LYNN — For many at the White Rose Coffeehouse Hurricane Relief Fundraiser, the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico hit close to home, affecting family and friends.
“You feel sort of helpless, I want to get involved however I can to help the whole island,” said Maria Rivera, board member of the Puerto Rican Festival of Massachusetts.
Rivera, who helped organize some of the performers for the fundraiser, has family in Puerto Rico she hasn’t been in contact with since the storm.
“It means a lot to have people come together to help strangers. It’s an emotional night but they’re good emotions.”
White Rose owner Kato Mele and performance organizer Shira Moss put together the event to raise money through a silent auction, featuring art and a vintage Bruce Springsteen poster, raffles, a 50/50 raffle, and donating 20 percent of the proceeds from the day’s business to relief funds.
“We know a lot of friends in Puerto Rico, but even if we didn’t we would want to find a way to help, that’s what this is about,” Mele said.
Among the guests at the event was Lynn resident and Councilor-at-Large candidate Jamie Figueroa, who also has family in Puerto Rico.
“I’m honored to live in a community that will come together at events like this to help people in need,” he said.
The fundraiser also featured several musical performances and poetry by local artists.
“We had an overwhelming response,” Moss said while describing the responses from people on Facebook to perform at and donate to the cause.
One of those performers was Joe Skahan, who runs a showcase at the coffeehouse every month.
“I have a lot of friends in Puerto Rico I haven’t heard from,” he said. “I want to help however I can and this is a good way to do.”
Skahan also donated a few pieces of art, including one featuring a turtle, inspired by one of his many trips to the island where he swam with turtles.
Some donations also included things such as bottles of water, canned food, antibiotics, etc., that will be shipped to Puerto Rico.
