Volunteers Dana Guillen (from left), Maria Ayala, Dana Kaleta and Londan Roohr prepare to help distribute water filters to displaced families. (Contributed photo)
Each pin that Dana Kaleta points at are places that a water filter has been donated across Puerto Rico. (Contributed photo)
Dana Kaleta distributs a water filter and other necessities to a woman at the mall in Hatillo, Puerto Rico. (Contributed photo)
Students and teachers in Puerto Rico and La Causa Charter School in Milwaukee have made these bracelets through the Pulseras Project. Each bead in the bracelet represents a value such as education, family and loyalty and are a reminder of the common threads that helped survivors through the hardships following the hurricane. (Contributed photo)
Each pair of shoes that are placed at the Capitolio de San Juan steps represent a life that was lost following Hurricane Maria. A government report places the toll at more than 1,400, but a Harvard study suggests more than 4,600 were killed by the storm and its aftermath. (Contributed photo)
This note and pair of shoes paid tribute to someone’s 93-year-old grandmother who died in the months following Hurricane Maria’s landfall. “She should have died peacefully with family at home after living such a beautiful life,” said Kaleta. “Instead, she died after five months without electricity in her home.” (Contributed photo)
Many of the houses after the storm appear like this one in Isabela, Puerto Rico, with the damage clearly visible. (Contributed photo)
Damaged roofs covered in blue tarp dot the cityscape of San Juan, Puerto Rico, several months after Hurricane Maria roared through the island. (Contributed photo)
Dana Kaleta assistsa man at the Operation Blessing headquarters in Puerto Rico. (Contributed photo)
Students of La Causa Charter School in Milwaukee display letters and books that were later sent to children in Puerto Rico with the efforts of Operation Agua. (Contributed photo)
Dana Kaleta, director of the Quest Project within the TRIO & Pre-College Programs at UWM, has taken two trips to Puerto Rico to assist in humanitarian efforts with La Causa Charter School in Milwaukee.
They have raised over $3,000 and purchased 120 water filters that have been distributed to displaced families in the island territory. Kaleta and the other volunteers have also touched many lives with their efforts.
A third trip is planned for fall.