UPDATED: Feb. 22, 2018 at 2:28 p.m.

When a commercial plane descended into Puerto Rico five months after Hurricane Maria, a once-scenic landing was riddled with blue tarps, covering homes where roofs once were.

For some Puerto Ricans, it was necessary to leave their homes behind. More than 100 families — about 600 people — have looked to the Spanish Action League, better known as La Liga, for assistance in central New York due to disaster displacement relocation. The organization received 100 new calls from Puerto Rico in the month of January alone.

“The reality is that there is a lot of hunger, thirst and desperation. The lack of power is driving people crazy,” said Elisa Morales, executive director of La Liga in Syracuse.

Morales, who is Puerto Rican and was born in the United States, recently returned from the island after she and her team went on their second disaster relief mission since November. From what the team saw, Morales said some progress has been made between the trips.

In November, items like diapers, baby formula, food and water were considered gold. Now, grocery stores have raised the price of water, making a case of 24 bottles cost about $15, Morales said.

Numerous teachers have left the island, and classes can only run from 7 a.m. to noon due to lack of power and running water in bathrooms, she added. Even five months after the hurricane hit, 1.36 million citizens are still without power, according to Vox.com.

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But despite the current living conditions, Morales said Puerto Ricans are resilient.

“I still saw kids playing outside, older people singing and people dancing and congregating and breaking bread together,” she said. “So there is hope, but there is so much more help they need.”

Morales said there wasn’t a Puerto Rican living in the U.S. who slept the night the hurricane first hit the island.

The night Maria struck, Adriana Danner — a senior psychology and forensics double major at Syracuse University — and her sister, Ana, met with two friends to start a fundraising campaign for Puerto Rico, their home island.

“Those hours of not knowing anything from our family and how they were was the worst part,” said Ana, a sophomore communications design major.

The group requested donations through the transfer app Venmo, both under the name @SyracuseUniversitywithPR and with their personal accounts, and made their cause known on social media by creating a Facebook group. The Venmo account collected more than $5,500, which was donated to hospitals in Puerto Rico.

“It’s just one of those things you need to act in the heat of the moment, because after a while it gets old,” Adriana said.

After five months, the issue isn’t making headlines anymore, Morales said, but help is still needed. In Syracuse, Morales spends a lot of time assisting disaster-displaced families, which she said can be challenging due to the weather adjustment.

“Even with the winter scaring the hell out of them, they are looking to stay,” she said. “This is our home.”

Courtesy of Elisa Morales

Winter gear was at the top of La Liga’s list of necessities after the hurricane. La Liga continues to partner with local figures for donation drives based on clients’ needs, Morales said, which include getting applications processed for the Department of Social Services, searching for jobs and achieving overall safety.

But above all else, Morales and her team sit and listen to each individual’s story. Morales said displaced children are so traumatized that they often don’t want to talk about their experiences.

“When a child says, ‘I don’t want to wake up tomorrow,’ that’s something you can’t ignore,” she said.

The most common question Morales receives is: “Is there hope?”

“I do think there is hope, and I would never accept an answer other than that,” she said. “I don’t say it just to say it.”

During her trip, Morales received a recognition award from New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo for her work with La Liga. Maria has inspired Morales to get more involved than she has in the past with disaster relief, and her work doesn’t stop with the governor’s recognition, she said.

Said Morales: “For me, every day is a blank canvas, and I never know what colors are needed and what will be best, but it’s not what I want. It’s based on what my clients need.”

CORRECTIONS: In a previous version of this post, Elisa Morales’ heritage was misstated. Morales is 100 percent Puerto Rican. Also, the individuals involved in Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter’s coat drive partnership were misstated. Hunter partnered with New York state Sen. David Valesky for the coat drive. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Published on February 21, 2018 at 10:00 pm

Contact Myelle: malansat@syr.edu