A Hunter College student from Somers who volunteered to help repair and reconstruct many homes in Puerto Rico decimated by Hurricane Maria shared her experience with News 12.

Aliyah Meyer volunteered with a group of 40 CUNY students last month as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's program to provide resources to Puerto Rico. She arrived in San Juan and went to Santurce, a district of the capital city.

"Now we're in this neighborhood, and you're looking at wreckage -- just pieces of roof and wall on the ground and homes caved in and concrete," she recalls. "These people had just been ignored and kind of left on the side, and no one was rushing in to help."

Moved by what they saw and motivated by the resilient spirits of proud island residents, Meyer's group worked side by side with trained union workers. She says they finished 16 homes in 10 days.