This Waterloo woman wants your extra clothes to help Hurricane Melissa survivors in Jamaica

Summer clothes. Shoes for children. Baby diapers.

These are examples of just some of the items Waterloo resident Sarah Vazzoler is hoping to collect for survivors of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.

Her parents, Barbara Maluta and Roberto Vazzoler, have lived and worked in Kingston, Jamaica. The family has spent the last couple of months travelling to areas most affected by Hurricane Melissa to help residents recover from the damage.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica near the end of October. The Category 5 storm hit the south coast, with the west part of the island bearing the brunt of the storm as winds topped 295 km/h. It left more than 500,000 people without power by the following morning.

Officials reported that most of the island experienced downed trees, power lines and extensive flooding, adding that the storm left infrastructure "severely compromised."

When Vazzoler heard about the extent of the damage through the first-hand accounts of her parents, she decided she wanted to help by sending essentials with them when they return to the country in January. So she made several online posts, calling on the Kitchener-Waterloo community to help.

So far she says she's received a handful of responses from donors who saw her posts on Reddit, Facebook and Kijiji. From those donations, she's been able to put together about 50 different outfits for children.

Part of an ongoing attempt to help

Ever since the hurricane hit, Vazzoler's parents have been distributing essential items, helping clear blocked roads and fallen trees around the most affected parts of Jamaica. They've been travelling from community to community to be able to do this work, often staying in tents where there are no houses left.

"The hurricane hit [rural] communities ... completely disconnected from the world. There are maybe 100 people in each of these very small villages. And the hurricane came and completely leveled it," Vazzoler explained.

"There is no electricity. There is no clean water. Some companies helped build some filtration systems in some villages so people are able to travel to kilometers every day to get some water for children. It's not a lot. You're not able to shower. You're not able to brush your teeth."

A Christmas initiative

On Wednesday, Vazzoler's parents flew in to Waterloo on Christmas Eve to see her for the holiday season. They're flying back in January, hoping to take back essential items that Vazzoler says are hard to find right now in Jamaica.

"There are mothers who are living in schools because that was the only building left standing ... and they just had a baby and they don't have diapers, they don't have towels, they don't have clean water," she said.

"They try to bring toothbrushes and diapers, formula, woman's hygiene products. Anything."

She says what's most needed right now are light summer clothing, baby diapers, children's shoes and underwear for all genders and ages.

Vazzoler says the quality of the donations matters.

"We're trying to also preserve the dignity of these children and these people in general. So we just ask that the clothes to be wearable. If you wouldn't put them on your child, then we probably wouldn't be able to send them," she said.

How to help

Vazzoler says people who want to make a donation can drop off clean, lightly used clothing or new items near a mailbox on Karlsfeld Road near Bonn Avenue in Waterloo. Vazzoler says she will have a handmade sign posted on a mailbox there as well as a donation bin next to it.

Vazzoler is also looking for help from people who can ship the items to Jamaica. Her parents will be taking as much as they can when they return in early January, but they are limited by baggage restrictions.

"If people are willing to bring it back, we will of course have to be very, very careful who to trust," she said, adding that people can reach out to her through her Reddit post.

She says there is no deadline to make a donation. She plans to fly out to Jamaica with another batch of donations in a few months.

More help from Waterloo region

Back in October, when the hurricane first hit, the Canadian Caribbean Association of Waterloo Region (CCAWR) started an online donation campaign for those impacted by the hurricane.

President of CCAWR, Lannois Carrol-Woolery, told CBC News at the time, "We will survive it, but the island will certainly need help to recover."

In an online statement in October, the executive director of CCAWR said the association shared its "heartfelt concern and unwavering solidarity with the people of Jamaica and all those across the Caribbean" who were affected by the hurricane.

"We hold close our families, friends, and communities across the islands, and we honour the incredible strength, unity, and courage that continue to define the Caribbean spirit," Devon Harnarain said in the statement.