The Puerto Rican community in Rhode Island and Massachusetts is teaming-up with local businesses to help Puerto Ricans on the island devastated by recent hurricanes.
Eladio Hernandez is with the Puerto Rican Cultural Festival and Parade of Rhode Island, one of the groups spearheading a collection of donations and supplies.
“A lot of the organizations are getting together, and we’re uniting to get as much as we can to help them out,” Hernandez said, citing strength in numbers.
Hernandez said monetary donations will go to the American Red Cross and supplies will be shipped to Puerto Rican shelters by local business owners separately.
“If Puerto Rico ever hears it, we want them to know that Rhode Island and Massachusetts are here for them,” Hernandez said.
Puerto Rico’s entire electricity grid went out because of Hurricane Maria and cell phone connections on the island are bad, according to Hernandez, who said he was finally able to get in touch with his family on Wednesday.
“It was in and out, all I heard was that everything is fine, and the house was damaged, and it kept dying off,” Hernandez said. “So we haven’t been able to have a conversation where we could actually hear each other clearly.”
Hernandez feels grateful to have reached his family at all, at a time when communication has been difficult. But he said many Puerto Ricans he’s spoken to in Rhode Island have also been able to contact their families.
Ivette Solivan is president of the Puerto Rican Professional Association of Rhode Island. On Friday, she still hadn’t been able to contact her family.
“Since Tuesday I have heard nothing about my daughter and my grandchildren,” Solivan said. “I don’t know how they are.”
Solivan said she tried to buy a plane ticket to the island but was told only aid is currently allowed to come in.
Solivan, another local organizer in relief efforts, said the island is in need of an assortment of supplies including bottled water, diapers and pet food.
