Hurricane Melissa has devastated Jamaica and Mercury One is on the ground to help with recovery efforts. Glenn speaks with Jack Brewer, who just returned from Jamaica. Jack describes the tragedy, which he calls “one of the worst I have seen,” and explains how people like you can help get aid to people in regions where “NO ONE” has come to help, even 6 days after the storm.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: I don't know if you've been paying attention at all to what happened with Hurricane Melissa. But, you know, it's been, what? Five days since Melissa pummeled Jamaica. I mean, pummeled it.
And not a lot of people are showing up. It's -- it's -- it's really not good.
At least 28 people have died, since the hurricane hit. Monster category five. 185-mile-an-hour winds. They say, trees are just piled up everywhere. 400 people in Jamaica. 400,000 people in Jamaica have zero power. They don't have cell phone service. They don't have Wi-Fi.
They don't have water.
And they don't -- and, again, like I said, nobody is coming. Mercury One was there, over the weekend, and Jack Brewer was there. Jack is -- Jack is an amazing guy. He's a three-time NFL team captain. He was -- he is a minister. Humanitarian civil rights commissioner on the US Commission for the social status of black men and boys. Vice chair of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Advisory Board.
Leads a national advocacy for fatherhood. Criminal justice reform. A really, really good guy.
In fact, he just won Mercury One's angel Bonhoeffer award. Which is really for very, very special people. He was down with us in Jamaica, just this weekend. He just got home. I wanted to get an update on what he saw. Jack, welcome to the program.
JACK: How are you doing, Glenn? Thanks for having me.
GLENN: You bet. What did you see down in Jamaica?
JACK: It was horrific. You know, I've been doing this organization, going on our 20th year. So I've seen disasters from across Africa and throughout the Caribbean, and obviously in the US. This is one of the worst that I've seen, just in regards to the devastation. Homes completely leveled. I mean, down to the foundation.
And, you know, the entire West side of Jamaica is without water. Without electricity. And, you know, it's hard -- it's tough terrain. Because a lot of these people kind of live up in the hills and the mountainous areas. And so as these trees have fallen down, you know, the infrastructure, electricity wattage is pretty old.
And so the electric wires are just twisted all in the trees. And it's -- you know, as you're driving around, you know, you're being whipped by electric wires and just a tough terrain. And unfortunately, everywhere that we were able to get to, we were the first there.
And this is -- now we're going on six days after the storm. And these people don't have water. They don't have electricity. You see, just piles and piles of -- of humans sitting next to each other. Trying to get water. They're washing their clothes with the saltwater. And, you know, they're -- they're -- the gas pumps have run out. You know, there are fights at the gas pumps. Because people are trying to desperately get enough fuel, you know, if they do have a generator to get fuel for it. Or cars to get places.
And the most heartbreaking thing is that folks haven't found their family members.
You know, there's no communication. You know, we brought several thousand Starlinks with us, we brought battery backs and start to give them to the people. But, you know, they haven't communicated with their people. They have -- there's still so many folks. When I was there, they had just found six more bodies in the area.
And they were asking us for cadaver dogs, and asking us if we could, you know, assist with them.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
JACK: It's terrible, it really is, Glenn.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Did you see any American forces?
I mean, did you see any -- who did you see there?
I keep hearing that nobody was there. But there has to be somebody.
JACK: Nobody. Well, I saw a couple helicopters in the air. You know, I saw a couple military helicopters in the air. But again, when you get up into these mountainous regions, the higher up you go, the worse the devastation. If you were just to go there, and you look down. Like a normal hurricane. You know, trees down. And, you know, it's a difficult place. But when you start to go up these mountains, just I'm talking about a quarter mile, everything is wiped out. Literally, Glenn, no one has come.
I went to village after village, town after town, no aid organization has come. I think they just started to try to get the West more -- because you have to take a helicopter to get in there. But if you start at Montego Bay and start to work your way down South. A small little town like Tucker, Westmoreland.
If you go down the Black River, in those areas, those areas are decimated. And so, you know, they're sleeping outside. And another thing, Glenn. That has been an issue. It hasn't stopped raining. It's been raining every day. So everything is mucky.
When we got there on Saturday, I mean, literally we had to divert from a flood. You know, the floodwaters started rising on our car. Got up to almost the window. We had to get out of there. I think, three days after the storm. And so they're still dealing with the water. And now they don't have any shelter. So we've been trying to deliver, as many tarps and tents and those type of things that we can, just for the short-term. Because obviously, they're going to start dealing with water-born diseases and mosquitoes. And so we've been trying to bring as much insect repellent for these people.
So it's a lot different. And it's a lot different in Haiti. I tell people, the people of Jamaica aren't used to this.
You know, they've lived their lives with electricity. And, you know, they're not -- they're not used to living in these type of conditions. So it's been really rough. You know, particularly on the children of those communities, and we saw households. You know, that they were -- they didn't have a place to go shelter in. You know, I talked to probably 25 different families that were inside of their homes, as they blew completely down!
I mean, all walls down, roofs, torn off their homes. And now all of their belongs are scattered around the neighborhood. It's depressing.
GLENN: I know we're trying to fill a plane. We -- we're sending a cargo plane on Wednesday, and we so desperately need your help.
