Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Food isn't just delicious... it can also change your life! Tune into Beyond the Plate, a new podcast presented by International Charity: Food For The Poor. Get inspired with conversations that nourish the soul. Hear amazing stories of transformation from faith influencers, leaders in the nonprofit sector, and the individuals receiving aid in the 15 countries of Latin America that Food For The Poor serves.
Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
In the Aftermath: What Food For The Poor Saw in Jamaica - With CEO Ed Raine
A storm can level a home in minutes, but rebuilding a life takes an entire community working together. After Hurricane Melissa ripped through western Jamaica, we came back from the ground with a clear picture of what recovery really takes: food when cupboards are empty, safe water when systems fail, a temporary place to sleep, and then a rapid shift toward rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods. The damage was uneven and often heartbreaking. Some neighborhoods stood untouched while others were flattened. Power lines were down for miles. Families were left wondering not only where they would sleep that night, but how they would earn a living the next morning.
In this episode, we walk you through what large scale relief actually looks like. Food For The Poor became the logistics backbone for partners like the World Food Programme, World Central Kitchen, and Global Empowerment Mission. Shipments were cleared. Thousands of family kits were packed every day. Aid moved quickly through a trusted church network that reaches deep into every part of the island. You will hear how volunteers and the Jamaica Defence Force kept assembly lines moving, how the Jamaican diaspora and private donors helped move faster, and how voices like Shaggy, Sean Paul, and Cedella Marley turned their influence into planes, pallets, and hot meals for families in need.
But the numbers only tell part of the story. Behind every shipment and every pallet is a person: a fisher who lost his boat, a farmer whose crops and chickens were washed away, a factory worker who may not see electricity for months, and children whose schools must be rebuilt while exam dates keep getting closer. We lay out a simple and focused 30, 60, and 90 day plan to connect emergency relief to long term recovery. That includes ShelterBox tents, rapid homebuilding, boat and engine repairs, new seed and livestock for farmers, and psychosocial support through local churches to help kids regain routine and stability.
If Jamaica has ever given you joy through its music, its culture, or simply its warmth, this is a moment to give some of that joy back. Listen to the episode. Share it with someone who cares about effective disaster relief. And if you are able, help us keep supplies moving and homes rising. Subscribe for updates, leave a review so others can find these stories, and consider supporting the rebuild so families can stand on steady ground again.
Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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To say the least, I'm still in a lot of people. I can see what's coming.
SPEAKER_04:I can see what's coming. We need to know because it's uh it's devastating what this community is.
SPEAKER_01:How is that gone?
SPEAKER_02:Hurricane Melissa was the most destructive storm to strike Jamaica in more than 30 years. More than million lives disrupted, and thousands still waiting to hear from loved ones. This is food for the poor, but we're not just food.
SPEAKER_03:We go beyond the plate to discuss a full range of development programs, all designed to break the cycle of poverty by empowering people with the tools and training they need to transform their lives for generations to come. These stories will inspire you, and best of all, you can be part of the change that takes place.
SPEAKER_02:Join us as we go beyond the plate. Today on Beyond the Plate, we welcome back Ed Rain, president and CEO of Food for the Poor. And just return from the ground from what we we've seen and heard and what he witnessed and what the team is up against and how Jamaica begins one of the hardest rebuilds of our lifetime. Ed, welcome back to Beyond the Plate. Thank you guys.
SPEAKER_03:Good to be back. We were there with you on the ground, seeing it firsthand. Uh the numbers of fatalities, unfortunately, growing probably by the day. You're talking about tens of thousands of households completely upended and displaced, hundreds of thousands of structures damaged. I mean, when we were driving in you you there's a point where there's a you cross into St. Elizabeth and it's just another world. And every person said, it Jamaica's unrecognizable.
unknown:Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_04:It's one of these sort of riddle clear lines where uh the hurricane and and really the the tornado effect of of the eye just blazes its own trail. I I I've heard it described as a buzzsaw effect. So you can imagine, you know, the things that are that are there, and then 10 feet to the left, it's the buzzsaw. And it's just like carving a clear trail of destruction.
