At Nolan’s Cuisine, a Jamaican restaurant in Elmont, helping the Caribbean island nation reeling from the destruction left behind by Hurricane Melissa is a deeply personal affair.

Even as owner Nolan Alexandre-Baker sets out barrels at the eatery for donated essentials that will be shipped to the region, he is thinking about his 78-year-old Jamaican grandmother. She has reassured him that she is all right and told him relatives were storing up supplies because they didn't know how bad conditions were going to get.

"Right now, we’re going to try to do our best from America," said Alexandre-Baker, 25, noting that it hurts that they can't help in person.

At a news conference at the restaurant on Wednesday, Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages and other civic leaders urged Long Islanders to

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