MCS Foundation, Acción Social de PR continue support efforts
MCS Foundation is a nonprofit organization created by MCS Healthcare Holdings, LLC. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
MCS Foundation, a nonprofit organization created by MCS Healthcare Holdings, LLC, has donated an electric generator to make possible the opening of a sewing center to manufacture mosquito nets and tarps in the Pueblito del Carmen community in Guayama.
This is another joint project of the MCS Foundation and Acción Social de Puerto Rico, the company stated.
“The generator has the capacity to power the center’s entire operation, which is particularly important because this region has not yet received power,” said Liana O’Drobinak, executive director of the MCS Foundation. “The mosquito nets and tarps the center manufactures will help prevent the surge in disease spread by mosquitoes and also create much-needed jobs.”
Prior to Hurricane María, participants in the Acción Social de Puerto Rico program took a sewing workshop to train for a trade that would allow them to be self-sufficient and expand labor market participation.
Post-María, however, the accumulation of standing water and lack of drainage has created breeding grounds for mosquitoes. With no power in many areas, residents need to keep their windows open while they are sleeping, increasing the risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika virus, dengue fever and chikungunya fever. As many houses are still without roofs, tarps are needed to provide additional shelter.
Acción Social de Puerto Rico and MCS Foundation saw this situation as an opportunity for those who had taken the workshop to use their new skills not only to earn money, but also to reduce the spread of disease and contribute to the restoration of the local economy, the entities confirmed.
“The success of this sewing center will represent an important economic engine for this community in the future,” said O’Drobinak. “We admire Acción Social’s flexibility in adapting its programs to the current situation to help meet the needs of the island and its people.”
Acción Social de Puerto Rico is one of the nonprofits that benefit from the MCS Foundation’s “Green for Puerto Rico” fundraising campaign, whose final goal is $1.5 million. Other organizations benefitting from the MCS Foundation’s campaign include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico, Caras Las Américas’ www.connectrelief.com initiative, and the Puerto Rico YMCA.
