Puerto Rico Community

Almost 100 athletes volunteers and Ironman Staff members gathered to be briefed on the days work in the Ingenio Barrio of Toa Baja. Toa Baja suffered severe flooding during Maria and is located not far from the turn around on the bike course of the Ironman Puerto Rico 70.3. Joining Carla Silva is Sarah Hartmann of Ironman Foundation and US Representative from Arizona Kyrsten Cinema, who is a triathlete and Advisor to Women for Tri.

Athletes and other volunteers are greeted by Benardo Marque Garcia, Toa Baja Mayor.

Give Globally, Act Locally really said it all for the day.

Krysten Cinema welcomes the work group.Ironman Foundation – Toa Baja

The volunteers meeting with their respective location captains to be be briefed on the plan for the day.

The entire Ingenio Barrio neighborhood has been without power since September 20, 2017. Workers from the local power company were finishing up their work as IMF volunteers arrived. For the first time in six months, the power came on near the end of the day.

In addition to the athlete and staff volunteers, community residents and family members came to help.

Team 1 on their way to their location and ready to start.

Rosa is 102 years old and lives with her son. As the team cleaned, scraped paint, painted, Rosa sat, smiled and softly sang songs while the work was done. The roof had been blown off during Maria. The roof had been replaced with new studs and the ubiquitous blue tarp to protect it from rain. During the prior week, community and staff people cleaned out debris from the 2nd floor,

Rosa’s dog ‘Hurricane’ created the team as they arrived.

Rosa greeted Krysten Cinema, Sarah Hartmann and Benardo Marque Garcia.

Ironman Foundation – Toa Baja

The ubiquitous blue tarp used by FEMA offered some protection.

In the tradition of the Puerto Rican MLB great Roberto Clemente the baseball field is a central focus of Ingenio Barrio. Hurricane Maria bent light poles and severely damaged the fences, a fresh coat of paint was on deck for Volunteer Day, as a gift for the entire community. It is the scene of community and family gatherings and even a league of ‘old-timers’ with players in their 70s & 80s.

Ironman Foundation – Toa Baja

Don Garcia lives alone and due to severe back problems hardly leaves his house. His yard is in disrepair and overgrown.

A few of the 11 volunteers that arrived in the morning and proceeded with the diligence of a brick workout. This time with brooms, scrapers and paint.

Don Hiram Trinidad Garcia was smiling and engaging with the volunteers all day.

Scrapping and clean up work proceeded the paint. A good base, just like solid training is a key to success.

Unfortunately not every home in the community could receive the attention of the Ironman Foundation Volunteer crew. Directly across the street from the Garcia home, the second floor roof has collapsed and doors and windows have been blown out.

The home of Maria and Rafael needed the most attention. Twenty-four volunteers were assigned. Rafael had been the town Cobbler but is now bed ridden. In addition to the storm damage, years of debris had accumulated in the back yard.

With the Ironman Foundation volunteers and staff working on the grounds and exterior, local volunteers were repairing the roof.

A back yard storage building was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, with so much debris it was dangerous for anyone to help Maria and Rafael in maintaining their property.

By mid-morning, it was clear that a call to the City of Toa Baja had to be put in for help to haul away what had been cleared from the storm.

Every home and every family is different. Although only nominal FEMA assistance had been available, some homes had help from extended families both in Puerto Rico and in the States. Puerto Rican pride was on display throughout the community.

Maria Rivera has been slowly making repairs to her home. She now has a metal roof but still no doors or interior ceiling.

Don’t get a DQ – wear your helmet!.

Clean up supplies, paint, rollers and mostly elbow grease and amazing attitudes were the equipment of the day.

A tri couple from Michigan worked on the fence as a team.

The beauty of tropical Puerto Rico almost belies the horrific damage still beneath the layer of new leaves and flowers.

Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure had been patched together over years and decades. Still six months after Hurricane Maria, 100,000 homes are without power. The community of Ingenio Barrio finally received power to the entire neighborhood the evening of the Ironman Foundation work.

Ironman Foundation – Toa Baja

Nicole Geller, Ironman staff member had raced on Sunday and was giving back to the community with her two sons, all working on the baseball field, some with as much paint on their nose as on the wall.

Six-time Ironman Finish and 10 year NFL Vet Don Davey – addressed the volunteers during lunch at the Community Center.

Friends from prior years Jana and Karla worked together for the day.

Ironman Staff members after putting on the race took the extra step to rebuild the community.

City workers arrived to help with the large scale clean up of Maria and Rafael’s home.

Smiles and spattering of paint for Tom.

Half way through the day, the team leaders stopped back to see how 102 year old Rosa was handling the stress of having 24 extra people in her home. Rosa was still smiling and singing.

Almost unrecognizable from the morning Maria poses for a group photo with her new friends. The new wheel barrow was purchased during the day. Although there was a wheelbarrow on site, the tire was so bad, after it was filled it couldn’t be rolled – just lifted. Someone make a quick decision and when and purchased a new one!

Puerto Rico – wind worn and proud.

Don Garcia takes a look at home much his home has improved during the day.

Don’t team took a quick break for a photo op.

For the last five and one-half months a group of motorcyclists have been delivering water filtration and solar units to mountain communities that were otherwise inaccessible. Groups of four or five at a time, led by Kaki Rodriguez (blue cap in the center), would travel to the mountains every weekend. Their group became known as Yonomequito – I won’t quit. This 2018 race weekend was the story of Anything is Possible meetings #yonomequito. Ironman Foundation contributed $1,000 to support their efforts.

Kaki Rodriguez assembles a 5 gallon water filtration system for a resident of the Puente Blanco community.

A coffee farm in Adjuntas was totally wiped out during the storm.

Spray painted signs provide information for searchers on the status of families. One read: Estamos en la casa proxima’ – we are in the next house, and some like this one just say Hello.

Previously dense forest is not littered with the remnants of downed trees.

with Puerto Rico’s stunning beach its mountains sometimes go unnoticed. Rising to 3,500 feet the mountain villages had winds substantially higher than the 150 mph levels seen in San Juan.

Untouched and uninhabited since the storm, dirt from the landslide is cleared from the roads as snow is in the midwest, however is so dense when it dries it is almost impossible to break something free from it.

Washout roads made passage to some areas impossible for weeks and remain difficult six months later. Here an entire lane of the road is gone.

Three of the #yonomequito drivers came to support the Ironman Puerto Rico 70.3 event on Sunday morning.