In the wake of a hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico, a Carnegie Mellon University student and Puerto Rican native last week chartered a plane and delivered nearly 1,000 pounds of supplies to the island. On the return trip, the plane brought back six people to the U.S. mainland for medical care.
Rosana Guernica, a third-year student majoring in decision science and minoring in innovation and entrepreneurship at CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, completed the round trip in one day. Her crowdfunding campaign for the humanitarian mission has so far raised more than $43,000.
Guernica also is raising additional funding to charter a second, larger plane that would fly to Puerto Rico as early as Saturday. Three CMU students from Dietrich College, the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts, as well as a School of Computer Science staff member are slated to join Guernica on the trip. Guernica said they are all natives of Puerto Rico.
Last Wednesday, Guernica and a medical resident from Allegheny Health Network flew from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they filled a plane with nearly 1,000 pounds of medical supplies for the University Pediatric Hospital in San Juan and Hospital UPR in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
"Helping them has been one of the most meaningful things I've ever done," Guernica said. "I'm so grateful that I was able to do so."
Guernica said her time at CMU, an institution that teaches students to think outside of the box and pursue creative solutions, helped her complete her first humanitarian mission.
"It helped me come up with the idea and believe that I could do it," Guernica said. "What's really special about Carnegie Mellon and the people who make up the university is that they're not people who go down the beaten path. They find their own way. They find their own solutions to problems. They really are out-of-the-box thinkers, and I think that's one of the main reasons I was able to come up with this plan. And so many people supported me in doing it."
Guernica's effort has received support from the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, which sent a message Monday calling on their alumni, students and faculty to contribute to Guernica's effort. Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulín Cruz is a Heinz College alumna, and the college has separately raised more than $5,000 for the American Red Cross to help victims in Puerto Rico and the earthquake in Mexico.
Ann English, Heinz College associate dean for finance and operation, said Heinz Dean Ramayya Krishnan and the college community were moved to action after hearing Cruz's pleas for help. English said the Heinz community helped Guernica raise about $20,000 in the three days before Guernica left for Puerto Rico.
The Dietrich College, led by Dean Richard Scheines, also jumped at the chance to help Guernica raise awareness of of her efforts by emailing students and sharing her campaign on social media.
"I am in awe of Rosana's compassion and determination. She decided last week that she must help, and seven days later she was on a plane to San Juan," English said. "Rosana found a charter company in Fort Lauderdale, made contact with doctors in San Juan and in Florida to arrange for nearly 1,000 pounds of supplies to be delivered to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, found patients in need of evacuation, and ensured that they had family who could meet them in Fort Lauderdale. She did all of this while attending classes, doing homework and preparing for an internship interview the day before she left."
Additionally, English said the college was able to help make connections with the mayor's office in San Juan for another effort.
"We heard on Monday about the joint efforts of the Pittsburgh Pirates and FedEX to send two cargo planes full of donations from the Pittsburgh community and knew that the much-needed supplies were on their way," English said. "We were able to connect some of the people involved in that project with the mayor's office in San Juan so that they could coordinate."
In other recent fundraising efforts, CMU students raised $4,000 during an event called "Together We Rise," which collected funds to aid communities in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
Manuel Casasnovas, a Puerto Rico native and CMU student involved in Together We Rise, said the ongoing effort is not only about collecting donations but about raising awareness and bringing students together.
"We're trying to create an environment where we support each other regardless of where you're from," he said.