A Florida trucker recently spent his vacation time bringing much needed supplies to remote areas of Puerto Rico that remain without power or water.
Truck driver Julio De La Rosa lives in Lakeland, Florida, but when he heard about the lack of aid in Puerto Rico, he knew he had to do something.
5 weeks after Maria made landfall, De La Rosa turned in his 3 weeks of vacation time from his employer, Cheney Brothers Inc. and headed to Puerto Rico with the Red Cross to deliver food and water to hard-to-reach areas of Puerto Rico, reported Fox 13.
De La Rosa and a team of other volunteers spent long days driving semi trucks full of supplies along treacherous roads, making the dangerous journey when no one else would.
“As soon as they saw me, they started crying,” De La Rosa said of the villages he reached on his trip.
“We were the first ones getting there, and they were so happy.”
De La Rosa stayed for three weeks in a church with 120 other relief workers, living in less-than-desirable conditions himself while he helped the citizens of Puerto Rico.
“We only had three showers, but only one was working, so you had to make a long line to take a shower,” he said.
Even now, Puerto Rico remains in desperate need of relief, says De La Rosa, explaining how water, gasoline, and food are still scarce, and the majority of the island is still without power.
“Every [thing], todo, is broken,” said Carmen Morales, De La Rosa’s sister-in-law, who is one of 4 relatives who have moved from Puerto Rico to live with him over the last month and a half.
“The trees, the fruit, everything is gone. It’s hard. It’s hard.”
De LA Rosa has since returned home, but says that those 3 weeks were his “best vacation investment ever.”
