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Angie Rose is “a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx that loves Jesus and hip-hop.”

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico with wind speeds reaching 175 mph. It was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane in almost twenty years, killing almost 3,000 people in Puerto Rico. Being familiar with Puerto Rico’s poverty and how it allowed tremendous damage to occur,

“I guess that was the first time I had ever felt my DNA… I felt responsible and I felt like I had some sort of obligation to help.”

Rose knew she wanted to do something to help, but at first didn’t know what she could do. After more thinking, she decided to do a concert that would serve as a fundraiser. “I called my church and they were with it. A bunch of people that had never put on a show got together.”

In October she did the relief concert and went to Puerto Rico a couple weeks later. “I remember literally just water everywhere.” She saw that many of the roads were impassible and many homes were missing roofs.

“It was intense. A lot of older people that were literally dying.”

One day Rose went to someone’s house to deliver aid supplies. “A [elderly] woman died when I knocked on their door. We had to pray with their family. Even in that God was glorified.” The daughter of the woman who died said that when they were praying, that was the first time she had felt God’s presence in years. The woman told her, “a girl from the Bronx with shorts on walked into my house and showed me Jesus.”

Angie Rose’s fundraising efforts have made a big difference. “We’ve been able to give Puerto Rico about five-thousand solar [powered] lights.” Hurricane Maria had a disastrous effect on the power grid and electricity system, with some people still out of power now, over one year later.

Besides solar lights, her funds have supported nine distribution centers where people can come to receive food, diapers, and other needed items.

“That’s a result of a relief concert, five thousand dollars, and [God’s] favor.”

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency got wind of what she was doing and gave her centers additional government-provided supplies to distribute. “When they saw that we were moving the donations, they kept giving us more.” Rose’s efforts started with one distribution center, but the additional support forced them to open eight more to keep up with all the goods they were receiving!