Small businesses are the life-blood of any community. Puerto Rico is no different. Kudos to Google and to Lin-Manuel Miranda for launching a fundraising effort to help get some of the over 10,000 small businesses on the island which have shut down — re-opened. From bee-keepers to bodega owners, small businesses sustain the economy.
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Join Google and Lin-Manuel Miranda in supporting Puerto Rico recovery. Google will match up to $2M in donations. g.co/supportPR #PuertoRicostrong
Google.org, Lin-Manuel Miranda are raising funds for Puerto Rican businesses
Ahead of the nine-month anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has teamed up with Lin-Manuel Miranda to support businesses in Puerto Rico. Beginning at 3 a.m. Friday, Google will match up to $2 million donated through g.co/supportPR. The fundraiser, for which Miranda recorded a promotional video, is scheduled to end at midnight on June 20 — the nine-month anniversary of Maria striking the island.
Justin Steele, Americas’ lead for Google.org, said it was critical to support small- and medium-sized businesses since they collectively employ 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s private sector. To date, only about 20 percent of such enterprises have reopened.
“This is actually the first time we’re ever going to pilot trying to see if we can draw the public’s attention back to the recovery effort,” Steele said, noting that Google.org tends to get involved immediately after disasters, as it did by donating $1.5 million to various areas damaged by Maria. “We felt like small businesses were going to be particularly important in the recovery, given that 10,000 small businesses have still not reopened and one of every three workers in Puerto Rico is employed by a small- or medium-sized business.”
Thank you Google, and special thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda for his tireless efforts to raise funds for our fellow citizens on the island.