Title:Puerto Rican Hoyas Galvanize Resources in Wake of Disaster

As Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico in August 2017, Paola Mendez (C’18), Omar Torres (C’18), and Elena Cespedes (C’18)— all natives of Puerto Rico—stayed glued to their phones, tracking the storm from the Hilltop. By the time Maria had dissipated, more than 65 direct fatalities had been reported, and hundreds of other people were succumbing to the storm’s lasting effects.

Cespedes remembers the devastation she saw when she visited in the aftermath.

“The trees are totally bare. Houses no longer have roofs,” Cespedes says. “When you’re landing in Puerto Rico on an airplane and looking out of the window at the island, all you see is blue tarps. You see the topographical impact that this storm had. You just feel helpless, and you ask yourself ‘Is it our job to rebuild? Is it the government’s responsibility?’”

The devastation motivated Mendez to participate in the Unidos por Puerto Rico initiative, a campaign started by the First Lady of Puerto Rico to provide aid to those affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In collaboration with other Puerto Rican students on the Hilltop, Mendez fundraised nearly $1,000 in Red Square and created dozens of care packages.

“I really got to connect with other Puerto Rican students on this campus,” Mendez says. “Because not everyone is from the same area, I appreciated hearing their stories and perspectives. I think it brought us together.”

Mendez explains that the greatest challenge to helping Puerto Rico is determining where the highest needs are and ensuring that aid is distributed accordingly.

“It’s really important that aid isn’t stuck on a trailer somewhere that can’t be reached,” Mendez says. “So, we’re partnering with an SFS alumna, Soraya Sesto (F’87), and Elena’s father, the president of the Georgetown Alumni Club of Puerto Rico, to raise money and donated goods to help the elderly living in homes that were struck by the storm.”

Mendez and Torres reached out to the Georgetown University Alumni Association and met with President John J. DeGioia and the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) earlier in the fall. Both students are currently developing a long-term aid project to help survivors of the storm, and discussing a plan to organize a humanitarian spring break trip with CSJ in 2019.

Not only has the Puerto Rican student community at Georgetown grown closer since the storm, Torres says that he and others have also discovered just how rich the Puerto Rican diaspora is in the D.C. area. Motivated to continue community-building for Puerto Rican students on campus, Torres says he feels energized about starting the first Puerto Rican Student Association at Georgetown.

“This storm, and even the low levels of support we’ve received since the storm, hasn’t and will not stop us,” Torres says. “That is what I love about Puerto Ricans—they’re still resilient. In the wake of this, I’m even more proud to be Puerto Rican.”