed to Texas (following Hurricane Harvey) and Florida (after Hurricane Irma), the relief efforts following Puerto Rico’s catastrophe haven’t been as sufficient.
“There are 3.4 million stories on this island, all struggling in the aftermath of this storm, and they need your help,” he wrote. “Puerto Ricans need supplies and resources just as badly as their fellow Americans in Texas and Florida, and this need is magnified by their geographic isolation from the mainland.”
Miranda shared the story of his grandfather, whose “wooden dream home” was destroyed by Hurricane Maria; Miranda notes that he wrote his early musicals at that home during the summers of his college years. Miranda’s cousins were also affected by the hurricane.
The Tony winner also pointed readers toward the Hispanic Federation, which is leading the efforts to bring hurricane relief to Puerto Rico.
“This relief fund is already in action. Right now, it is facilitating the deployment of fully trained and certified first responders, including paying for the flight to Puerto Rico and the accompanying arrangements,” Miranda wrote.
“With so much to be done and such great urgency before us, let’s use our own winds of change to help Puerto Rico dig out and rise up.”
Read Miranda’s entire plea as well as more donation information at The Hollywood Reporter.