When hurricanes left a path of destruction in Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania College of Technology student Natascha G. Santaella felt a variety of painful emotions.

"I spent around six days stressing and having a very hard time with me having all the luxuries I currently do and my family not having any," the Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, resident said. Santaella said that her hometown is without power and water, and people there are scared of what is to come.

To reduce her stress, Santaella, who is studying for an associate degree in baking and pastry arts, immersed(沉浸) herself in what she knows best: baking. "It started out as just baking bread and shipping it to the island to then be dispersed to the people, but I found that was very expensive for me to do alone, so I spoke with Chef Charles Niedermyer, our instructor of baking and pastry arts about a sale of baked goods in the college's Bush Campus Center."

"Natascha is a bright energetic young lady with a big heart,"Niedermyer said. "I was not surprised to find her in my office, looking for ways to help the people of Puerto Rico."

To prepare, Santaella had multiple meetings with Niedermyer, spent hours finalizing recipes, designed signage(标志) and decorations, and got friends to staff the sale table with her. And then there was the baking: Santaella and two friends in the baking and pastry arts major spent six hours baking 90loaves of bread,24 dozen dinner rolls and 30 cheesecakes in a variety of flavors.

During the six-hour sale, Santaella and her friends raised more than $1,000 for United for PuertoRico, an initiative designed to provide aid and support to those affected in Puerto Rico by the passage of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.

"I hope to mainly increase awareness of what has happened, and to show people that there are Puerto Rican students at this school," Santaella said. "I hope that others had the great experience I had with all my teachers and how understanding they were with me."