From Maria to Florence: "Please take us to the Red Cross"

Story by: Kate Walters, Cindy Huge and Andrea Carlson, American Red Cross

“When the guys from the National Guard came in a boat to rescue us, the first thing I wanted to know was the location of the nearest Red Cross shelter,” said Jose Perez.

Rosaura Rosaria, Jose’s wife, laughs nervously when she says hurricanes seem to follow them.

Kate, a Red Cross volunteer, helps translate
for the Perez family.

They were in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria devastated the village where Rosaria grew up. Their children were only one and seven then. When their home was destroyed, Rosaria and Perez took the girls to stay with her mother in a small village in the Rio Yunque National Forest. The Red Cross was there providing meals for the people of the small village after power to the island was cut off.

After surviving Hurricane Maria, Rosaria and her husband had been working hard to provide a stable life for their family after the destruction. Disappointed with the pace of recovery and reconstruction on the Caribbean island, they joined the almost 200,000 other Puerto Ricans who have chosen to immigrate stateside, making the big move away from their extended families and coming to South Carolina in search of a more comfortable environment.  

The family arrived on August 15, 2018 just in time for Rose to settle in as a 3^rd grader at Daisy Elementary School in Horry County. An educator herself, Rosaria proudly carried a copy of her college transcripts and teaching certificate and checked in with the local school district in search of a teaching position utilizing her strong Spanish skills. Perez secured work on a landscaping team.  The family’s “new normal” was beginning to take shape when Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday, September 14^th, shaking up their lives once again.

The family evacuated inland and spent six nights in a hotel as the hurricane blew through. That stay depleted their resources. The family had no choice but to return home, knowing that the rising river levels would undoubtedly crest and flood their home.

The Perez family smiles outside of a shelter
alongside Red Cross volunteers.

In the middle of the night, that fear became reality.

The family couldn’t escape. They desperately awaited the National Guard, which arrived by boat and carried the family to safety. Eight days after Florence made landfall, the family once again found shelter with the Red Cross.

In the darkness, Perez remembered that Red Cross volunteers had set up shelters and distributed food and other supplies in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He asked the men in the boat if there was a Red Cross shelter nearby where he could take his family. The National Guard immediately transported them to the Red Cross shelter at Loris Elementary School in Loris where Rosaria and Jose, their two daughters and a cousin were welcomed by volunteers.

“We were worried about staying in a shelter with the girls. It turns out that they really love it here. People bring them gifts and play with them all day. Things are actually stable here. They like the schedule,” said Rosaria.

Juliette, the youngest daughter is full of life. Her infectious smile is irresistible. Her bounding energy lights up the shelter and its residents.

She was forced to part with her favorite stuffed animal, Paca the horse, when they fled their home. At the shelter, she was given a new “Paca the horse” and has been content ever since. Paca has become the shelter mascot.

Juliette smiles with the new Paca, the horse.

“Since they arrived, this family has brought joy and vitality into our place of refuge. They’ve done much more for us than we could ever do for them,” Cindy Owsley, a Red Cross volunteer beamed.

Despite this young family having to rebuild now twice from natural disasters, they continue to make the best of each situation they are dealt. Knowing they have the Red Cross to lean on and get support from, helps make these situations a little easier.