“My mother had a health complication and my dad who was living in Florida, in Orlando, he got us a ticket for our entire family to leave the island,” said Nava Alsina. “We couldn’t stay in the island if my mom was not able to get the medicine she needed.”

Nava Aslina still remembers the day Trump visited the island and threw rolls of paper towels to hurricane survivors, an action that has snowballed along with the various negative comments Trump has said about the island, which left many Puerto Ricans unhappy with the Trump administration.  

“For us, it was a complete lack of respect to the people,” said Nava Alsina “It’s just something that you don’t do. I wasn’t expecting him to go that low.” 

The Category 5 hurricane tore through the island leaving it without electricity or water for months and an estimated death toll of 1,427.  But Hurricane Maria was just one of the many disasters the island has confronted in the past years. In 2019, the island was hit by governmental corruption and underwent a tumultuous transition in  after people took to the streets to protest against then governor Ricardo Roselló. Throughout the beginning of 2020, earthquakes began shaking different parts of the island, destroying homes and damaging an already fragile power grid.

With the Puerto Rican population on the island shrinking dramatically since the landfall of Maria, Florida has become a key battleground state for the 2020 presidential election. Both candidates have been competing to win over the Latino vote in the state and Puerto Ricans have proven to be a key demographic there, making up 27% of the overall eligible Latino voters in the state.  

Nava Alsina has been working with the Florida Democratic Party to mobilize the Puerto Rican vote in the state. As part of a group called Boricuas con Biden, Nava Alsina has helped make over 60,000 calls to Puerto Rican voters. The group, which is led by volunteers, has also relied on text messaging initiatives, zoom calls and Puerto Rican artists to motivate voters. 

While working on this initiative, Nava Alsina has had the chance to listen to what many Puerto Ricans have to say about Hurricane Maria and  the Trump administration handled the aftermath of the storm on the island. 

Natascha Otero, founder of Boricuas con Biden, said  that Florida is a key state for the Puerto Rican vote because most  have close ties to the island. Some have  family members who still live on the island or they fled to the state  after the hurricane. Otero said  these Puerto Ricans still recall what the island went through the past four years.

As part of the  group’s initiative, Puerto Rican voters speak with fellow Puerto Ricans who are still on the island over the phone. This process has been a key element when campaigning. Especially now that their efforts are limited to social media, texts and phone calls due to Covid-19. 

“As opposed to other groups, we know what Puerto Rico has suffered because of the Trump administration,” said Otero. “We don’t want four more years of that for the island.” 

But there’s still a group that favors president Trump’s reelection. Among them are top officials that form part of Puerto Rico’s local government.  The island’s appointed governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, endorsed Trump during an interview with Telemundo. Nayda Venegas Brown, a conservative senator who’s a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) on the island, participated in a caravan to support president Trump in Puerto Rico. 

Puerto Ricans participate in a “Puerto Ricans for Trump” rally held in Puerto Rico. Photo provided by Nelson Albino

But the efforts from the island to try and branch out to Puerto Rican voters in the diaspora has been from both sides. For the first time in 50 years, the island’s main newspaper, El Nuevo Día, endorsed a presidential candidate; it was Joe Biden. The editorial piece highlighted Biden’s plans for the island if elected and condemned the way President Trump has behaved towards the island describing the way Puerto Rico has been treated by his administration as, “an overwhelming amount of inattention, disdain and prejudice against our people.” 

But there is not much either of them can do except hope that the message gets through to Puerto Ricans who live on the mainland. Why? Because Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote in the presidential elections due to the island’s territorial status.  However,  that  has not discouraged Puerto Ricans on the island to stand behind the candidates they support, especially in an election that puts so much at stake.

Nelson Albino, a co-founder of Puerto Ricans for Trump, has been clear in his support for president Trump’s reelection even though he cannot vote for him. Albino was also one of the organizers of the Puerto Ricans for Trump caravan in which Venegas Brown participated.

“I wanted to send a message to the political establishment in the island that there are Republicans in Puerto Rico who no longer believe the lies of the establishment and the media, and also to send a message to the national Republican leadership that there are conservatives in Puerto Rico,” said Albino.  

For Albino, the way the Trump administration managed the aftermath of Hurricane María was mostly influenced by  the island’s history with corruption, an ongoing problem. He said  that many politicians on the island have an axe to grind with president Trump because of the way he “drained the swamp” in the Puerto Rican government. Albino also believes that statehood for Puerto Rico is not an option for the island in the foreseeable future because Puerto Rico is simply not ready to become a state. 

