BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Public School leaders troubled to hear thousands living in Puerto Rico are still without electricity and clean water almost a year after Hurricane Maria.

"This is not a third-world country we're talking about. We're talking about our brothers and sisters,” said Nadia Nashir, the multilingual education assistant superintendent for Buffalo Public Schools. “Americans that live on an island. Students had to leave their schools."

More than 500 of them went to Buffalo Public Schools and were placed in one of seven bilingual schools, like P.S. 76, Herman Badillo.

And while some have since returned to Puerto Rico, leaders say more than a hundred more have enrolled this summer.

"We had seats available. And ensure all of our students feel welcomed, feel taken care of," Nashir said.

Last school year, the district received more than $600,000 from the state for those displaced from the hurricane.　

District leaders gathered community feedback and used the money to start a summer school program, establish behavioral training for teachers and hire a bilingual school counselor.

"The trauma that our students are facing from Puerto Rico mirror the trauma that our students from Somalia, Syria have experienced, which we were not expecting," Nashir said. 　

"It's a hardship. You're lost, you don't know what to do," added Megan Starr, a third grade teacher at Herman Badillo Bilingual Community School.

Following Maria, the school held fundraisers and donated the proceeds to the American Red Cross.

Teachers donated furniture, while clothing was collected as well.

"You feel good about it. Giving back to the community,” Starr said. “They're in survival mode. Until they actually get on their feet. And even so you need a job, and you need all this you need that. All these problems arise when it happens."

The new school year begins September 6th.