SPEAKER_03:The complete destruction. Can you just paint a picture for our audience as what is going on right now on the ground in terms of this destruction in these parishes that Danny mentioned and we saw on our trip?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, I think you you have to start with the people, of course, and what they're not the need to do each day, and that is they need to survive. So with uh homes, you know, completely devastated, uh uh even the ones that are fortunate have have have lost roofs, and so it's uh, you know, terrible situation. Um for others that lost everything, the literally no walls. Um so you see the this devastation, and and people are really trying to get food and water and and of course shelter. We've uh partnered with uh Shelterbox, so they're gonna help us with uh that's very much a sort of a temporary shelter, but we're also very anxious to get our home building back into uh full stride. So um we may have mentioned in on this forum before that uh we Food for the Poor has built 35,000 homes in Jamaica. So, you know, we we have that capacity to build and we want to bring that uh to to as quickly to the front line as is possible. But just generally it's community after community in the Western part that has uh really lost and and when we say everything, uh you have to really understand it's their job as well that's gone, right? So that this is this is why it's so devastating. Um, you know, I I went on one of the uh Chinook uh U.S. helicopters into a community uh and uh you know the factory they all worked in was also devastated. So now you've got this problem of homes wrecked, not sure where the water or the food's coming from, and I don't have a job. Everybody is engaged in trying to be able to respond to this and food for the poor, especially. You know, it's really had to uh uh you know increase significantly the volume of what we normally would provide to help. But it's uh it's it's really distressing to see just how many people uh are uh in this situation and to hear their stories. We were in uh a small fishing community uh called Galleon Beach, and there's 23 fishing boats. It was a food for the poor community. Uh not one of those boats can be used right now. So all of the gear's gone, you know, and the and the production they had for filleting the fish and you know, packing it, icing it, distributing all that's gone. So their livelihood's completely wiped out. You know, there was one one one gentleman we met, and he described how he literally clung onto a piece of plywood from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. And in his what was left of his home, the water just rose and rose and rose, and and I think he said it got to about five or six feet, and he was still hanging onto this board, and he says, like a surfboard. I mean, think about that all day. And he said, I didn't never thought he was, he never thought he was going to survive it.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um, when the assessment is everything is gone. What does that emergency response then look like?
SPEAKER_04:Well, it it is daunting. Uh, and the power part of the equation is is months away, right? So power is not coming back into some of these areas in a long, long time. I mean, you can see it, the power lines are down or one after the other for mile after mile. You know, people are are really thinking, and and we are contemplating a months-long response in terms of uh providing food and water, uh, and and then the shelter part, right? So it's it's all at once. And then you think about, you know, the the back to the income generating. How are we going to get that going? Um, think about the fishermen in many respects. That example is actually relatively quick. Because if you can get the boats repaired and you can get engines on them, they can go back out to sea and catch fish. Right. But that's not true for agriculture. So a lot of the farmers, uh, you know, the the so was the smallholder farmers, right? They had a lot of a lot of them raising chickens. Well, those chickens all blew away in the storm. So that's that's a complete reset.
SPEAKER_03:And and and you know, let's let's also remind our audience, you've been here in long enough to have seen Hurricane Maria devastate Puerto Rico, Hurricane Dorian completely up in the Bahamas, and now this. Was there anything Hurricane Barrel last year? Was there anything that surprised you?
SPEAKER_04:Uh you know, I think I expected to see the level of destruction that was forecast. What was a bit surprising was that uh many of the people that we talked to didn't see that coming, right? They they thought, oh well it this is because the storm spun spun out there at sea for a while, and they said, Oh, well, it's not coming, you know. And um, so I think I'm surprised that that so many were caught by surprise. Um, you know, and I think uh, you know, that's but it's still uh I'm also surprised that not that many people lost their lives given what went through.
