Three million, four hundred thousand people live in Puerto Rico.
Fifty-four of them work for C&W Services.
Eleven days after the landfall of Hurricane Maria, they’re still facing incredible obstacles.
They’re waiting in line for hours to get gasoline, in order to drive to work sites where lack of diesel fuel means production lines operating on generators are in danger of shutting down. They’re going home to damaged houses, after standing in long lines for food and water.
In spite of the best laid plans, Hurricane Maria’s unprecedented destruction means a myriad obstacles have come in the way of getting help to our employees. Not only have we helped our clients restore operations at their sites, our clients are using the heft of their employment presence on the island and their supply chains to get help to our employees as well as their own.
Our two biggest client sites in Puerto Rico are managed by C&W Services divisions that specialize by industry sector—the Plant Services Group and the Life Sciences Group. The two teams are constantly communicating to make sure ideas and support resources are shared.
We have partnered with one of our clients in their corporate relief efforts to ensure the delivery of water, food, fuel, camping gear, hygiene products, baby formula, and other basic aid supplies. The client is flying supplies for their team, and C&W Services is funding an additional pallet of aid supplies earmarked specifically for our C&W Services employees who work at their site.
“We truly feel a partnership with our customer’s corporate leadership, the team at the site, as well as local business partners in Puerto Rico,” says Rodney McSheridan, C&W Services’ Director of Operations for the Plant Services Group.
The corporate procurement team of a large life sciences client learned about the relief supplier, Disaster America, by way of our C&W Services teams sharing information. Today, Disaster America is loading a dedicated fuel truck on a cargo plane in Miami, and flying it to San Juan. Disaster America has relationships with leading fuel providers and can guarantee fuel to both of our largest client sites to keep their generators running, so critical aspects of the sites remain functioning.
This week, C&W Services launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for our employees. It replicates similar efforts by C&W Services and Cushman & Wakefield, which have raised $20,285 for the victims of hurricanes Irma and Harvey to date.
We continue to see our purpose and values brought to life in the wake of these recent disasters as employees across North America donate in support of our team members impacted by the storms. Along with a significant initial donation, C&W Services will match employee donations 100% up to a substantial amount based on total donations. These funds will be directed to the needs of our employees for items related to the recovery process.
