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Quad City volunteers head to Puerto Rico this weekend

To continue hurricane relief efforts, The Salvation Army will send nine volunteers to Puerto Rico Saturday, October 28. Four volunteers are from the Quad Cities...
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To continue hurricane relief efforts, The Salvation Army will send nine volunteers to Puerto Rico Saturday, October 28.

Four volunteers are from the Quad Cities.

Captain Alex Velasquez, commander of The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Davenport, will be one of the four headed to the small island.

For him the trip is more than a relief effort for thousands in Puerto Rico, but a chance for him to personally make sure his own family is safe.

“I have several uncles, aunts, cousins and their children, second cousins out there. They all live in the vicinity of Las Piernas, which I'm hoping I can get to,” says Velasquez.

As of Wednesday, October 25, the group does not know where they will be stationed but they do plan to stay on the U.S territory for at least two weeks.

Volunteer Roger Powell, says he hopes to stay an entire month.

“We're ready to get out there where people really need us. We don’t care if we sleep on the floor. (We will give them) food, cleaning supplies, whatever they need,” says Powell.

At least 80 percent of the people in Puerto Rico are still living without power after Hurricane Maria swept through the island more than a month ago.

The Salvation Army has already helped 1.8 million Hurricane Maria survivors.

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