Heredia eventually reached a friend in Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan who traveled to Utuado and assured him that Heredia’s mother and other contacts in his hometown were okay.
Heredia took the initiative to start a GoFundMe online campaign to raise money to buy water filters and send them to Utuado so people would have access to safe drinking water.
At first Heredia was hesitant about sharing his fundraising effort with co-workers, but then one of them asked if there was anything they could do to help Puerto Rico.
I’m sending you filters.’
Trump visited with officials in Puerto Rico on Tuesday and praised FEMA’s response to the many hurricanes of the last few weeks, and said that Puerto Rico was lucky to lose only 16 lives in the hurricane in comparison to a "real catastrophe like (hurricane) Katrina."
Many in Puerto Rico are asking for increased federal aid to what they see as a crisis that is just beginning.
"Let’s send a message that we all care," he said. "Everybody is watching and we want Puerto Rico to get over this."