In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, two category four storms that devastated many islands in the Caribbean region, many Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB) residents came forward wanting to help in any way they could.

One resident in particular, Jades Torres-Vrobel, was personally affected by Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico and decided to help, getting the entire NSGB community involved in providing aid donations to the U.S. territory.

"I was born and raised in Puerto Rico for 18 years, which is where my family resides at the moment," said Torres-Vrobel. "I have been worrying about my family and beautiful island since Hurricane Irma, which thankfully did not affect Puerto Rico as much as I thought it would. However, Hurricane Maria was a category 4 storm that devastated my island."

Torres-Vrobel was not able to contact her family for about one week.

"I felt worried, frustrated, and helpless being so far away," said Torres-Vrobel. "The only thing I was able to do from home was to use Facebook to stay informed about the situation. Realizing the degree of devastation in Puerto Rico, I decided to help."

Torres-Vrobel asked if there were any military flights going to Puerto Rico from NSGB, but was initially told no. With that information, she set up a gift registry on Amazon for her Facebook friends to send critically-needed items to Puerto Rico. She also collected monetary donations via PayPal. During this process, she was notified that Coast Guard flights were delivering cases of water to Puerto Rico every day for two weeks.

"I was very excited about the news," said Torres-Vrobel. "As soon as this information was confirmed, I contacted my friend Cynthia Roman and asked her to help me collect donations from the community. She gracefully agreed."

Torres-Vrobel created a flyer and Roman posted it on the "GTMO Connection" page on Facebook, a local group page meant to help residents connect so that they can help each other through providing instant information and materials needed by residents in an isolated community where things aren't always readily available.

The first donation received came from a civilian resident. She messaged Torres-Vrobel on Facebook and asked her to meet at the Navy Exchange with a pick-up truck. Torres-Vrobel and her husband met the woman and her friend at the Navy Exchange.

"She bought over 500 dollars of items such as diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, batteries, and water," said Torres-Vrobel. "I could not believe it! My heart was grateful."

After this initial donation, community members contacted Torres-Vrobel and Roman on Facebook to drop off donations at their homes. The donations consisted of; bottled water, Gatorade, supplement drinks, canned food, non-perishable food, baby formula and baby food, baby and adult diapers, baby wipes, medicine, feminine hygiene products, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouth wash, bars of soap, batteries, flashlights, disinfectant wipes, bug spray, and clothing. In total, 6,000 pounds of donations were received from the community.

Several organizations on the installation also stepped forward to provide monetary donations. This included a 495 dollar donation from the NSGB First Class Petty Officer Association, a 300 dollar donation from the NSGB Second Class Petty Officer Association, a 295 dollar donation from NSGB's Veterinary Treatment Facility, and a 150 dollar donation from Radio GTMO Association.

Other individual members of the community provided monetary donations as well, leading to a grand total of 3,500 dollars collected.

Once all funds and materials were collected, Jade Torres-Vrobel, Cynthia Roman, Stephen Vrobel, Nitza Ramirez, Diana LeClair, Liz Ferrier, William Ramirez, Jason Roman, David Knapp, Christopher Piccirilli, Jose Quiles, Austin Sutherland and Ashley Collazo all volunteered to get everything organized and ready to be shipped off to Puerto Rico. The group sorted all items and made two kinds of relief packages: One containing toiletries and the other containing nonperishable food. Each food relief package is composed of a mix of rice, beans, vegetables, potted meat, tuna, or spam, fruit cups, and snacks.

The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Security Detachment on the installation has collected the donations from the group and has scheduled a flight to Puerto Rico next week.

The donations will arrive at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Puerto Rico, where Torres-Vrobel's family has arranged to receive and prepare them for distribution to hard-to-reach areas on the west side of the island. After nearly a month since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, nearly 90 percent of the island is still without power, water, and phone service. Finding drinking water, food, gas, diesel, and cash is challenging.

"Based on feedback that I have received from friends and family on the island, we have determined that setting up a donation center will not be effective," said Torres-Vrobel. "Communication and transportation continue to be a problem for those hard to reach areas, which is why my family has agreed to deliver these goods door to door, based on individual needs. For example, baby items will only be delivered to families with babies."

Donations will also be distributed to Regazo de Paz, an orphanage, and "Splendor Home Care, a nursing home, both located in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

"I want to express my appreciation for the NSGB community's generosity in support of collecting donations for Puerto Rico," said Torres-Vrobel. "The community's commitment was incredibly helpful and allowed us to complete a humanitarian mission in response to a natural disaster that affected our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico."

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