Giving Compass' Take:

• This blog post from The Mission Continues details a service assignment in Puerto Rico to help a community still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Maria.

• How might this story inspire others to develop a giving time strategy, whether in disaster relief or other areas? Which efforts can build hurricane resilience?

• Here's how we can apply the Sustainable Development Goals to help Puerto Rico’s schools.

My flight landed at 6pm on a Thursday night. I was coming from a very cool New York City climate to a very humid, tropical Puerto Rico. Luckily, a lot of people in Puerto Rico speak English so it wasn’t too much of a challenge to get around at the airport ...

My reason for visiting the island was to assist the Puerto Rico Service Platoon with a service project they were planning in remembrance of Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria is the 10th most intense Hurricane to occur on record. The project would support folks that were affected by the hurricane a year prior in a little town called Humacao.

Humacao is located in the southeast part of the island. It’s also the very first place to be hit by Hurricane Maria with flooding in homes reaching up to 10 feet! One year later, these homes are still feeling the affects, but the people living there are making it work and living their best lives.

With the help of some local nonprofits, The Mission Continues was welcomed into three of these homes to help make some repairs. There were veterans and homeowners scraping ceilings and walls that would then be painted as well installing new doors.

Read the full article about an inspirational service experience in Puerto Rico by Marvin Cadet at Mission Continues Blog.