Carlos Torres opened a shipping container of donations for Hurricane Maria-ravaged Puerto Rico. It’s his father’s homeland, where he still has relatives and where he lost a great uncle to Maria.

“This is a little personal for me,” said Torres.

From personal to powerful, Torres is the president of the Elizabeth City Council. He founded and still presides over the Puerto Rican Alliance of Elizabeth, which focuses on education and raising money for scholarships. But, last Monday, he called for donations.

“I knew there were certain individuals and certain organizations that wanted to help,” he said.

Torres said he knew there was great concern for the people of Puerto Rico and the hardship the hurricane created. He says the response to the call for donations proved him right.

The donations poured into one community center over a few days. On Saturday, Pampers, pallets of water and non-perishables filled the parking lot after Torres thought the alliance would only get enough to fill one room. But, it turns out, it’s enough to fill four, 40-foot shipping containers, and it’s still growing. So many donations that Torres thought he would run out of space to store them and would have to stop accepting them.

“It just shows we have a lot of good people in this world. They truly want to help. During the crisis we come together as one. We’re all human beings,” he said.

Torres, who owns a trucking company, says that spirit led him to deliver water to Flint, Michigan, and two weeks ago, to send food and supplies to hard-hit and soggy southeast Texas after Hurricane Harvey.

He plans to send a crew to Puerto Rico to make sure the goods and supplies get in the hands of the people, but that will have to wait.

“The next shipment is Oct. 17, so there’s really nothing that we can do. Our hands are tied. I wish it could go tomorrow,” he said.

Torres says the mission of his alliance will change, still focusing on education, but now building schools in Puerto Rico as well, where President Trump went Tuesday, tossing paper towels to the crowd and angering Puerto Ricans.

“It was disrespectful. I think he thinks we’re beneath him,” he said.

But, Torres says the amount of donations proves everyday people can demonstrate more respect and compassion for each other than those entrusted to lead them.

“I mean, the community truly came out. It was just overwhelming to see all the support, from local officials to senior citizens, to our youth. It was just an incredible turnout,” Torres said.