The mood at this year's annual Puerto Rican day parade was a mix of pride and frustration at the governmental response to Hurricane Maria.
The storm devastated the island and left millions without power and clean water.
Parade-goer Leticia Maldonado from Manhattan said people are still suffering.
"But you're not going to keep us down because to be honest with you, as sad as it is over there, Puerto Ricans got a lot of heart and they will fix that place up on their own," Maldonado said. "Because you got a lot of talented carpenters and electricians over there."
She went to the parade with her friend Miriam Soto who was part of a team of citizens who set up a GoFund me page, and then used the proceeds to buy solar lights and water filters.
"And we went with the Ponce police and they would escort us everyday and we would go to the mountains," Soto said. "They were so grateful when we were there."
Many Puerto Ricans ended up fleeing the island, including Alejandra Vicarrondo who came to the parade with her husband and two sons. She was in a celebratory mood and said her family was doing much better here.
"Things are good, thank god," she said in Spanish. "We have our own apartment."
This year's parade paid tribute to the many volunteers who flew to the island to help with recovery efforts.
Everyone from firefighters, Con Ed workers to nurses marched up Fifth Avenue. Many of them were draped in Puerto Rico's red, white and blue flag.
Lissette Altreche wore a T-shirt that read "#Fight for Puerto Rico." She's an NYU emergency room nurse who was part of a team that provided medical care on the island last fall.
"We're actually trying to get another mission together to go back to Puerto Rico because these people were forgotten about and if we don't talk about what's going on out there no one is going to know," she said.
At times, the volunteers grabbed more attention than the politicians who gravitate to the parade every year. Mayor de Blasio, Governor Cuomo and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer were all in attendance.
As they passed by, Wanda Medina Feliciano held a big black sign over her head that read, "4,645, You will not be forgotten."
"I feel empowered now that I am representing those that will not be able to see the parade," she said. "It's just an awareness to let people know how many people were gone in this hurricane."
The sign was in recognition of a Harvard University study that estimated the death toll to be near 5,000 — way more than government officials who estimated that 64 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria.
