University of Delaware English Language Institute students have organized a disaster relief project for Puerto Rico and are collecting supplies through Oct. 18.

In 2016 and 2017, students enrolled in the UD-SABIC Foundation Year program traveled to Puerto Rico on a service learning trip to help build homes in a poor community. They spent a week learning about Puerto Rican culture and history, while helping to build homes in the low-income community of Villa Del Rio. Many of those homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Maria.

The students have partnered with several agencies from the state of Delaware – Delaware Emergency Management Agency, Delaware State Police and Delaware Citizen Corps --  to organize this drive.

All members of the UD and ELI community are invited to donate items, and they can be taken to the English Language Institute on the second floor at 108 East Main St.

Needed are first aid supplies, stomach or diarrhea medications, hand sanitizer, insect repellent, toiletries and feminine hygiene products, dish soap and laundry detergents, garbage bags, work gloves, tarps, ropes, safety glasses and goggles and pet food. The following will not be accepted: clothing and shoes, toys or stuffed animals, bottled water and food.

For more information, contact MariaJose Riera, program coordinator of the SABIC Foundation Year, at mjriera@udel.edu.