In September 2017, two hurricanes, Irma and Maria, delivered a one-two punch to this U.S. territory located 1,000 miles southeast of Miami and turned everyday life on this small island into a living nightmare. While Irma caused power disruptions and water damage, it was Maria’s ferocity that decimated the island’s entire electric grid, causing the largest and longest major power outage in U.S. history. The Category 5 storm also wreaked havoc on communication towers, water systems and millions of homes and businesses in her path. As of this writing, 40 percent of the island is still without power, prompting roughly 200,000 people to uproot and move, mostly to the U.S. mainland, for jobs. For those staying to rebuild, there is a cloud of uncertainty in the air. “I try to stay focused on the day-to-day. If I think about the future too much, I go a little crazy,” says Pilar Gerena, who, with her husband, Pedro, and their three children and two dogs, huddled in their bedroom as Maria made landfall. Their son, Diego, is a sophomore at Colegio San José. “This hurricane took us all down — all strata of society,” says Pilar. “Many of our friends had their workplaces destroyed or still don’t have electricity.” Pedro, who runs a lawn and garden business in San Juan, quickly got back to work selling chain saws and generators — things most everyone needed. Pilar, a pediatrician, opened her clinic within four days despite having neither hot water nor electricity. “A lot of Colegio families were not so fortunate,” said Pedro. “Pockets of the island are still without power, and many people are without incomes. Students are wondering how they will pay the school’s tuition fees without assistance. It’s a concern for almost every family.” The hurricane that changed everything Marianist Brother Francisco González, president of Colegio, along with community members Fathers Armando José Añeses and Don Wallace, and Brother Reinaldo Berríos, were in their community residence on the fourth floor of the school when the howling winds of Hurricane Maria passed overhead. The school was built nearly 100 years ago from brick and mortar, sturdy materials that convinced Brother Francisco this was the safest place to bring his 87-year old father, Frank, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and his 83-year old mother, Elsa, who is wheelchair-bound, while they waited out the storm. But as the night wore on, “The wind was so strong, it blew two outside shutters off the wall in our community area and exposed the glass windows overlooking the ocean,” says Brother Francisco. “Those windows just went.” 12 • Call 1.800.348.4732 Pilar and Pedro Gerena with their children, Elena (left), Pilar and Diego Hurricane Maria downed power lines and knocked out the electric grid, wreaking havoc on all of Puerto Rico. PHOTO: RICARDO ARDUENGO PHOTO: RICARDO ARDUENGO