Eastchester Senior Programs helps find Relative in Puerto Rico

Eastchester Senior Programs Employee Helps Find Relative in Puerto Rico

Eastchester Senior Programs employee, Maureen Casey really cares about the residents who come to the Garth Road Senior Center. After Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rice, she showed that care and concern and jumped into action. Sonia Tull, a regular at the Center, was very upset about not being able to reach her brother, Father Terry Tull who was living in Puerto Rico. Maureen offered to help Sonia locate him after seeing her so worried each day. She searched the internet for helpful phone numbers, websites and social media to find him. She was able to search the Red Cross Safe & Well page, but Father Tull wasn’t registered there. She found find him on Facebook and sent him a private message, but did not receive any response from him. Maureen gave Sonia and her daughter many phone numbers listed online for people to call to locate their loved ones, but all lines were tied up for weeks. Sonia was worried sick about his safety while Maureen tried to keep her optimistic that he was probably okay in a shelter and out helping others. It turns out that Father Tull was out helping others and doing a documentary with reporters from Germany on the destruction in different areas in the mountains.

Father Tull made it to New York for a few days of rest and was extremely tired. On Friday, October 27th, Father Terry Tull from the San Antonio De Padua Parish in Guayama, Puerto Rico was welcomed as a guest speaker at the Garth Road Center to discuss the devastation to Puerto Rico, what he encountered from Hurricane Maria and the damages to his church. During his presentation, he referred to his scary experience during Hurricane Maria as “feeling like you were in a high powered vacuum cleaner”. His church also experienced two tornadoes with 185 mile an hour winds. Eighty homes were lost in his Parish neighborhood alone. In addition, he said “the church’s door was blown off and a steel door on the ceiling roof was sucked out”. He compared his overall Hurricane Maria experience to the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”.

Furthermore, Father Tull said this devastating hurricane brought the people of Puerto Rico together. “People were able to forgive each other and come together as one community on the countryside, where they have never spoken to each other before”. He also said the people were left bewildered, but want to go to church now. Most of the distressed people Father Tull helped said “Although they have lost material things, they are happy because they have their health, family, faith in God and their community”.
The Garth Road seniors enjoyed Father Tull’s visit. The center was very well attended with over 50 seniors in anticipation of his visit and the annual Halloween party. He was pleased with the warm welcome and the senior’s personal donations of $312.00 to help with some repairs to his church. Attached with all the donations, they filled out a pumpkin card with their best wishes and inspirational thoughts for Father Tull and the people of Puerto Rico. It was wonderful for all seeing Father Tull reunited with his sister after such a worrisome two weeks for Sonia, not knowing about his safety and whereabouts. He explained how he was able to eventually contact her after a few weeks. He received information of a small area where there was a signal to make phone calls. He drove an hour north on a ramp highway to this location and was successful in finally getting through to his sister.

Maureen said, “It was wonderful to see them reunited after seeing Sonia try desperately to get information pertaining to his safety in Puerto Rico during the weeks after hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico.”

After his visit to the Garth Road Center, Father Tull will be visiting a parish in Brooklyn before returning to Puerto Rico on November 2nd.

Attached you will find a photo of Father Tull’s church in Puerto Rico and a photo of Maureen Casey, Father Tull and his sister Sonia Tull.

Attached is a photo taken Friday, October 27th of some of the Garth Road Seniors welcoming Father Terry Tull to the Center.