But regardless of the opposition many Puerto Ricans have shown against the Trump administration, Albino is optimistic that president Trump will win the reelection and continue to do the work that he believes has helped the island progress and move forward. 

“I believe he will be elected,” said Albino

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It has been a year since Puerto Rico was struck by Hurricane Maria and hundreds gathered at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday to hear from survivors whose lives were wrecked by the storm and its aftermath.

“We lost family, we lost jobs, we lost everything,” Lizmary Garcia, 38, of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, but who now lives in Bronx.

Garcia, one of the attendees, is one of many who have left the island following the disaster. In Garcia’s case, she left because she has two kids with autism who require extra care,  which was no longer available after the storm, she said.

Power 4 Puerto Rico coalition hosted the interfaith memorial and later a march to Trump Tower in partnership with New York Disaster Interfaith Services, PR-NYC Long Term Recovery Group and Episcopal Diocese of New York.

Hundreds attended the service where they honored the dead.

“And today there’s something I need to say,” Carlos Matos, a survivor of Hurricane Maria and one of the speakers, said. “Something I’ve been waiting for someone to say to me for the last year. Boricua, you have a right to live. Boricua, you have right to heal.”

Other survivors also shared their story filling the church with their words of hope and determination. Many who attended were also survivors and personally affected by the storm.

“I was out there for the first hurricane, Irma,” Isabel Gomez, 57, of the Lower East Side said. “I made it out two days before Maria came in. And then once Maria came in, we had no contact with our family who live out in the mountains of Isabela, Puerto Rico.”

Gomez didn’t learn until four months into the disaster if her family members were safe. She ended up losing some family and neighbors.

“I’m here to represent my island,” Gomez said. “It’s been difficult. There’s a void in the island. There’s a sense of loss.”

Isabel Gomez, left, poses with her friend at the march for the one year anniversary of Hurricane Maria to Trump Towers. Gomez, of the Lower Eastside, was in Puerto Rico a few days before the hurricane struck the island. Photo By Julia Lee

Gomez visited Puerto Rico two weeks ago where she helped by feeding the homeless and dogs, and picking up the debris. She said there were a lot of homeless people living under tarps as a result of no jobs and resources.

“We are resilient people,” Gomez said. “Yes we’ve lost thousands. Although the president doesn’t want to accept that. That will be on his conscience. But you keep moving on and we keep marching on. But it’s still hard work and still a long way to come before it becomes what it was.”

Many attendees had similar experiences.

“For all of us, it was a scary experience,” Jose Lopez, 32, of Bushwick Brooklyn. “No one would imagine that such a storm would hit Puerto Rico. I don’t know if we’ve seen one this strong in at least 80 years.”

Lopez  said he wasn’t able to contact his family in Puerto Rico during the storm for the first few weeks, but eventually did. They were safe and able to come to New York City.

He said a lot of the pain and anger Puerto Ricans feel is based on the neglect of the federal government.

“Even in the last few days, there’s been pictures surfacing of millions of bottles of water and cases of water that were left on federal land on the island and that wasn’t distributed to families most in need,” he said. “To this day we got folks who still don’t have clean drinking water.”

Many low income bodegas in New York City are scraping what they can to send resources and send money to Puerto Rico, Lopez said.

“It’s not just about the hurricane,” Lopez said. “Puerto Rico was in dire need even before Maria hit.”

The island was already suffering from many problems including dangerous infrastructure, rolling blackouts, high unemployment, fleeing manufacturing, and poor public healthcare.

“The hurricane and everything that came after the fact is going to have long-lasting effects,” Lopez said. “So tonight we want to lift up all those things. But for years we’re going to be suffering from what took place.”

After the church service, they marched towards Trump Tower carrying Puerto Rican flags, signs and votive candles.

“We’re also here to say that the real disaster of Puerto Rico has been Hurricane America,” Rodrigo Starz, 36, of the Bronx said. “It has been a failure for the U.S. government to take care of U.S. citizens.”

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On the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria yesterday, many Puerto Ricans marched to Trump Tower from St. Bartholomew’s Church in Midtown Manhattan, angry at how the federal government has handled post Hurricane Maria efforts.

“They have been absolutely negligent,” said Mercedes Verdejo, 49, one of the protesters, who is from the Upper West Side.  She was joined by hundreds of other supporters.“I was actually trying to see if a government can be charged with negligent homicide.”