One hundred percent of your donation to M1 right now, will go help the people of Jamaica. Can you compare this to what we saw in North Carolina?
JACK: No question. The difference between here and North Carolina, we have something called insurance. And we have helicopters. And, you know, we have actually -- you know, you know, our fellow Americans can get there. You know, in Jamaica, they don't have that option. And it's -- it's really depressing. Because you can tell the people were already, you know, living in poverty.
And now, you know, they're dealing with the reality.
And, I mean, but I will say one thing though, Glenn.
The love of God and the thankfulness and the -- the smiling and the worshiping, that was happening, in these towns I was in -- it motivated me. It lifted me up. It humbled me.
To see people that literally lost it all. But they were so thankful. And they said, you know what, we're living to see another take.
God has given us another chance to recover. We have our life. We have our children.
You know, many of them have lost loved ones and family members. And so they were just grateful to be alive.
And so it was a humbling experience. But, you know, to answer your question, yeah. From a destructive perspective, it's very similar to what we saw in the Carolinas.
It's just -- the -- the recovery. And the need now, where there's water and food, you know, it's -- desperate, at this time.
GLENN: Yeah. We have really good people drive from all over the country, to get there.
They just felt prompted to go do it.
And, you know, you're not driving to Jamaica.
That's really difficult.
JACK: That's right.
GLENN: Anyway, we have a cargo plane going out on Wednesday. We really need your help. You can go to MercuryOne.org and donate. We're still in North Carolina. We are rebuilding. We're still in the Texas Hill Country.
We're in Alaska, after the horrific -- the horrific typhoon that hit just a few weeks back. We're all over. And we're getting ready to go to Africa with the Nazarene Fund to rescue Christians.
We really need your help. And, again, I give you my word, 100 percent of it goes right directly to the cause. There's no funding that -- nothing comes off the top.
It will go right to the cause. So go to MercuryOne.org. And help us help people.
MercuryOne.org.
Jack, have you been over, and have you seen what's happening over in Africa?
JACK: So I've done extensive work in Africa. I have not directly in the northern portions of Nigeria. I do plan to go there very soon.
I have been -- I actually have a number of our partners there. You know, we run about 50 orphanages in Africa, so I'm used to that terrain.
But I can tell you, I've been telling a lot of folks on the ground, it's a really sad situation. You know, the people that are being persecuted, the Christians that are being persecuted are the poorest of the poor.
These people are living in conditions where, you know, they don't have running water.
Many of them. And they live in villages. You know, of little means. So these Islamic groups have really come in and taken advantage of them. And, you know, taken over their villages.
So I ask, how are you able to just take over a village?
How can you take over that many people?
How come they haven't fought back? Are these the most vulnerable people in the world. The people who Christ told us to protect as Christians. So I'm just, I'm so happy that President Trump stepped in.
GLENN: Me too.
JACK: The statement, backed up by our amazing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
But we have to do something about this.
The precedent that is set in, is one that is dangerous for the world.
You know, it's also happening in Sudan, running rampant now.
GLENN: I've -- I've heard Sudan is actually in some ways worse, and nobody is paying attention to Sudan.
I mean, barely anybody is paying attention to Nigeria.
But what I'm hearing coming out of Sudan is awful.
JACK: Yeah, it's awful. It really is awful.
And Sudan is a little bit different because you have more of a Muslim country. You know, Nigeria has had a really thriving Christian community --
GLENN: Right.
JACK: -- in the past.
And, you know, for some reason, I think this government that they have now has this Islamic influence over it that is really trying to -- and they're telling their people that it's propaganda. So if you ask a Nigerian, maybe they will tell you it's all propaganda. It's propaganda.
But, you know, the world is starting to see it. And so I think they'll have to really address these issues. And not be able to just use their media to distort the narrative for their -- for their people.
It's important for the Nigeria to (phone cuts out), I feel. And I just pray that, you know, President Trump and our administration continues to use our influence on the world, to protect our Christian brothers and sisters.
GLENN: Jack, it was good to see you the other night. Thank you so much. Appreciate all that you do.
JACK: Yeah. Thank you, Glenn. Just so you know and all your listeners, man, without Mercury One, we wouldn't be able to do any of this work. You know, the Bible tells us that we all -- we all need elders. And we need people who God has appointed to us.
I know our organization knows that God has appointed you to us. We have been able to affect the lives of so many people, man. I mean, the poorest of the poor and the forgotten because of the support of Mercury One. And I'm just humbled to be your partner and your friend and brother. And just, I pray, we will continue to lock our arms, to help those that are hurting around our world.
GLENN: You are one of the many Moses figures that we play into and hold our arms up. You're doing all the hard work, Jack. Thank you so much.
If you can help us, please, go to MercuryOne.org. That's MercuryOne.org.
You can donate. There's many things going on, our general fund will allow you -- will allow the money to go to many different things as it's needed.
But right now, we really need the help for Jamaica. We're filling a cargo plane on Wednesday to get it there. This is for the poorest of the poor. The people that are just completely left alone, as -- as Jack said. And I talked to Mercury One earlier today.
They're like, Glenn, nobody is there. Like, nobody is there.
Our governments, you know, their government. Our government failed us here.
Their government, I mean, it's just -- it's -- we have to help each other.
We have to help each other.
MercuryOne.org. That's MercuryOne.org.