A group of students from the Ramaz day school on the Upper East Side spent their President’s Day vacation late last month doing volunteer work in Puerto Rico. Their work with teenage peers, helping Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria last September, included packing and distributing needed items to families who had lost their belongings. They worked during daylight hours, since the relief warehouse in San Juan where they volunteered was without electricity, as is still the case in much of the country. The students, who met with political leaders and Chabad emissaries, also removed debris, painted basketball courts and planted banana trees and vegetables. “With no water, no electricity and no roofs, Ramaz students witnessed firsthand how the basic “rights” and “liberties” of hurricane survivors have been compromised, and as a result, our students are doing whatever they can to restore their “dignity,” said Rabbi Joseph Albo, Ramaz Upper School director of Sephardic programming, who traveled with the students to Puerto Rico.
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