When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, Cindy Rivera lost her job and most of the island that had been her home since she was young.
After a month living without power and income, Rivera packed up and came to Williamsburg to start a new life.
“I was so devastated, I lost everything,” Rivera said. “And I was coming here and I didn’t really know what I was going to do.”
To come here, Rivera left her family back home and stayed at a friend’s house in Williamsburg. Her plan was to find a job, any job, she said, and save enough money to pay for an apartment and bring her family.
Back in Puerto Rico, Rivera had been a personal trainer in gyms and homes, but after the storm the gyms closed and her clients canceled. But her passion for fitness remained.
After a friend put her in touch with the owners of Studio A Fitness in Williamsburg, Rivera found success and friendship in her new home. She has worked to save money to get an apartment and eventually bring her family to Williamsburg in the coming months.
“We feel blessed to be able to help Cindy and her family establish a new life here in Williamsburg,” said Antwain Haskins, owner of Studio A Fitness. “It’s nice to have someone not afraid of hard work.”
Surviving disaster
In the seven months since she’s left Puerto Rico, Rivera has had to hear about the struggle of Puerto Ricans, including her friends and family, to recover with the aftermath. As Rivera found work at Studio A Fitness, back in San Juan, where she is from, the island she once knew struggled to regain a sense of normalcy.
“The island is totally changed now,” Rivera said. “We take for granted everything we have here, but they don’t have power. They don’t have the supermarket. You have to start being inventive with just surviving in that situation.”
During the storm, Rivera and her family boarded up their windows and doors and huddled together for safety. At the time, Rivera and her husband were living with her daughter, son-in-law and grandson.
As the rain and wind raked the side of their home, Rivera knew that it would be a different world when she stepped outside again.
“It felt like the storm lasted at least six hours,” Rivera said. “It was never ending. I wouldn’t want anyone to have to even imagine what it was like.”
In days following the hurricane, Rivera remembers waking up at 3 a.m. every day to stand in line for generator fuel and food. She had to help take care of her 2-year-old grandson, which meant finding diapers, keeping the boy warm and feeding him all during the chaos of post-hurricane life.
The neighbors around her came together to pick up the area and organize, and while the federal government eventually arrived with assistance, in the beginning it was just the locals bearing the hardship, Rivera said.
Williamsburg hospitality
Rivera’s son, a Marine living in Hawaii, and her daughter, a member of the Air Force, will be coming to Williamsburg and eventually going to Texas for training.
All of Rivera’s family will be in the states soon, which is one good thing that has come out of the situation, Rivera said.
While Puerto Rico will always be where Rivera is from, she said she doesn’t intend to go back except to visit. She has made a new home for herself and her family.
Williamsburg is a far cry from the city life of San Juan though, Rivera said.
And that’s exactly how she likes it.
Rivera described Williamsburg as a place where the people are peaceful and the scenery is beautiful. In her new location she has found a life that she didn’t expect but couldn’t be more grateful for, she said.
She has a new home, and she plans to enjoy everything it has to offer.
“Before, I didn’t know what would happen,” Rivera said. “But now that I’m here, I want to give the best of myself to this area.”
