Right now, there are 12 truckloads of supplies sitting at the IX Center, waiting to go to Puerto Rico.
The supplies were collected through drives organized by the Clark-Fulton community in Cleveland immediately after Hurricane Maria hit the island. But now, several weeks later, thousands of pounds of water, food and baby supplies have no way of getting to the people that need them.
“We need a plane. We need a plane. I know somebody has a plane out there that they can say, hey, we got you,” said Margie Colon, one of the organizers of the drives for Puerto Rico.
RELATED: Getting supplies to Puerto Rico proving to be difficult following Hurricane Maria
“We just need a plane, see look, a plane, see planes, to get this stuff out of here,” said one volunteer, watching planes take off from Cleveland Hopkins airport.
“It’s heartbreaking for me thinking that she’s over there suffering and my father and my family and everybody’s suffering and we’re here and we can’t do nothing,” said another volunteer.
“To me, the whole island is my family, every single one of them,” said Colon.
Colon and Abner Rodriguez, another organizer of the drives, just returned from Puerto Rico. The pair spent time scoping out villages that need the supplies the most – outside of San Juan, in tiny villages, without power, water and medicine.
RELATED: Trump's Puerto Rico tweets were response to San Juan mayor, CNN source claims
We asked them about this tweet from the President, claiming the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, is the island’s fault – lacking proper infrastructure prior to the storm.
"That is a lie" Clevelanders returning from #PuertoRico blast @realDonaldTrump, say claims that @fema is doing all they can are false @WEWS pic.twitter.com/KjeK8Mtanm
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) October 12, 2017
“All of that is a lie… every single word is a lie… the ones who cleared those roads were the people who live there,” she said.
“We noticed they were kind of weak and we thought maybe it’s the heat, so we asked and they were coming out to see somebody they didn’t know from the neighborhood and so we asked questions, has anybody been by and they said, it’s been two and a half weeks, no,” said Rodriguez.
So, these Americans are committed to getting their families help, themselves.
#IRONY: 12 truckloads of supplies need to be flown to #PuertoRico, sitting in IXCenter, right next to @GoingPlacesCLE. Story on @WEWS at 11 pic.twitter.com/4nB5Z4ykyJ
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) October 12, 2017
“We got the team that will go there and help distribute it,” said a volunteer, “We got the whole nine yards, we just need the help getting it there.”
“I know that there’s people out there that understand where we’re coming from, I know it, all I need for you guys to do is to reach out to us and let us know how can you help us,” said Colon.
James Gherardi spoke with families who have relatives in Puerto Rico. Watch the full interview above.
FEMA has been taking items that don’t come to Puerto Rico on private planes, so Colon and her team are looking for help. If you are able to help or know someone who can, you can email WEWSNewsDesk@scripps.com
