When Hurricane Melissa reached the coast of Jamaica on Oct. 28, it did so as the strongest ever to hit the Caribbean Island.
It made landfall at New Hope as a Category 5 storm, with top wind gusts reaching more than 252 mph. It wrought devastation, killing at least 45 people and damaging about 150,000 buildings.
The destruction included the homes of the members of the Samuels family.
Berks County resident Eleisha Samuels is a Jamaican native, with many loved ones still living on the island in Savanna-la-mar. During the storm, they lost pretty much everything.
This past weekend, the Berks community came together to help them start to rebuild.
The “Together We Rebuild” fundraiser was held at Telia Greek Restaurant in Wyomissing, where Samuels works as a manager.
Samuels’ mother-in-law, retired Alvernia University professor Dolores Bertoti and a group of her friends — including Telia owners George and Eleny Zeppos — organized the event. It included silent auction items and gift bag raffles donated by friends and the community, dinner and drink and reggae music.
The fundraiser collected a total of $16,500, enough to construct three concrete homes for Samuels’ family members.