When the category 4 hurricane struck Puerto Rico, it destroyed everything in its path. Many residents didn’t have power, water, food and medical treatment for months. Villages have been struggling to rebuild. Thousands of families still need to cover their homes with blue tarps while they wait for repairs.  

Protesters believe that the federal government is to blame.

“They didn’t treat us like human beings,” said Carlos Matos, 20, who is a refugee. “They didn’t show any type of preparation.”

After the storm, Matos was separated from his family for two weeks unable to communicate with them at all. Eventually, he fled to New York. He was one of the students that NYU offered undergraduate services to.

He said that Puerto Rico had enough available shelters, but no one was prepared and they had no resources.

“I remember listening to truckers,” said Matos. “People ready to transport these resources to all parts of the island, saying we have been here for days and they have not told us what to do and have not allowed us to move through the island to get these products to the people.”

Many protesters waved Puerto Rican flags, heads sign that read, “Puerto Rican Lives Matter” and “Boricuas Remember” as they walked to Trump Tower about a half a mile away. They were upset about the recent comments from the Trump Administration about hurricane relief efforts.

“Why are we Americans when we need to fight his wars, pay taxes, for everything else but for this we don’t serves justice and we don’t deserve help,” said Yolada Volden, 57, as she held a Puerto Rican flag.

Earlier this month, George Washington University released  a study that showed around 3,000 people have died due to Hurricane Maria. This is including those who were affected after the storm. The findings were 46 times larger than what the government previously estimated back in December.

President Trump responded to the study, tweeting that “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico” and that he thinks it was an “incredible unsung success.”

“He is out of line, he has no filter,” said Volden. “He is totally inappropriate as the president of the United States. I am just ashamed to say that I am an American and that he is my president.”

Protesters were also very concerned that these circumstance will have more of a long term impact on the mental state of victims.

“More struggles are regarding mental health,”said Mantos.”The trauma has taken on my family’s bodies and their minds. They don’t have the time to heal because the economic crisis has them working all the time.”

Even through all the hardships, Puerto Ricans are standing together to rebuild  their state and each other.

“We will help the Island rebuild,” said Marilyn Molina, 57, whose parents were trapped in their home during the storm. “If I have to invest every vacation I take by going back to Puerto Rico to build the economy, that is what I will do for the rest of my life.”

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Members of the Puerto Rican community, local politicians, and protesters gathered at St. Bartholomew’s church in Midtown Manhattan last night and then marched to Trump Tower to commemorate and protest the one year anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

Lined with 3,000 candles to commemorate each individual life lost during the storm, the church vigil drew hundreds in support. They included prominent politicians like Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Attorney General Democratic nominee Letitia James, and NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

But the keynote speakers of the evening were not politicians

“This time last year, at 7:01 PM, I was in preparations for the hurricane,” said Yadaliz Morales, who was living in Puerto Rico when Maria struck. “I was in the bathroom with my grandson, and I stayed in the bathroom with my grandson until Friday afternoon.”  

Morales and her grandson were in the bathroom for over 48 hours.

Morales had moved to Puerto Rico from New York City in 2013. She wanted to raise her grandson on the island.  

“I wanted to raise him in the paradise that I was raised in” said Cruz. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for him.”  

Carlos Matos, a college student, told those gathered that the stress of the storm caused his already unstable boyfriend to become more violent.

“I had to numb my emotions as my boyfriend, becoming unstable during the chaos, nearly crashed our car into another in a fit of rage” said Matos. “And I had to fight back the fatigue as my mother remained in the hospital”

But, Matos also shared a message of hope.

“Today, I am an aspiring physicist at the City College of New York, he said. “Today, I have a home where I can rebuild myself, and today I can finally begin the process of healing.”

But his closing remarks were filled with anger.

“Our ancestors were soldiers sent to wars not of their making, women experimented on, and slaves who were broken down,” Matos said, “and now, they are the thousands dead as a result of gross negligence by the government in response to Hurricane Maria.”

After the services the attendees marched to nearby Trump Tower. They wanted to show their anger for the Trump Administration’s response to the storm and the chaos that followed. Electricity was just recently restored to the island.

“The response of the federal government was terrible,” said protester Karina Claudio Betancourt, 34. “I lost communication with my family for 48 hours after the storm, but many of us in the diaspora lost communication with our families for weeks and months.”

