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Rafael Hernandez and his wife waited days or even weeksto hear from family members in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria pummeled the island.
The Golden Gate Estates residents tried to keep calm as uncertainty and fear consumed them.
“My wife was in a panic,” he said. “I was, too, but I was trying to keep it together.”
They breathed a sigh of relief when their son called the day after the hurricane passed in late September, although it would be a while before they heard from family members again. It took two weeks for Hernandez’s wife, Dianise Colon, to know her mother was safe.
“We didn’t even get a call,” Hernandez said. “We saw her on a Facebook video someone posted.”
The couple needed a plan; the knowledge that their families were safe eased their worries, but there were still a lot of things they didn’t know. The couple planned to fly to the island, but this trip would be nothing like their previous regular visits.
Would they be able to get a flight? Once they arrived in Puerto Rico, would they find a car to rent? Would the streets be passable? Could they get to their families? What did their families need? Their family members’ homes were livable, but how much damage would need fixing?
“We didn’t know what to expect when we got there, but we had to get there,” Hernandez said. “We’d figure something out.”
While Hernandez and Colon planned their trip, their friends at CrossFit Redline in East Naples were plotting how to help. About 20 members donated money, canned goods, toiletries and other supplies.
Gym owner Anthony DiSarro and two members, Jesse Peterson and Justin Lang, planned to fly to Puerto Rico to help Hernandez’s family for several days in late October.
“Anthony said, ‘I know you’re going. I’m going with you,’ ” Hernandez said. “It wasn’t a question.”
Hernandez and Colon flew to the island first and rented a car. DiSarro, Peterson and Lang took another flight and met them at the airport.
The three men filled eight suitcases with food, toiletries and medical supplies. Hernandez and his wife took another six pieces of luggage full of necessities.
Downed trees and powerlines framed the road on both sides during the drive to Caguas, the municipality south of San Juan where Hernandez’s family lives.
Debris covered the roads, too, and in some places they had to share one lane with other drivers. A mudslide left one road impassable.
The trek was worth it when, Hernandez said, he saw the relief on his mother’s face when she first spotted him.
“That was a good feeling, seeing her face light up,” Hernandez said.
The first thing Hernandez's mother wanted the men to do was put her Puerto Rican flag back up.
The group checked on Colon’s mother in Aguadilla on the northwestern part of the island and spent several days fixing and cleaning up Hernandez’s mother’s home and helping neighbors with repairs.
DiSarro, Peterson and Lang had never visited Puerto Rico before. They said that despite spending several weeks without power and water and having dwindling resources, everyone they encountered on their trip was good-spirited, friendly and generous.
Everyone was in need of something, but there was no hesitation in giving to others. While the men worked, a neighbor brought over Cheez-It crackers, which he called cookies, and told them to keep working.
“You wouldn’t think they were hurting,” Peterson said. “Their gratitude, their happiness, their humor was amazing. But if you really talked to them, you could see and hear their exhaustion.”
Hernandez’s mom at one point cooked vienna sausages and spaghetti and meatballs for the whole town, the men said.
“We packed our own food because we didn’t want to be a burden on anyone’s resources while we were there,” DiSarro said. “Well, they weren’t having any of that. We were fed and treated like family.”
It was a commitment to family that prompted the men to help Hernandez. DiSarro said Hernandez’s father died accidentally while preparing for a hurricane that hit the island several years ago. That was one of the reasons his friends went to support him on this trip.
“Rafael is the first one to do anything for anybody,” Lang said. “There was no question that we’d do the same.”
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