Chef Tomme Beevas' quest to help hurricane-ravaged Jamaica
For months, people across Jamaica have been cleaning up the mess left behind by Hurricane Melissa. The storm ripped through the island nation in October, killing dozens of people and tearing down homes, electricity and communication services.
Tomme Beevas, owner of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen restaurants in the Twin Cities, jumped into action to help the place he calls home. He said following Give to the Max Day and a benefit concert, the outcome has been "amazing."
"What's happening is people are stepping up to support, and then what we've been able to do with our partners in the Twin Cities is to be able to send pallets of food and items back to Jamaica already," Beevas said. "So people are already receiving it, but the work doesn't stop here."
And Beevas is not just making sure that supplies can reach Jamaica. He also has family there who have felt the destruction first hand.
"Uncle Bobby, who is my amazing uncle, he is in the heart of where the hurricane ravaged. And so it took us weeks to hear from him. But to hear my uncle's voice, to see his face, to see his smiling, big, white teeth, that really gave us that sigh of relief that we all needed because we're holding our collective breath for all of Jamaica," Beevas said. "Like I knew that he was safe because I have faith, and at the same time just not being able to make that connection was really hard. He's lost everything, his entire house is flattened. But my family's compound in Beeston Spring, that has been flattened. My family home in White House, Westmoreland, flattened. So it's been, this one has been a really personal, personal one for me."
Wayland Richards, president and founder of the Organization for Strategic Development in Jamaica, is partnering with Beevas' Pimento Relief Services.
"On the healthcare side, they're in need of internists and psychologists. And when they told me that, it never dawned on me that, oh, there is a lot of trauma that goes with this, not just the loss of physical things, but the emotional trauma. So they're asking for psychologists to come help with those cases as well," Richards said.