Puerto Rican diaspora, local residents join for 2nd edition of ‘Promesa de Reyes’
The Puerto Rican diaspora and residents of the island come together again this Christmas season, to bring joy to the children and support local businesses by organizing the second edition of “Promesa de Reyes.”
This initiative seeks to boost the local economy by requesting local residents to buy gifts in Puerto Rican shops, which will be donated to children on Three Kings Day.
The “Promesa de Reyes” project was born last year, to help burdened Puerto Rican families with their Three Kings gifts after Hurricanes Irma and María, while at the same time supporting the reactivation of the local economy by promoting local businesses.
“Along with its destructive path, Hurricane María also brought some positives, such as getting people together to organize beautiful community initiatives like ‘Promesa de Reyes.’ It was a huge success and we have kept receiving requests to repeat it this year, so we couldn’t say no to them,” said Lisa Zayas, one of the organizers in the diaspora.
Similar to last year, the Cooperativa de Farmacias de Puerto Rico (COOPHARMA) is supporting “Promesa de Reyes,” joined this time by La Caja de Juguetes, a toy shop located at the Plaza del Mercado in Caguas.
Customers can purchase their gifts for children newborn to 13 years of age and donate them at participating stores until Jan. 2, 2019. The “Promesa de Reyes” organizing team, with the assistance of the Rotary District 7000 will pick them up, and will work together with community organizations to have the Three Kings hand them over at pediatric wards of some local hospitals, as well as to some families and communities previously identified.
“It is important that we keep our Three Kings Tradition alive, and that we continue contributing to the economic recovery of Puerto Rico any way we can. Therefore, we encourage everyone to participate in this initiative and to purchase their toys and gifts at Puerto Rican businesses,” said Ana García, who is in charge of the logistics in the island.
The group aims at collecting 500 toys this year. To contribute contact Lisa Zayas at (787) 398-4349, Ana García at (787) 647-7505 or send a message to [email protected]. The group posts updates on Facebook at @promesadereyespr.