The Trump administration has been widely criticized for its response to the storm. FEMA’s own internal report cited inadequate staffing, communications issues and issues with insufficient quantity and distribution of supplies. Trump and his administration insist that the response to the disaster was more than adequate, going so far as to reject the independent figure of 3,000 hurricane related deaths.  

Peter Gudaitis, the executive director of New York Disaster Interfaith Services, one of the organizers of the service and protest, said that the president needs to admit the government’s failures in Puerto Rico.

“I think the president worries too much about what is going to make him look bad, and that he should worry more about the American people,”said Gudaitis. “We know that more people died during the first year after Hurricane Maria then would have normally died in a hurricane of this kind. These are facts.”

Protester Julissa Bisona said that the president hasn’t done enough to show solidarity with the island, which is a commonwealth of the United States.

“He hasn’t been back in Puerto Rico since it happened,” she said. “Why hasn’t the president come back since he was seen throwing paper towels into the crowd?”

Gudaitis said that what Puerto Ricans need most is community and jobs.

“The evacuee community needs jobs,” said Gudaitis. “These are people who are well educated and trained and have a lot of experience. Without jobs, they can’t find housing, these are people who work hard, and want to pay their way.”  

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A week after Angel Ortiz moved from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, Hurricane Maria hit the island, with his wife and daughter still living in their northern hometown of Carolina.

“When Hurricane Maria passed through, everything changed,” Ortiz said. “I spent three days without knowing how they were.”

Ortiz’s wife and young daughter didn’t meet him in Philadelphia until Nov. 9. They were put in emergency housing provided by FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and started working through welfare programs.

But on Jan. 13, they got a call from the agency.

“(FEMA) said no more, and that we needed to move,” Ortiz said. “They said our house was determined to be livable in Puerto Rico, so we couldn’t stay in FEMA housing anymore.”

Although the Ortiz’s house was deemed livable by the federal agency, Ortiz said widespread looting, a lack of reliable electricity and the weakened healthcare system have kept them in the states.

“Some hospitals are still running on generators,” he said. “My daughter got the pneumonia down there and they checked on her just once a day to control the asthma.”

Since getting removed from FEMA housing, the family moved to Jersey City, where they’re staying with Ortiz’s grandmother.

And they are just one of more than 40 Puerto Rican transplants that landed in Hudson County, New Jersey as a direct result of Hurricane Maria, according to the Jersey City Board of Education.

With a wave of Puerto Rican families moving to the area, community groups like Project PIEDRA (Professionals in Education Delivering Relief Assistance) are helping them in the transition to life in the states.

The organization connects Puerto Rican families like Angel’s to each other, along with other community resources.

Project PIEDRA is the brainchild of Francisco Santiago, a teacher in Jersey City’s public school system.

“When the hurricane hit the island, I looked at my wife and said, ‘babe, we got to do something. Let’s sell the house and move down there,” Santiago said.

But the couple settled on fundraising first, and they’ve been helping displaced families transition to new lives in Jersey in the meantime.

With an education-focused model, Project PIEDRA is also helping the educational system on the island.

Santiago said the group is engaged in talks with the Puerto Rican Department of Education about what schools need their help the most.

“We’re really focused on getting boots on the ground,” Santiago said. “Teachers also got his by this tragedy; they have homes they need to return to so we want to be a respite for them, whether it’s for a day or a week.”

The organization involves teachers, administrators, counselors and social workers, and the group plans to help out schools in every aspect, said William Diaz, Vice Principle at Fort Lee High School in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

“There has been a disruption in the educational process on the island, so the goal is to go there and support in any way possible,” Diaz said.

Diaz said most of his own family also remains on the island.

“When they suffer through what they’re going through, it has a big impact on me,” he said. “I’m not an electrician or a carpenter, but I can help through education.”

The group is currently in talks with corporate vendors to secure ongoing funding. Santiago said the long-term goal for the organization is to be a volunteer relief program for any area needing educational assistance — not just Puerto Rico.

“If something happens next year in, let’s say, Haiti, we want to be there too,” Santiago said. “Wherever we’re needed, that’s where we want to be.”

And as for Ortiz, he said his family has no plans to return to the island.

“I don’t care if I’m here, or back in Philadelphia or in any part of the United States,” Ortiz said. “I just want to work hard and have a better place in life for me and my family.”