SPEAKER_02:But now we're we're gonna talk about the partnerships. Now uh food for the poor in just a couple of days, um now weeks, have become the operational backbone for partners like uh World Food Program, uh Global Empowerment Mission, World Central Kitchen. So what does that actual coordination look like? Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, we we've learned uh especially in the last sort of six, seven years, how important partnerships are to being able to really address the problems that you know those that we serve in poverty are naturally, you know, need need need a response to. So I would say this was very much a natural reaction in today's context for Food for the Poor to embrace an opportunity to partner with as many organizations as we're trying to get the work done. And and so this starts with, you know, for example, World Central Kitchen, where you know, we we cleared all their goods and we distributed all their goods for them. So that that got them going faster so they could produce hot meals. Uh, World Food Program, we already had partnerships in other countries. This was a natural one, and and that became that is it is an extremely strong partnership on the ground in Jamaica with with uh them. So uh all of their food that's coming in now at a very steady state is is uh we're jointly packing and then certainly distributing. So but these things just allow us to do a couple of things. One is to to do what's needed at scale, but also to to use uh an existing distribution, which is food for the poor. Uh and that involves, you know, the church networks that we've always had. I mean, in the 42 years it's been the churches. So really looking at um, you know, we want to move containers uh from a sort of hub to hub, and then from the hub, get last mile distribution, you know, through primarily a a network of churches.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it's interesting because we have the partners in the donors, the partners in the org organizations that work hand in hand with us. What would what inspired you with regards to the leadership, the team in Jamaica? Because we we got to come back to Florida. But they've still there. And one particular staff member, I remember she said, I still haven't heard from my brother. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I know who you're talking about, and um, you know, it is uh I think that's really uh the the gr the the the best lens to think about what's been going on. So for many of our staff, they had family members or or close friends who lived in the western side of Jamaica, and so they were struggling um and and still probably haven't all heard back. But through that, they have persevered and they have, you know, really uh given their whole heart and soul into serving. And I think that's it's that level of commitment that you just look at and you say, wow, that's inspiring, right? So as hard as uh it is um to you know be able to do this without that sort of backdrop, but when you know that that's what people are fighting through as well, their personal unknowns, if you know the safety of the family members and friends, it's truly, truly inspiring. And um, you know, and uh and and really this has been an extraordinary team effort. So the the U.S. Food for the Poor teams have really aligned with the Jamaican Food for the Poor teams, and and it's been together that we've really been able to scale up.
SPEAKER_03:The one thing that to me, when we were there, that struck me the most was the level of local volunteers that came in every single day, twice a day. These volunteers with their yellow vests were out in the elements and they were happy to do it.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yeah. Well, you know, at times of um great need, it's uh always just a wonderful thing to see people step up and and offer their help, right? So the uh so we we've been really blessed with the the number of volunteers and and how well they've been able to help us. So, you know, I think we were in the 150 to 200 volunteers a day on the dock uh in in Spanish Town, really helping us pack. I think we have sort of declared that our root, you know, our regular run rate is about 3,500 food kits or or whatever we're packing, but kits every day. And that's pretty impressive because that means it's got to go through an assembly line of each item. That was my take it takes a while. Yeah. So um so lots of volunteers, and I also want to commend the the JDF. So we asked for help from them, and and I think we've been getting 20 to 30 soldiers a day who are shown up just to help us pack. And uh, you know, it's it's it's been great to work alongside uh um everybody who's shown up. And uh, you know, it's it it it you know, the sort of that milk of human kindness element comes out where people truly want to serve their fellow human being.
SPEAKER_02:I want to talk about now the 12th man, which is the donor. The the the people who didn't jump on a plane and didn't didn't get to to see these things for themselves, but they gave in the moment of need, right? Where we're after seeing that Melissa damage firsthand, and um what what have those donors made possible that could have not happened actually without them?
SPEAKER_04:Well, let's let's acknowledge the extraordinary generosity of of donors and uh you know, and there's sort of I think there's two categories of donors, if I can put it that way, broadly speaking. One is the you know, the donors who who know food for the poor and and have always been there and have been called upon and are responded uh uh generously, of course. Uh but the Jamaican diaspora is is a thing, right? There are more Jamaicans who live outside Jamaica than live inside Jamaica. So and they have just absolutely been extraordinary in terms of really generating um, you know, the awareness, number one, but uh really uh coming together. And I think this is a you know a unite Jamaica type of thing. Yes, uh, and it uh it's been wonderful. They're they they want to know they can trust an organization. And honestly, uh uh it's been uh really uh I guess heartwarming is the best way I can describe it, to see the amount of trust that people have in Food for the Poor, to be that good steward of um those donations. So whether it's in uh the the gifts uh in kind, as we say, you know, the donated uh products or the cash that uh we're using uh to buy food locally and to get it, you know, then so that we can get things out fast as you know as fast as possible. So it's been uh just uh an inst through all of the darkness of the what that these situations always present, the light of you know, of of kindness and generosity and support has been truly amazing. And I think that's you know, that's what helps organizations a lot keep going, right? Okay, we feel that trust. We feel the inspiration from others saying who are who are literally cheering us on from the sideline.
