San Lorenzo, PR

We are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Yayo and Minica. Yayo and Minica created a home for themselves in San Lorenzo, PR almost 100 years ago. Yayo and our great uncles built neighboring houses on this hill, where generations of family still remain. While today, many of us live in the United States- our fondest memories, values, and traditions are directly associated with that hill and our family from San Lorenzo, PR.


Our family in Puerto Rico was directly impacted by Hurricane Maria. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (children and elderly) who live in San Lorenzo are all experiencing incredibly challenging living conditions due to the lack of power, water, food, cash and limited communication on the island. All political beliefs aside, distribution is and will continue to be challenging; given that Puerto Rico is an Island and due to severe weather conditions, traveling is dangerous. But our family needs resources and we have identified secure ways of getting them.



I remember sitting with my mom as a child, listening to my Abuelo Yayo's stories from the past. He lived until he was about 103 years old. I remember stories of my great, great, great, grandmother who arrived to Puerto Rico on a Pirate ship. His stories were so magical, he tought us such strong values and work ethics.He shared stoeis about picking tobacco, and I even got to pick it myself. I learned about my ancestors,  my history, I learned about myself. There are still many things I need to learn, many stories I need to hear- from my family and what this hill still has to teach me. As a Boricua who has moved or who was in the United States, we need to keep this piece of us alive. Keep the tradition of caring for our family, alive. No matter how far away from them we may be.



As you know, the conditions in Puerto Rico are so severe that headlines are calling it a humanitarian crisis. The island has been decimated, communication is at 10% and the distribution of resources and emergency response is limited due to weather/road conditions. I have included links to social media sites that have live updates of the destruction that has taken place in Puerto Rico.

https://www.facebook.com/prinforma/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/30/us/100000005468521.app.html

We are asking for $10,000 at this time; so that we can have a relatively sustainable source of funding to support out family with food, water, batteries, lanterns, head lamps, and hygiene supplies. We have already received over $1400. At this time, $900 has been used. Some has been brought to Puerto Rico, (in person) in the form of flashlights, batteries and cash. On Saturday, October 7th, 2017; we will be sending an additional 3,000 lbs worth of supplies (shipment was an in-kind donation) to our family in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. Please bear in mind, as we learn more about the conditions of our families health and well being, our fundraising goal may increase.