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When Puerto Rican college students Ana Garcia and Daniela Valdes Bennett applied to transfer to NYU for their spring semester after surviving two hurricanes, they kept it a secret from each other. The friends broke the news through emojis — an airplane, followed by another airplane and an American flag.

“I texted her saying, ‘Hey, I have news,’” said Bennett. “Ana said, ‘I have news too.’ And we freaked out.”

Garcia and Bennett are two of the 57 students admitted to NYU for the Spring 2018 semester through the Hurricane Maria Assistance Program. Through the program, NYU covers full tuition, a meal plan, housing and health insurance for students whose educations were interrupted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria last fall.

“There were over 400 applications and several hundred more that were not completed,” said Josh Taylor, Associate Vice Chancellor of Global Programs at NYU. “We prioritized students with challenging living situations, no internet and who attended campuses with no electricity.”

Other major universities, including Tulane, Cornell and Brown, are offering similar programs this spring.

Bennett and Garcia decided to transfer after barely managing one semester on the recovering island. Throughout the fall semester, closed classrooms, destroyed equipment and loss of power made studying nearly impossible.

Garcia’s school was closed for weeks due to the storms.

“Water came through the roof and ruined all the computers, everything,” Garcia said. “When the school opened again, we were taking classes in different places. It was a mess. When classes resumed, the power wasn’t guaranteed.”

Today, 131 days after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans on the island continue to struggle with the lack of reliable power. According to status.pr, 69% of the island has electricity, leaving 450,000 people currently without power. Garcia’s family completely lost power for four months. For Bennett’s, it was three and a half months, but they still have intermittent outages.

“Just this morning my family lost power again,” said Bennett. “It’s coming and going. Talking to them on the phone makes me kind of sad to know that they are still there. My twin brother is still studying in Puerto Rico and he keeps calling me saying, “‘I’m so jealous of you.’ I know it’s hard for them.”

During the fall semester, both students did homework using flashlights and candles. To do research, they drained their cell phone batteries and used what little data they had. When it was time to recharge, they took their laptops and phones to local cafes and waited along with dozens of other people who shared surge protectors and outlets.

“There were so many lines,” said Garcia. “For everything.”

At the cafes, the young women submitted their applications to NYU, which felt like a much-needed relief from the stress in the aftermath of the storms.

“The situation is just so overwhelming,” said Garcia. “You can’t think of anything but getting your power back and being able to shower with hot water.”

For Garcia, the chance to attend NYU for the spring seemed like a second chance to buckle down after a semester lost to the hurricanes.

“I found out that I had gotten into the program while I was at the bakery charging my phone and my laptop,” said Garcia. “And then I started crying and the people at the bakery were like, ‘Are you okay?’ And I was like, ‘Yea, I’m just really excited. This is good news.”

On campus at NYU, the transfer students feel embraced by their peers, despite the differences in their experiences.

“As soon as I told my roommates I was from Puerto Rico, they asked me about the hurricane,” said Bennett. “They sat around the table and I told them all of my stories and they were like, ‘Oh my god, wow.’

But the visiting students feel like their peers aren’t talking about Puerto Rico as much as they should be.

“I do feel like a lot of people have forgotten about it,” said Bennett. “People think it’s over and there has been so much progress, so I don’t want to complain. But it’s not over yet.”

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The line of vehicles was long, but patient. Cars and vans were overflowing with food and basic necessities. People worked as a human chain, shouting enthusiastically at each other to pass on boxes of supplies towards the huge container trucks parked on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx.

Today’s donation drive hosted by the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization was about the community coming together to aide victims of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the earthquake in Mexico.

And the Bronx Latino community is large. The Bronx is a borough of more than 1.4 million people of which about 56 percent are of Hispanic descent which makes up more than a third of New York’s Hispanic community. Puerto Ricans are the majority of Bronx Latinos.

“We’re having a lot more (supplies) than we’ve expected and we possibly will need more trucks,” said Liza Galletti, a local activist.

Volunteers help to upload the containers at today’s donation drive for Mexico and Puerto Rico on SouthernB lvd & Aldus St in the Bronx. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi

The island of Puerto Rico, nearly wiped out by Hurricane Maria, is suffering from one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the last decades. Power grids are down, roads are blocked, bridges have collapsed and there’s a shortage of food and water.

“That’s why we keep telling people ‘please donate, please donate.’ This can’t be a one time thing,” Galletti said.

Southern Boulevard was swarmed with volunteers and community members who flooded the street to show their support. Music blasted from the speakers, whistles blew and speakers rallied the crowd in Spanish.

