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Family Finds Community In New Jersey After Losing Everything In Puerto Rico

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A family from Puerto Rico that lost nearly everything in Hurricane Maria will be spending the holidays away from home.

As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, they are getting a fresh start in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, where a local school has practically adopted them.

Eleven people now live in one house, after the Carreras family moved in with their cousins last month.

"It's pretty jam packed in there -- lots of children. There's seven children total," said Yasminda Hall, "and out of the seven children, there are six children that are special needs."

Three of the kids were living in Puerto Rico with their grandparents when the hurricane hit.

"It was horrible," said grandmother Leida Carreras. "No light, no water -- the kids were very, very scared."

So family in Scotch Plains started a GoFundMe account to raise money to fly the three children and their grandparents to New Jersey. They made it there last month

Growing up in Puerto Rico, the family had no winter scarves, winter coats or boots. So the kids' classmates at School 1 started collecting winter gear.

"When it snowed earlier in the year, it was the first time they had seen snow, so a lot of the items that we collected were brand new items -- hats, gloves, scarves." Said principal Justin Fiory.

"They are great. They are helpful. They are so, so good with us," said Edianis Diaz, 11.

"They" are the students at School 1. who collected clothes, toys and food for the family.

"For Thanksgiving, we were able to give them the turkey and the fixings, and we've continuously tried to give them boxes of food since then," Fiory sad. "We've also dropped off a number of gift cards to local supermarkets."

The children are only fourth graders, but they know what happened.

"They need help because of the hurricane," said Rosie Yanek, 9.

"They lost everything like their houses," said Jasmine Jasul, 9.

"We put a big box out on our front porch for anyone who wanted to donate," said Kevin Wright, 10.

Hsu asked the kids what they wanted to say to the family.

"I hope they stay safe and be happy with everything that they have," said Hailey Kaplan, 9.

"I hope they have the best holidays that they can, even though they lost a lot," Jasmine said.

"I just want to say happy holidays," Kevin said.

The family says the next hurdle is to find a larger home.

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