The Women of Torres de Francia Sheroics

Meet the Women of Torres de Francia. After Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico in 2017, a small group of women from a local housing project in San Juan rushed into action by organizing community soup kitchens and feeding hundreds of families. They saved lives and their efforts became a model that was replicated across the country. 
Transcript
It's been more than five years since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September, 2017. But for those of us who lived through Maria and its aftermath, it still feels like yesterday. The category four storm devastated our island. It led to unimaginable hardship and misfortune, but in every taleof suffering there is another story, one of overcoming.
When I recently returned to Puerto Rico, my home, Maria was at the forefront of my mind, and so were a group of women who still inspire me. 
 I visited the women at their home, a public housing project called Torres de Francia, located in a very poor neighborhood in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. The day Hurricane Maria struck and the days that followed still haunt the residents of that community.
It was raining very late at night. It was also windy, but when the water began to pour in through the windows, I went into a state of panic. My apartment was completely filling with water. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get the water out. The more I tried to push the water out, the more the water came in.
Maria turned public housing projects like Torres de Francia into human prisons, potential death traps. But the women who lived there quickly turned panic into action, setting up a makeshift kitchen to feed hundreds in their community. When I saw these brave women again, I remembered why they have remained tattooed on my soul from the moment I met them five years ago.
Their passion towards the wellbeing of others, their relentless pursuit of what was right for their community, even when faced with disaster is still palpable.
When there is a crisis and people's lives are at stake, there are only two options. You either stand up and speak up and take on whatever, or whomever you must, or you stand down and be quiet and allow yourself to become complicit to a narrative that will only end up costing more lives. So standing up is not only something that has to be done, it is something we have to be committed to doing.
The women of Torres de Francia never thought they had an option, a plan B. They just did what had to be done. They knew after Maria hit their community faced starvation if they did not act quickly. Sometimes doing the most ordinary thing, like cooking, is the most heroic thing that can be done under extraordinary circumstances, and it begins with a simple act of will. 
We're going to start from scratch, but we are starting.
Welcome to Sheroics, a new podcast from Ozy. I'm Yulín Cruz. I was the mayor of San Juan when Hurricane Maria tore across Puerto Rico. In my career as a public servant, I've been fortunate to witness what it takes to fight today's battles for social change. Sheroics, it's about women creating transformational change for the world, and they're doing it one community at a time.
Each episode, we will meet an activist, advocate or citizen working to make her corner of the planet a better place. These are the stories of women who lead from the heart. Stories we hope might inspire you to take action when your time comes.
I wanted to begin this series with a personal story that is very near and dear to my heart. I realized during Hurricane Maria that as long as a tragedy touches another human being, it's also touching me and that I had to use my platform and my voice to help others be heard. I've learned that leadership is not an issue of titles or positions.
Leadership can be found in the most unexpected places. You don't have to be on the six o'clock news to be a leader. Every day in every community, there's almost always a woman or a group of women who are the ones who p