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VERIFY: Can you buy groceries for people in Puerto Rico to pick up?

A Facebook post has been circulating around timelines stating that people in the United States can buy groceries online for family and friends in Puerto Rico and have them use the grocery pick-up option at their local stores.
(Photo: Getty Images)

A Facebook post has been circulating around timelines stating that people in the United States can buy groceries online for family and friends in Puerto Rico and have them use the grocery pick-up option at their local stores.

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There are 49 Walmart retail locations in Puerto Rico and many of them are suffering the effects of Hurricane Maria as well. Many of the Walmart locations are not open at this time.

However, the fact of the matter is that grocery pick-up is not an option at the Walmart locations in Puerto Rico.

Walmart released a statement to First Coast News:

We continue to recover from the impact of Hurricane Maria, but it’s been a slower process than we would like due to continued widespread power outages and communication issues across the Island.

We have activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Walmart Home Office in Bentonville, Ark. to support our associates in Puerto Rico. The EOC is Walmart’s centralized platform for crisis coordination. In the EOC, we work directly with logistics, store operations and other teams within the business to ensure we’re aligned on our support plans.

We have company leadership on the Island and continue to be in regular contact with FEMA, the American Red Cross, and other partners, while we react to various needs. We have also sent communications specialists, electricians and other skilled support teams to the Island to help us recover stores and club locations as quickly as possible.

So we can confirm that this Facebook post is not true.

Walmart has made other moves to help those affected by Hurricane Maria. It announced a $5 million commitment to Hurricane Maria relief.

“Our associates and friends in Puerto Rico are in significant need,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and chief sustainability officer for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “We want to do all we can to help, not only with immediate hurricane assistance, but in the long term, knowing that there are many challenging days of recovery and rebuilding ahead.”

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