The devastation and suffering that has plagued Puerto Rico for weeks has hit the heart of Gloucester High School math teacher Hector Morales hard.

Hector, who currently resides at Gloucester Point, is a native of the Caribbean island, and still has much of his family living there. For the past several weeks, he has been trying to do what he can to send help their way.

Hector was joined Monday afternoon for an interview by his 20-year-old niece Lianne Morales, who rode out Hurricane Maria in her mother’s San Juan home. Lianne described making it through the strong Category 4 storm as an experience she hopes she will never have to endure again.

According to Lianne, she and her family had begun preparations early, prior to the hurricane making landfall on the island on Sept. 20. They had just endured the impacts of Hurricane Irma days before and had already had all of the shutters and materials out from going through that storm. “We didn’t even have enough fir...