24 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 19, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens resident visits Puerto Rico to
help those aff ected by Hurricane Maria
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com
Long Island City resident Michael
Bucella has no ties to Puerto Rico but
aft er hearing about the devastation plaguing
the island weeks aft er Hurricane
Maria hit, he decided to take action.
Bucella, who works in fi nance, was at a
work meeting discussing the island’s debt
when the group began to talk about the lack
of power and clean water in the area. Soon
aft er, he booked a fl ight to Puerto Rico and
for three days traveled around the island
handing out supplies and meeting those
most acutely aff ected by the hurricane.
“I’m not Puerto Rican,” he said. “I don’t
have any friends in Puerto Rico. Th e reaction
I got from everybody was, ‘Are you
crazy? Th ere’s nothing left .’”
Bucella left on the morning of Oct. 6
with two bags of supplies and stayed in
a hostel called Th e Mango Mansion in
Condado, Puerto Rico. He landed on an
island with no power, no drinking water,
no diesel and where temperatures topped
90 degrees everyday.
“I got a bed, one of four beds in a corner
room with no windows, no ventilation,”
he said. “I had to leave my door open all
night. It was probably 90 degrees and we
were eaten alive by mosquitoes.”
Th ough Bucella registered with several
volunteer organizations “last minute” he
hadn’t heard from them and four hours
into his stay, he began to get antsy and
decided to chat with his hostel mates.
Th e people he met came from all over
the country and for diff erent reasons. He
met a nurse, Glenda from Connecticut,
Dan Matias, a 70-year-old Chicago resident
who was born in Puerto Rico and
a couple from Chicago who came down
to try to fi nd their mother— who they
hadn’t heard from in three weeks.
Matias, who was also a Vietnam veteran,
decided to rent a truck to hand
out supplies himself. Bucella joined him
and the pair — on some days they were
accompanied by Glenda and others —
traversed the island to help in any way
they could.
What Bucella saw throughout his stay
was “terrible, enlightening, inspiring, sad
but also unifying,” he said.
Th e group left the hostel around 7:30
a.m. every morning and visited a number
of towns including Arecibo, Utuado,
which Bucella said was one of the worst
hit, Carolina, Rio Grande and others.
Many people Bucella came across
asked him if he was from FEMA or the
Red Cross. Many also told him that they
hadn’t seen anyone from agencies since
the hurricane hit.
“Th ey said, ‘We haven’t had drinking
water. We’re waiting on rain water to
come down to drink it,’” he was told.
Bucella said the people he spoke to lived
too far from grocery stores or gas stations.
Many were elderly or had children and
could not travel far for supplies. Th e desperation
was most starkly apparent when
he saw one man snacking on cat food.
“I went initially with the thought of
helping and being excited to do it and left
angry,” he said. “Th ere are a lot of folks
that have not seen any support whatsoever.”
When the rain did come, it was torrential.
Th e streets would turn into rivers and
people scrambled to pump water out of
their previously fl ooded homes.
Bucella and other volunteers would
visit grocery stores every morning to purchase
supplies and the only place he
could take cash out was at a casino in San
Juan. While casinos and major hotels had
power — they were housing military offi -
cials, Red Cross and FEMA personnel
— so many other places he visited were
powerless.
“Supplies are not getting distributed as
quickly as they need to be or as equitably
as they need to be,” he said.
Th e Puerto Rican government has been
updating this website with progress it has
made in terms of getting power, water,
diesel and hospitals up and running.
Th ough government offi cials report that
45 people have died as a result of the hurricane,
disaster experts and Puerto Rican
media are arguing that the fi gure could
actually be in the hundreds.
Since diesel is scarce for people who
are not in major cities, those who need
medical care cannot access the services
they need. On his way back to New York,
Bucella spoke to a Puerto Rican man in
his 80s who was traveling to St. Louis for
medical care.
His right leg was badly damaged in the
hurricane and while the doctors on the
island provided him with urgent care,
they told the man that they could not
provide him with the follow up treatment
that was needed. So he and his wife
made the decision to pack their bags and
visit family in St. Louis to seek medical
attention.
“It takes a lot to get emotion out of me
and there were moments where I almost
broke down a bit,” he said.
Th ough he saw a lot of devastation,
Bucella said the spirit of the Puerto Rican
people was inspiring.
When visiting Usuado, he came across
an elderly woman sitting outside of her
house. Th e extreme heat and lack of
power forced people to spend much of
their time outside of their homes, Bucella
said.
When he gave her batteries, fl ashlights
and soap “her eyes lit up.” When he asked
if she wanted more supplies she responded,
‘I know my neighbors need this, too.
I’m only going to take what I need right
now.’”
“I thought that was very touching,” he
said. “I would’ve guessed that would not
be the way most people would handle
that situation.”
Bucella said he was also inspired by the
people he met at his hostel who would
watch the sun rise with him every morning
and talk about their lives and what
inspired them to come to the island. Aft er
coming back to the hostel around 5 p.m.
— it was too dangerous to drive aft er dark
because the roads were still littered with
wires and debris — they would strategize
and map out their course for the next day.
Th ough Bucella said there were many
people on the ground near San Juan,
from military personnel to FEMA, there
is still more to be done. Bucella said
President Donald Trump, who has been
criticized for his handling of the crisis,
may not have witnessed the full eff ect
of the storm because he only visited San
Juan.
“Unless you’re in a hostel like I was in
and you’re not in the higher end towns
you don’t feel the damage,” he said. “You
have no idea how bad it is.”
Bucella also touched down on the same
day Vice President Michael Pence did.
Th e main highway was shut down to
accommodate him and the couple he met
from Chicago was stuck in traffi c for six
hours as a result, he said.
“It’s so diffi cult to get people out of the
island,” he said. “You’re probably stalling
ambulances and people like myself. Stuff
like that frustrated the hell out of me.”
Bucella said he is politically unbiased
but “the fact that in three weeks they haven’t
gotten to certain villages and towns
— that’s inexcusable.”
Th e Queens native has booked another
trip and is headed to the island again
from Oct. 26 through Oct. 30. He will
collect supplies — as much as one person
can carry — and will also collect money
through Venmo or PayPal so that he can
purchase and distribute supplies while
he is there.
“I’ve always donated to charities but the
frustration that I have now with what little
progress I saw on the island, it’s led
me kinda toward this path of anyone
who wants to donate should fi nd someone
who is taking direction action,” he
said. “It’s amazing how far $100 and $50
can go to someone who is in a Walgreens
and Walmart buying supplies.”
Bucella plans to meet up with Matias,
who presented him with a Vietnam veteran
hat signed by hostel mates when he
left and is still on the island providing
help, and hopes to make whatever positive
impact he can, he said.
“I came home on Oct. 10 and was
depressed that I couldn’t stay longer and
do more,” he said. “Th ere are so many
diff erent ways to describe the feeling you
have when you’re there and the trick is
knowing that every little ounce of help
helps.”
If you would like to donate supplies
or cash, reach out to Bucella at michael.
bucella@gmail.com.
Michael Bucella (third from left) visited Puerto Rico to help those aff ected by Hurricane Maria.
A beach in Puerto Rico.