The current state of our government’s limited assistance to the people of Puerto Rico is egregious, deplorable and unacceptable. San Juan may be recovering slowly, but there are many places out in the country that have received little assistance.

American citizens there are resorting to drawing water from creeks and contaminated wells on a Superfund cleanup site, poisoning themselves and their families. Leptospirosis, caused by drinking contaminated water, but treatable with medication, has killed at least four people as of this writing. The U.S. hospital ship, the Comfort, is in port with hundreds of available beds, most of them going unused. FEMA is “on the ground,” but hardly working around the clock as evidenced by film of hotel bars full of drinking and merriment. It has been a month, and the response has been so disorganized and insufficient that everyone should be furious with our government.

Write to our members of Congress. Make a monetary donation. I have discovered Direct Relief, a charity where all the money you send goes to the relief effort. Direct Relief has earned a perfect score of 100 under Charity Navigator’s new rating system. I made a donation to Puerto Rico through this charity. I urge you to do the same.

— Katie Bunnell