{"id":24405,"date":"2025-10-28T23:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24405\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T23:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:07:06","slug":"orlando-community-to-help-jamaica-after-hurricane-melissa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24405\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando community to help Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 As Hurricane Melissa continues to impact the Caribbean<\/a>, organizations across Central Florida are stepping up to collect donations for those affected.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane around 1 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center
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As the storm continues to impact the Caribbean, organizations across Central Florida are stepping up to collect donations for those affected
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At Mark\u2019s Jamaican Bar and Grill in Orlando, owner Mark Jathan\u00a0decided to start collecting hurricane relief items to help people in Jamaica recover once the storm passes
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The Jamaican Cultural Connection in Orlando is also preparing to send relief to the island<\/p>\n

At Mark\u2019s Jamaican Bar and Grill in Orlando, owner Mark Jathan said his thoughts are with family and friends back home as they face the hurricane\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very concerned,\u201d Jathan said. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about the kids going out to play when they see the water on the street (when) the power lines are down. We can\u2019t afford to lose anybody in this hurricane right now, so I\u2019m just hoping that they can hear us … listen to the emergency services in Jamaica and follow their direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

He decided to start collecting hurricane relief items to help people in Jamaica recover once the storm passes. He said support from customers and friends has been overwhelming, with donations of canned food and money already coming in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we have a natural disaster on the island, (our customers are) more than willing to help out,\u201d\u00a0Jathan. \u201cAs you see, they\u2019ve been coming in, making their offers and contributing from nonperishable stuff. There\u2019s a GoFundMe page \u2026 we\u2019re getting contributions there also.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jathan said his goal is to get supplies to Jamaica as soon as it\u2019s safe to travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome places they lost power \u2014 places flooded out \u2014 you know, they\u2019re locked in,” Jathan said. “They have to just stay there and ride it out.”<\/p>\n

While at his restaurant on Tuesday, Jathan was able to briefly connect with a friend in Kingston, Jamaica, who described the dangerous conditions on the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hanging in, we are hanging in,\u201d the friend said on the phone. \u201cHeavy breeze, strong breeze, as you can see a lot of the limbs are tearing out, it did make landfall in Saint Elizabeth and unfortunately, there\u2019s a lot of damage.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so happy that I was able to get through with you because I was so worried about you and your safety down there,\u201d Jathan told her.<\/p>\n

The Jamaican Cultural Connection<\/a> in Orlando is also preparing to send relief to the island. Debbie J. Jarrett, the group\u2019s public relations representative, said the situation has been difficult to watch from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts are heavy. We\u2019re worried,\u201d Jarrett said. \u201cWe can\u2019t get there, the airports are closed. We\u2019d love to get down there and start giving out things and helping but not yet. So it\u2019s frustrating, yet I\u2019m comforted when I remember how resilient we are as Jamaicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lurna Franklin, president of the organization, said their team is meeting to coordinate efforts once more information becomes available.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have plans in place ready to go after we receive the assessment from Jamaica as to what will be needed after the hurricane has passed,\u201d Franklin said.<\/p>\n

For Jathan, the relief effort is personal. Even as he continues to serve customers in Orlando, his focus remains on helping his loved ones recover from the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as this storm goes by and we\u2019re able to get on to the island, hopefully we can get this stuff in as quickly as possible for the people who need it the most,\u201d Jathan said.<\/p>\n

Donations for hurricane relief are being accepted daily at Mark\u2019s Jamaican Bar and Grill, located at 10173 University Boulevard in Orlando, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 As Hurricane Melissa continues to impact the Caribbean, organizations across Central Florida are stepping up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,274,766,115,772,1335,139,141,140,12166,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-24405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-massiel-leyva","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-on-air-ticker-article","13":"tag-orange-county","14":"tag-orlando","15":"tag-orlando-headlines","16":"tag-orlando-news","17":"tag-storm-season","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}