Story highlights Puig close to achieving new fund-raising target of $100,000

Initial goal of $25,000 for 'Help Rebuild Puerto Rico' was reached

She has reached out to pop star Luis Fonsi

Puig: 'We need help and we need it now'

(CNN) Monica Puig is closing in on her new goal of raising $100,000 to assist Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria battered the island, insisting that the US territory needs all the help it can get -- and immediately.

And the tennis ace -- who became Puerto Rico's first ever Olympic gold medalist at last year's Rio Games -- says she has been in touch with pop superstar and fellow Puerto Rican Luis Fonsi to see what else can be done to help a week after Maria battered the island with torrential rains and 155-mile-per-hour winds.

"I have gotten in contact with some big names in Puerto Rico, for example Luis Fonsi, trying to decide what other things we can do to raise funds, trying to discuss different projects to continue to help Puerto Rico in any way we can," Puig, who turned 24 on Wednesday, told CNN.

"This really means so much, not just to have these Puerto Ricans helping but they have big names and they are globally known, so we can continue to grab the attention of the people and say, 'Help Puerto Rico, they're in crisis now.'"

Hurricane Maria may have cut the lights in Puerto Rico but not the fire in our hearts. Together we will rise! https://t.co/7idjtL4fZq ❤️🇵🇷 pic.twitter.com/h6z9OVy6aT — Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) September 24, 2017

Fonsi's hit single 'Despacito,' which features Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, has been viewed more than 3.8 billion times on YouTube. The video was filmed in San Juan.

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