“We’re done with another container. All six containers are full,” yelled volunteer and Queens resident Darlene Free, flashing a smile.

They were not even halfway through the relief operations.

“And we have six more coming,” she yelled, trying to raise her voice over the applauding crowd.

The community works together at today’s Donation drive for Mexico and Puerto Rico on Southern Blvd & Aldus St in the Bronx. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi

For volunteers and donors, it was all about getting help to the victims as they struggle and work together to stay alive.

“In my family if one person can cook then all the other members go to that home so they get at least a meal once a day,” said Jadeling Chavez, an ESL middle school teacher in the Bronx. “We have a motel down in Santa Isabela and my father provides gas and a place where people can stay. At least at night people have light because the area is not safe and it’s dangerous.”

In hospitals, generators have broken down and medications are running low.

“I have an aunt who is in dehydration,” said Erica Morales, 33, of the Bronx. “She hasn’t had water in days. But she hasn’t been able to get to the hospital. Other people are stuck in their houses because of flooding. The water’s contaminated and people are getting sick.”

Stacked bottled water at today’s donation drive for Mexico and Puerto Rico on Southern Blvd & Aldus St in the Bronx. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi

For Puerto Ricans on the mainland, communicating with their families is one of the biggest issues. Most people have to leave their towns to get an antenna signal that allows them to send even a short, quick message.

“The first days I wasn’t able to talk to my parents for a week,” said Sofia Tollinche, 20, a student at Manhattan College and a Puerto Rico native. “Now they call me if they have a signal, but I can never get through to them.”

Many of the supporters were not happy with the response of the US government.

“The government hasn’t stepped up the way they should,” said Rebecca Ramos, 43, a native of Puerto Rico. “I’m beyond angry, our president’s priority is going golfing this weekend while people are literally dying.”

Evelyn Torres of the Foxy Family Foundation waves the Puerto Rican flag at today’s donation drive for Mexico and Puerto Rico on Southern Blvd & Aldus St in the Bronx. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi

Some community members pointed out that many Americans don’t realize that Puerto Ricans are American citizens.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo flew to Puerto Rico immediately after Hurricane Maria hit, emphasizing the need for a collective and urgent effort to face Puerto Rico’s paralysis.

The Mexico earthquake seemed to take a back seat to the dire issues of the island.

“I was born in Mexico, so what happened there for me is a great deal,” said Christian Valero, of the Bronx and a graphic designer. “But I’m here to express solidarity with anyone who’s affected. It’s not just Puerto Rico or Mexico, it’s everywhere and it’s good to see people come together to help.”

Volunteers are also headed to the island to help.

“We are seeing the very best of humanity here. I’m proud,” said Ruben Diaz Jr., president of the Bronx Borough. “We’ve felt this pain for the last nine days, but we’re channeling that in a positive way. This response is just amazing.”

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As Puerto Rico continues to feel the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, New Yorkers with ties to the island are experiencing a mounting sense of desperation, not knowing how to help, and in many cases, unable to contact their loved ones at all.

“It’s so desperate. We are all anxious,” said Puerto-Rican born New York resident Juan Recondo at a demonstration to rally support for the island yesterday. “My wife is crying all the time and I completely understand — she hasn’t spoken to her brother for more than a week.”

Recondo, like many of his fellow demonstrators, feels paralyzed in the wake of the storm’s destruction. At least 16 people have died, and millions are without power, clean water and gas, according to a CNN report.

“There’s no way we can help,” Recondo said. “Our hands are tied. This is the only way, trying to get involved in this type of movement.”

Juan Recondo attends a rally in support of the people of Puerto Rico in Lower Manhattan yesterday. Photo by Amy Zahn

Recondo, along with over a hundred other protesters, gathered in Lower Manhattan to call for more aid to be sent to Puerto Rico and to condemn what they see as a slow response to the disaster by the U.S. government.

“I haven’t heard from my family at all, my whole family,” said protester Anthony Zayas, wrapped in a Puerto Rican flag. Aside from his mother, who lives in New Jersey, Zayas’ entire family is in Puerto Rico.

The state of New York is home to over a million people who identify as Puerto Rican, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the largest number in any state. There are over 5 million Puerto Ricans on the mainland U.S. in total, making them one of the largest Latino groups in the country, second only to Mexicans.

