Like many Americans, popular award-winning
syndicated American Country Music radio
personality, Whitney Allen, watched the
newscasts of Hurricane Dean from the comfort
of her home as the hurricane missed the city of Cancun,
Mexico.
She was alarmed, however, to see news crews
reporting mainly in Cancun, thus missing
coverage of the area hardest hit by the 3rd
largest hurricane to make landfall in
recorded history, the area known as the
Costa Maya more than 100 miles south.
Allen had vacationed in this area in the
town of Mahahual (pronounced Ma-ha-wahl),
about 130 miles south of Cancun, where
Hurricane Dean made landfall with Category 5
intensity. She had recently bought a small
house on the beach, which was
miraculously left intact after the
Hurricane. What was missing from the
national newscasts was the massive
devastation of this area and the immediate
needs for the victims.
The losses are not only beachfront homes,
but small businesses and inland villages of
stick and palm palapas. Now, with no tourism
and no media coverage, few funds are coming
into the area to help residents rebuild.
Allen searched unsuccessfully to locate
organizations to provide help with food and
clothing. Rather than give up, Allen and her
boyfriend Gerrit Schroder immediately set up
a web site at www.HelpAfterDean.org which
points to a single donation site.
She then persuaded Dial Global Radio Network
to broadcast her personally recorded public
service announcements which alert people to
visit www.HelpAfterDean.org.
Update: These
Public Service Announcements have been
running this week on over one hundred radio
stations to solicit funds for immediate help
for Mahahual and surrounding areas.
You can listen
to them at
HelpAfterDean.com
Not stopping there, Allen and Schroder set
up another site at www.HelpAfterDean.com to
combine the forces of four local groups.
With no help from the Red Cross or any
international agency showing up in the area,
www.HelpAfterDean.com immediately provided
information on where people within driving
distance could bring supplies and
assistance. One victim asked simply for a
clean t-shirt as he had been wearing the
same one for four days.
“I don’t want credit", says Allen, “it’s the
people like the volunteers who are making
the a 3 hour drive each way to deliver
supplies, the local businessman who put
together a task force the day after he found
he had lost not only his home, but his
office; the local resident who simply hands
out money to people who need it; and the
owners of a local resort, partially
destroyed, who are leading the charge to
help clean up. These are the people you need
to know about and need to help.
Once a fishing village, Mahahual in recent
years had become the second-busiest cruise
ship port in Mexico. Dean’s Category 5
winds, rain and massive surge left residents
homeless, hungry and scared. The majority
are now without jobs as their employers, the
cruise lines, expect rebuilding the port to
take six months or more.
Says Allen, “People can help by donating
through HelpAfterDean.com. They can also
help by adding www.HelpAfterDean.com to the
signature of their emails to help spread the
word and work.”
www.HelpAfterDean.com
