WESTFIELD – City Hall, Westfield Public Schools and the Westfield Spanish American Association (WSAA) are all working together to help the influx of Puerto Rican families who have arrived in Westfield after losing everything to Hurricane Maria in September.
“Nobody was really prepared,” said Maria Sotolongo of the WSAA. She said families continue to arrive, with the number changing week by week. Some families are being placed by FEMA in the Quality Inn on Southampton Road in Westfield, some are doubled up and staying with family members or friends. Most have lost everything, she said.
“The consensus is they don’t have that much to go back to. A lot of them just really want to work; they want to contribute,” Sotolongo said. Calling herself the “boots on the ground,” she and her husband, Josh Sotolongo, who is the president of the WSAA, have been contacting every source possible to help the families to stabilize, and to become a part of the community.
Initially, she said many of the families go to Enlace de Familias (Family Link) on Main Street in Holyoke where they get help with health insurance and benefits and housing applications. WSAA has been working with the families staying at the Quality Inn, as well as the people staying with other families. They have also been working with the volunteers at St. Mary’s, the Mayor’s office, the Westfield Public Schools and the Westfield Housing Authority.
“The Westfield administration has been wonderful. I really want to thank the Mayor (Brian Sullivan) for stepping up and being part of the team. He’s a great guy,” Maria Sotolongo said.
“Westfield has seen many families coming over from Puerto Rico. We’re trying to help them with documents, and driver’s licenses,” Sullivan said. Documents were destroyed or unobtainable from schools and other public offices that were closed following the hurricane. “People are in place to help them with the process. As usual, volunteers in Westfield have stepped up to make their move from the devastation more palatable. It’s a concerted effort on all our parts to help where we can,” he added.
Mitten and hat tree at WPS Central Office, one of many drives in the schools that will help the families. (Photo submitted)
Denise Ruszala, Director of Assessment and Accountability at the Westfield Public Schools, said enrolling children in the school is often the first normal routine step that families can take. “That’s the first normal good routine. It’s good for the children,” Ruszala said.
She said the schools have enrolled 21 students from Puerto Rico this fall, and more are anticipated. She said the families have been through a lot of trauma, leaving behind “a lifetime of happy times on the island.” Coming with limited documents or papers, they have nothing.
Most of the children, are also at the beginning levels of learning English, and are signed up for English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. WSAA is talking with the district about working together to come up with ESL adult classes in the spring.
“When we enroll the children, that’s the easiest part,” Ruszala said. Under the McKinney-Vento Act which supports students who are homeless or doubled up with families, they receive grant funding under Title I, which gives them access to school supplies and backpacks. In addition, the district has food pantries set up in all of the schools. Through the interview process, Ruszala said they get to know the needs of the families.
The community has also been rallying around these families. Last week, the Chamber of Commerce held a massive coat drive, which brought in well over a hundred coats to the Chamber breakfast. The schools have also done individual fundraiser and toy drives. At the Central Office, they have a hat and mitten tree for all the families and children who need them.
“Everyone is doing their part and doing a nice job,” Ruszala said, adding, “I don’t worry about the children.”
“We want to help any student. Anything we can do to help them acclimate, we’re going to do,” said WPS Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski.
Maria Sotolongo said the schools have been “wonderful,” and have given WSAA “an incredible amount of donations,” much of which is stored at Barnes Airport. WSAA helps to separate the donations and distribute them to the families according to what they need. They also donated clothes and toiletries to the volunteer effort of St. Mary’s Parish. She said Rafael Rivera, the resource manager for WSAA is in charge of donations, and keeps tabs as they go.
She also said while the donations have been great, at this point monetary donations would probably be better to use for transportation, PVTA bus passes, and help paying to transfer driver’s licenses to Massachusetts.
Sotolongo said the biggest concern is FEMA, as the families are not sure how long they’ll be able to stay in the hotel, and what happens to them afterwards. She said housing is an issue in Westfield and in Western Mass in general. “What happens now is a little worrying,” she said.
