El Paso woman raising money for water filters to be sent to Puerto Rico

An El Paso woman and Puerto Rico native is working to help those devastated in the hurricane-ravaged island.

Some areas in the island are still struggling to receive food and water due to distribution problems a month after the hurricane hit. Raw sewage is reportedly pouring into rivers and some islanders have been drinking out of contaminated wells.

Ivonne Santiago was born in Guayanilla, a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the southern coast of the island. “Most of my family is in Puerto Rico including my father and sister, most of cousins and my brothers as well,” she said.

Photos of her hometown show cars underwater, trees torn down and a grocery store in shambles. “It has been very difficult for all of us that are in the states and not being able to communicate with our families for weeks,” Santiago said. “I went two weeks without word from my family.”

Santiago is now in contact with her family, but with a large portion of the island’s water supply systems either not working or contaminated, getting sick is a concern.

“There was news they were giving away chlorine tablets, they have a million tablets and giving 20 tablets per family,” Santiago said. “That’s good but 20 tablets per family just gives you 20 different containers that are safe for drinking.”

She started a Go-Fund Me page to raise money to buy water filters for people living in her hometown. Puerto Rico’s governor said there will be “hell to pay” for mishandling of supplies, after complaints that residents weren’t getting them from local authorities. Santiago said she has a way of making sure the filters get in the right hands.

“The filters we’ll be sending will be sent specifically to start with the mayor of Guayanilla, which is my town in the south,” she said. “I’m sending them directly to the mayor and he’s giving them to those who need them the most. This is kind of a direct line, and what we want to do if we continue raising money is just contact directly the mayors of small towns and provide them with these filters.”

Santiago said she has already raised enough money for 400 filters. Click here to donate.