SPEAKER_03:So you you mentioned the light. So I want to and and you mentioned celebrity. Let's let's talk about the spotlight of the celebrities. We saw Shaggy loading up private planes to come down and deliver goods. We saw Sean Paul uh and his family in the warehouse packing supplies. Sidella Marley was here in our headquarters building.
SPEAKER_00:That's the country of my birth. My father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters. And uh we have a saying every mic will make a moko in Jamaica. So we do what we have to do when we have to do it without hesitation. So toothbrush, deodorant, uh detol, antiseptic, wash rags. Um did I say toothpaste? Toothbrush. Yeah, it's all in there.
SPEAKER_04:Lots of people are being pulled into trying to do something very special to help uh give back to Jamaica. Uh I can I see it. And the celebrities have been amazing. Uh you know, really stepping in uh to a situation that uh that frankly needs their help at this point.
SPEAKER_02:Um just I want to get it, Pauline, to the to the meat of things. This is follow our favorite part of of this episode, which is the numbers. We want to we kind of want to hear what's the actual impact that's been going on so far. And obviously, as soon as we give these numbers, they're about to change.
SPEAKER_04:So far, we've got um sort of 96 shipments, uh 17 F-rate and uh 79 uh C containers, uh for a total of about 1,875 pallets of aid that's already gone. Um of that, 31 of those containers were for food, four were medical, including wheelchairs, medical supplies, um, and then 61 were uh non-food items. So that's everything from clothing, diapers, building supplies, personal care, household goods, mattresses, kitchen supplies. I mean, a whole list of things that people need when and it's you know it's it's all gone, right? So uh, you know, and I think that's definitely uh you know, certainly the the the packing of the food and and what's gone out. I mean, that's you know, we can say was certainly what we've served is about 11,000 families and counting, and that's that's just on the food side. It's it's mind-blowing. Um, and it is needed. So keeping that pace up is absolutely critical.
SPEAKER_03:So let let's uh let's really touch some hearts here. Really talk about the unsung heroes um as we introduce what's going on with regards to children. Because the time that we spent down there. You know that the the adults are resilient. They have the skills to doing their best to be resilient. Absolutely. Keeping a smile on their face, keeping their own children calm. But then you have these unsung heroes like Miss Brown at Crawford School.
SPEAKER_04:Well, we were lucky to just uh literally bump into her. She was she didn't know we were coming with uh uh food distribution, and uh uh somehow somehow she was presented to me. Uh almost as she walked in, someone knew who she was. She was the guidance counselor for the school that we were at. And um she started to really quantify what it is that had happened to these kids. All right, so I want to introduce you to Tracy Ann Brown. So, Tracy, just uh tell everyone what your role is here, and uh, you know, that everyone's gonna understand why it's so important for us to talk to you today when they see the damage around the school.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I am Tracy Ann Brown and I am the guidance counselor, and I've been here for seven years. To say the least, I'm I'm still in a channel. I can see what's coming. I can see what's coming.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, just keep it keep, we need to know because it's uh it's devastating what this community is.
SPEAKER_01:Their houses are gone. Yeah. And most of our parents, most of the parents, they would have worked in and around the environment. Now there's no work in BlackRock because if if you would have seen BlackRock, which is totally um, I mean, help me think through how devastating this is.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, foot of all built hundreds of schools, maybe even a thousand schools in Jamaica in 43 years, and we repaired counts countless.
SPEAKER_01:But I I just want somewhere where the students can go even for a short time until, you know, they're able to come back to normal, some semblance of normalcy.
