Syracuse University students raise money to fund post-hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico
Syracuse University students are participating in a GoFundMe campaign to help their families stranded in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Kiran Ramsey | Senior Design Editor
Thousands of students are advocating for a GoFundMe campaign called “Students With Puerto Rico” after Hurricane Maria, the first Category 4 hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1932 that left the island without power and nearly half of the population without clean water.
With 121 universities represented by students on the GoFundMe page, more than $150,000 has been raised through the fundraiser. The majority of the funds have come from students.
Many Puerto Rican students have advocated for the GoFundMe campaign as a way of helping their families hundreds or thousands of miles away.
“The help they’re getting, it’s not coming from institutions, it’s coming from individuals,” said Magda Collazo, a Puerto Rican student at Syracuse University. “(The public donations) are raising awareness, but we’re not getting enough from who we should be getting from.”
Patri Suro, a senior advertising major who was born in Puerto Rico, said the five days after Hurricane Maria hit were some of the hardest of her life.
“I did not know anything about my grandparents. I had no idea how they were doing. We heard nothing,” Suro said. “We tried calling and calling and calling and there was absolutely no information on them.”
Other Puerto Rican students at SU are in the same position as Suro.
Collazo, a senior anthropology, forensic studies and Italian triple major, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She said the gravity of the situation hit her when she first heard from her parents last Thursday.
“In my town there’s no power, there’s no water — they had water for a day, then they took it away. There’s no service so it’s really hard to communicate with everyone,” Collazo said.
Collazo added her mother had been waiting in line for nine hours to get gas, only to be turned away. Her cousin waited in line for seven hours.
The lack of resources on the island has made it difficult for family members to contact each other, further isolating the victims of the hurricane.
“It’s been a very, very stressful experience. It’s been filled with anxiety most of all,” Suro said.
Both Suro and Collazo said while lifting the Jones Act is a good start to relief efforts, it’s not nearly enough to provide the island with lasting help. The Jones Act is a restriction on cargo that can be shipped to Puerto Rico.
Suro, though, also said the 10-day limit on the act’s suspension is “absolutely ridiculous.”
“Our people do not have the resources to stay alive for more than two weeks,” she said. “They need help now.”
Another outreach effort on campus is a Salsa workshop that will take place Oct. 15, hosted by multiple Latino student organizations, said Suro. All proceeds will go to relief in Puerto Rico.
Many students at SU are thinking beyond immediate relief for the island, though.
“This isn’t a fundraiser we plan to end in a month,” Suro said. “This is something we’ll keep doing for as long as possible because most people forget about a natural disaster after a month. We need to continue to help out for as long as possible.”
