Up until a week ago, United for Puerto Rico, an organization that has been fiercely promoted by the Rosselló administration--specifically by the Office of the First Lady, Beatriz Rivera Areizaga de Rosselló--was operating with just a Board of Directors, and without providing much detail on how assistance was allocated or the requirements to request funds from them. The organization has already gathered $11 million in donations.

After NotiCel revealed how food and basic necessities are distributed from their collection center, which is occupying a space in the Coliseo de Puerto Rico to the tune of $11,600 a day, the recently appointed executive director, Mariely Rivera, agreed to talk with us about the organization's mission and goals.

'The collection center had already been established (in the Coliseo) between Irma and Maria. This is important to better understand the topic of the money being paid for the center. This is part of a strategy to collect items, which began with hurricane Irma. I guess they started the initiative with a group of volunteers, and they identified the best place to establish it. I wasn't there, and I don't know how they developed it. But I guess it happened as it happens in any emergency, where you have to identify the best place to collect basic necessities. But we would like to make it clear that we're not operating or leading those efforts. That's being done by the group that started the initiative from the Office of the First Lady, so it's not part of our budget,' Rivera explained.

Rivera works directly with the group of United for Puerto Rico's founding members from the private sector. These include the companies Bacardi, Banco Popular, Bella Group, Burger King, Coca Cola, Empresas Fonalledas, Evertec, First Bank, GFR Media, Triple M, South American Restaurant (Church's), Toyota, Triple S, Walgreens, and Walmart.

In other words, according to the executive, the collection center is being operated by the governmental branch of United for Puerto Rico, while the structured non-profit part that managed cash donations belongs to the private sector, albeit without being completely disassociated from its relations with its primary founder, the First Lady of Puerto Rico.

This is why the collection center's operational costs, which amount to $11,600 a day, 'are addressed in a contract between SMG, the Coliseo's managing company, and the State Agency for Emergency and Disaster Management (AEMEAD, by its Spanish acronym),' 'clarified' Eduardo Cajina, general manager of the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

Rivera, who has had experience leading non-profit organizations, asserted that the mission of United for Puerto Rico is based on three specific areas: relief, recovery, and reconstruction. She assured NotiCel that from the moment she was approached to lead this foundation, she made it clear that the administrative expenses should be in accordance 'with the standard non-profit rules, which limit administrative expenses to 5%' of the initial fund.

'I was contacted because they were looking for someone with expertise in non-profit entities, but who had also worked in different areas. At first, I didn't really know what it was for. Later, I understood it was something big, that it had to be done correctly right from the start so it wouldn't become an effort with a lifespan of merely 90 days to six months. It had to be something that would lay firm foundations. And I told them that if they were willing to work with that outlook, they would have my support and expertise,' said Rivera, who was hired on October 26.

'That's when I learned that this had been born as an initiative from the First Lady's Office, and I realized that it was the same process that had happened after Katrina (in the United States), where public-private working lines were established to manage the emergency.'

Mariely Rivera's experience has been mainly with organizations managing direct fundraising and projects that urgently need to identify funding opportunities.

In the past, she has led strategies related to education and homeless people, establishing a working plan to educate in an attempt to close the gap for the homeless. She said that First Lady Beatriz Rosselló is 'the founder and godmother' of United for Puerto Rico, since she initiated these assistance efforts after Hurricane Irma. However, a week later, Hurricane Maria struck, and efforts were increased to give the foundation a more formal structure, integrating the efforts from the private sector.

Up until October 11, United for Puerto Rico had raised $11 million, including the funds from the original founders. According to Rivera, 50% of this money comes from individuals, and 50% comes from corporations. She remarked that United for Puerto Rico works to benefit the most vulnerable populations, including the elderly, children and youths, single mothers, homeless people, disabled people, small businesses, and micro businesses.

It then uses various fronts to identify non-profit organizations with the capabilities to manage these types of assistance and adequately use the funds.

She explained that the organizations file their requests through the foundation's website. The site has included forms that the organizations should use to state their working plan, budget, and other details, to then undergo an assessment. After an in-depth assessment, if the organization is approved, then the funds are allocated.

So far, funds have been allocated to the American Red Cross Chapter of Puerto Rico, Iniciativa Comunitaria, Inc., Proyecto Nacer, Boys and Girls Club of Puerto Rico, Fundación de Esclerosis Múltiples de Puerto Rico, Inc., Humanitarian Assistance Cooperative Housing Foundation, La Perla de Gran Precio, Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico, Centro de Ayuda Social Manos que Alimentan Vidas, and the National Puerto Rican Leadership Council Education Fund, for a total of a little over $1.5 million.

'According to our projections, we can last up to nine months, insofar as we can correctly distribute funds to organizations that can perform, and we can prove we have managed to make changes from the day we gave money to the organizations, that we helped provide relief, and that we have been able to transition into a recovery phase,' she concluded.