SPEAKER_04:You know, there's some very fundamental concerns here. That school we were at, you know, is needs to be rebuilt. How long is that gonna take? You know, and when do the kids get back into a formal type of classroom? I mean, is there another space they could go to so the teacher could actually teach them? I mean, so that uncertainty is weeks, if not months. I I don't know. Everyone's gonna work hard, I know that to get them back. But, you know, there are all obviously you know, uh great of school kids that are about to face the national examinations. Yes. These are absolutely critical for their life, right? In terms of making those next educational steps. So all of that is sort of at risk right now.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Ross Powell The effect on the children in terms of and it was a big topic for for everybody, the mental issues, what the the what damage is done, the trauma that is done on these children. I I I don't know what palette you could send to fix that.
SPEAKER_04:Aaron Powell Well, you can't. And I think this is where, you know, uh because of our relationship with the church, we're excited about how the church can be a part of that sort of uh counseling, consolation, uh bringing people back to their faith at a time when that faith may be the one sort of thing they can hold on to with some certainty. Uh so we're we're excited about our uh we've it's long time engagement uh with there are 4,000 churches in Jamaica, and we you know routinely on a monthly basis deal with about twelve hundred of them. So this is we've already got that. I think there's a real understanding in Jamaica that the church is a major uh sort of element of the equation for future success. Yeah. And it needs to be fully utilized. And because that's kind of our sweet spot, that's what we do, this will be easy for us to tap into and and most necessary to support.
SPEAKER_02:So to round out the episode today, um uh we've heard and you've mentioned, and this is what we know. Uh we've been in Jamaica for over 40 years plus. We're gonna be there a lot longer than the cameras are gonna be uh there now. So uh we're gonna look into in the future now. So the next 30, 60, 90 days, which is kind of like that relief window that we we can work with. Uh what does that transition from relief to rebuilding really truly look like?
SPEAKER_04:Well, it is uh it is about the shelter and the income generating piece, right? Two things that we've uh always had a strong uh strong position. As we see kind of what comes in, we will be able to do our very best to support as many people as possibly can. But shelter and income generation is the key here. Uh and you know, crops can come back, but you gotta put the seeds in the ground and you've got to, you know, work the work the land. Uh the chickens can be replaced, so there's a cost to those. Um but I think we have to understand that uh, you know, a huge percentage of the coffee production got destroyed, bananas as a the uh the uh certainly um uh you know nearly all the crops in the west side uh got destroyed. So it's it's gonna take a lot of rebuilding. So this is where you know I'm gonna be very much connected with Aurea. What what is available uh so uh you know, so from whether there's government grants to do things, whether there's there's gonna be government investment in certain things, you know, just making sure that we can be uh really uh uh as helpful as we intend to be for the people of Jamaica in this rebuild. Uh and certainly for those that uh tend to be sort of you know uh marginalized in terms of those in extreme poverty, that's the population that uh we're here to serve first and foremost.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Powell Well, Ed Rain, thank you for joining us again on Beyond the Plate, for giving us an update um that has been so needed. We understand that the work that we've done in the weeks since the storm is just the beginning. We've got our work set out cut out for us.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah, well, those of us who are very familiar with Jamaica, I mean I've been going there for 35 years. I'm married to a Jamaican, I understand Jamaica. Um, you know, it is it the the scale of this rebuild is, I think, the the really daunting uh element here. And so uh, you know, we have to do a good job on articulating what the need is and uh you know and and asking. If you, you know, we we uh we need help, we need the support. Um, and uh, you know, we will continue to promote the needs of Jamaica and Jamaicans and uh do everything we can to to sort of uh help them as they try to find a sure foundation once again.
SPEAKER_03:Jamaica's given the world so much.
SPEAKER_04:Culture and Yeah, well I I've said a few times, and I just I think it it bears saying constantly, is that so many people have received real joy from Jamaica, whether it's as a tourist or or listening to the music, the richness of the music. And I see in what's happening now, people trying to give that joy back to Jamaica at a time when they need that encouragement. They need to see the joy. That's been very heartwarming, to be perfectly honest, to know that uh people love Jamaica.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks for listening. We hope you felt the connection.
SPEAKER_02:One plate, one story, one act of love can change everything. Discover more stories and join our community at foodforthepoor.org/slash podcasts, and follow us to at beyond the plate.podcast. Together we can make a difference.
SPEAKER_03:This is Beyond the Plate.
