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Northeast Ohio group New Era Young Lords collecting donations for Puerto Rico

Following Hurricane Fiona, the New Era Young Lords are planning to fly to Puerto Rico with assistance at the beginning of October.

CLEVELAND — Video from a helicopter shows the destruction in Puerto Rico right after Hurricane Fiona. Large swaths of flooded property and roadways.

The island is without power, but what the video can't reflect is the heat and humidity.

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"Puerto Rico goes all the way to 106 degrees on a daily basis, so you're looking at without power at nighttime, you're looking at humidity as well and when we have no power and no fans running, there's accumulated moisture that causes illnesses," Rosa Morales Dias said.

Morales Diaz describes the conditions in Puerto Rico right now as she and many others hear from their family and want to help.

"Our goal is to provide the communities with power by taking generators to Puerto Rico and supporting businesses in Puerto Rico and purchasing items there as well," Morales Diaz said.

For her and the New Era Young Lords organization, they see the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona as an American problem so, they'd love to see other Clevelanders step up and help as they collect necessities, especially generators to communities farther out from San Juan who are having trouble keeping even their phones charged.

"We have been through this five years in a row, not only with the hurricanes, but with the earthquakes right after that and then we had COVID right after that, so Puerto Rico hasn't had a break," Morales Diaz said.

Their donation drive starts Friday from noon to three at Lincoln-West High School and really kicks off next week.

You can learn more about the organization and their mission as well as donate at this link. https://www.gofundme.com/f/ne2u67-together-we-can-help-puerto-rico

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