Seven Navy JROTC cadets from Western New York Maritime Chapter School delivered Puerto Rico hurricane relief supplies donated and bought with money raised at the school to the New York National Guard here, Oct. 5.

The New York National Guard from Buffalo left Oct. 7 for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands to deliver all the goods that were collected. The National Guard unit stayed in the Caribbean for a prolonged period to help with cleanup and rebuilding.

The WNY Maritime Navy JROTC Unit raised also more than $1000 in support of this effort.

This project was started by a few Cadets either from Puerto Rico or who have family in Puerto Rico. The whole unit then got quickly involved.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, Sept. 20, just weeks after the effects of Hurricane Irma devastated the island.

The record-breaking hurricane left Puerto Rico's 3.4 million residents with no power, and no way to contact anyone.

WNY, a military high school located in downtown Buffalo, has a diverse student body; 18 percent of its cadets are from Puerto Rico. Setting up a donation fund to help out was immediately put into action.

"I have family there," said the unit's Alpha Company Commander, Telmadi Telemin. "It's the right thing to do because there are a lot of people suffering. For us to do something this little, is going to lessen the suffering. When we went to the donation drop-off spot, they were so surprised that such a small high school, gave so much to help others. They were so thankful."

The donation drive was headed up by Telemin and other cadets who are either from Puerto Rico or have family currently still living in Puerto Rico.

"I have family there," said Stephanie Rivera, a cadet chief petty officer at WNY Maritime.

"Even the people we don't know still need us. It was really hard for them, and it's not something they were even expecting."

Maritime gathered hundreds of donations, and raised over $1,000, by hosting a dress-down day where everyone was allowed to wear civilian clothes. Cadets wore Puerto Rican flags and the colors of the Puerto Rican flag around the school.

Cadets were also allowed to donate cans of food and other donations to help out.

"A lot of my closest friends are Puerto Rican and have family or friends that live there," said Keshon Dingle, Maritime's Physical Training Team Commander.

"The National Guard thanked us when we dropped off the supplies. They said we were heroes."

Navy JROTC is supported by the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), headquartered on Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Along with the Navy ROTC program, NSTC supports 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development Program.

NSTC includes Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, at Naval Station Great Lakes; the Navy ROTC program; Officer Training Command (OTC) at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island; Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC); and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

For more information about Navy ROTC, visit http://www.nrotc.navy.mil/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/greatlakes/, http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/, or http://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

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For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.