Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot Assist in Bringing ‘Cooking Can’ Device to the Caribbean
(December 14 / San Juan, Puerto Rico) – The Safe America Foundation is working to help Puerto Rican communities be able to cook meals without electricity while the island recovers from the recent Hurricane Maria, which has left over 90% of the island still without power.
Safe America is distributing over the next week across Puerto Rico, 1,000 portable non-electric cooking devices – known as ‘Cooking Cans’ – to help communities, neighborhoods and families to return normal cooking habits while the utility industry restores power in Puerto Rico.
Safe America CEO Len Pagano is in Puerto Rico working with the American Red Cross in distributing the cooking devices to help ongoing relief effort for those who continue without power 90 days after Hurricane Maria.
Atlanta-based Crawford & Company responded to a request to support by providing funding for the devices. And Delta Air Lines helped ship the units and The Home Depot discounted denatured alcohol for use in cooking food via the Cooking Cans.
Prior to Hurricane Maria, the Cooking Cans were showcased on Capitol Hill by Safe America as a new tool for helping people in post-disaster situations. Manufactured by Glatt Stove of Mexico City, Mexico, the Cooking Cans were offered to Safe America for its use. The Foundation earmarked 5,000 for use in disaster relief situations and is raising funds to increase the distribution of Cooking Cans to 10,000 – 25,000 over the next 2-3 months as over 1 million Puerto Ricans are expected to remain without gas or electricity for cooking meals.
“Puerto Ricans are having to be inventive, eating together or not getting to eat any heated foods,” noted Safe America President Len Pagano. “Thanks to this inventive device, we’re able to expedite the return to warm food – and help people return to a more normal eating pattern.”
Pagano praised Crawford & Company for its lead in helping Safe America make the devices available. He noted that working with Company CEO Harsha V. Agadi, the Foundation was able to rush the shipment to the American Red Cross, including fuel to cook food for 30 days.
“We hope Crawford & Company’s initial effort will inspire others to make donations that help restore normalcy to Puerto Rico,” noted Mr. Agadi. “Crawford’s mission is to restore lives businesses and communities, so when this request came in, the alignment with our vision made it an easy yes. As our team continues to work on the ground managing claims, we’re grateful to play a small part in also seeing that a few more families are able to share a warm meal together – especially as the holiday season approaches.”
Safe America is already planning to work through the Christmas and New Year holidays to raise more funds and then ship additional supplies to Puerto Rico. To make a tax-deductible donation, you can visit two of Safe America’s websites www.safeamerica.org or www.ComebackNOW.org .