“People are praising Trump, but you know what? He did it too late. It should have been done immediately,” Zayas said, referring to Donald Trump’s temporary waiver of the Jones Act last week, eight days after the storm hit. “We’re American citizens, too.”

The Jones Act, passed in 1920, requires all ships transporting goods between U.S. ports to be built by Americans, and primarily manned by them. Trump lifted it for 10 days to facilitate shipments to the storm-ravaged island.

But despite the difficulties of assisting 3.4 million people — the population of Puerto Rico — there are ways to tailor relief efforts to be as helpful as possible, or at least avoid making things worse unintentionally.

According to Tony Morain, communications director for Direct Relief, a nonprofit that provides medications to hospitals and other health centers in disaster areas, it’s important for people to be mindful about the kinds of supplies they send.

In natural disasters, he said, it’s common for a shortage of truck drivers to combine with an influx of supplies trying to reach an area, creating a bottleneck in aid transport. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Morain explained that well-meaning people sent nonessential items like stuffed animals and toys, which can clog up ports and slow the distribution of life-saving supplies.

Morain also advised against sending winter clothes, since Puerto Rico has been experiencing high temperatures. Water, food, gas and medicine are the essentials, he said.

As far as longer term help goes, Morain thinks awareness is Puerto Rico’s best bet at recovery.

“Keep this in the news,” he said. “It’s always the case that first people talk about the wind speed of the storm, and then they show palm trees swaying, and then things go dark for a bit because there’s no communication, and then we start hearing stories about how devastating the first response search and rescue is … and then it becomes communities that have been forgotten.”

Robert Perez waits for a pro-Puerto Rico rally to start in Lower Manhattan yesterday. Photo by Amy Zahn

Puerto Rican Americans like protester Robert Perez, whose aunt and sister are stuck on the island, are unlikely to forget anytime soon, and he hopes the government won’t either.

“After the pressure’s put on the government, maybe Mr. Trump will do something,” he said.

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Before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico suffered for years from a failing economy. Many fled in search of better lives. After the storm, catastrophic damage trapped those who remained, leaving many without food, shelter or hope in Puerto Rico’s future. Aid to the island, which is a commonwealth of the United States, was slow, critics said.

Yesterday, New Yorkers, many of them Puerto Ricans, rallied at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building to express their frustration. Adorned with signs and Puerto Rican flags, the protesters assembled at the Lower Manhattan building to demand more be done for the people devastated by the storm.

One source of stress was the slow suspension of the Jones Act, which requires all supplies being sent to Puerto Rico to be on U.S. ships. Some officials and community members said this slowed down aid. It took the federal government 8 days after the hurricane to suspend it for 10 days.

“Our people are dying over there while they’re playing politics,” Eddie Mercado, 55, of the Bronx said. “Now how much could you realistically accomplish in 10 days?”

Standing quietly among other chanting protesters was Alex Ortiz, a Bronx resident, who had not come to protest, but to see if he could get ideas on how to get back to Puerto Rico.

“I’m just trying to get down there because they need truck drivers there, that’s my whole issue,” Ortiz said. “My mother’s down there with my 15-year-old son, so I’d really like to get down there.”

The Category 4 storm sent the island into a state of emergency, but Puerto Rico had been struggling for years before it hit. Back in May of 2017, in the midst of an 11-year recession, the country filed for a municipal bankruptcy, the largest ever at $70 billion. It defaulted on its already restructured loans without any means to pay the debt.

“We need to demand that the debt be cancelled,” Ricardo Gabriel, a 37-year old Brooklynite said. “Humanitarian needs need to come first. People have to come before profit.”

But during his election campaign, President Donald Trump made it clear that he would not bail out Puerto Rico, citing it had “far, far, too much debt.” He doubled down on the stance in April, tweeting about Puerto Rico’s troubled economy.

The fractured commonwealth’s economy is estimated to have pay between $30 billion to $95 billion in damages associated with Hurricane Maria. With the Gross Domestic Product  of roughly $103 billion combined with a staggering unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, Hurricane Maria marked an important place in the country’s history. If something is not done, residents could flee the island, experts said.

Tied to barriers police set up for the event was one large Puerto Rican flag belonging to 43-year-old Brooklyn resident, Jamie Nunez. He stood towards the back of the crowd, eyes covered by large sunglasses. He was holding back tears.

“I hate when people say that we’re resilient people, but we are definitely resilient, “ Jamie said. “We come from nothing and we made something happen. I think with our numbers in the states we can definitely make it better.”

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