By Hillary Bonner | Long Term Recovery Team-Director of Operations
Since last winter, the STJ Angels- Long Term Recovery Team has been working diligently to assess the needs of our community. The super storm Irma, followed by the CAT 5 Maria, destroyed or damaged 74% of low and middle income homes on the island of St. John according to reports from USDA/HUD. Many of our clients have been designated as vulnerable and are still living in unsafe conditions with the inability to financially or emotionally manage the reconstruction of their homes. Our organization, along with our partnering non-profit agencies, have taken on the task of rebuilding up to 150 primary residences for our vulnerable community members in a more resilient manner than before the storms.
Over the past month, we have completed the construction of three homes and currently have five new projects under construction. We have 35 clients who have qualified for the program and an additional 45 in the process of submitting documents and signing contracts. The majority of our clients are over 65 and financially incapable of completing an incredibly expensive construction project in our remote location.
We are projecting that each home we complete will cost our organizations, on average, $150,000 with half of that amount being building materials. We are scheduling ourselves with a goal of completing 5-8 homes per month, totaling at $400-600K per month for supplies alone. The money generated by this project is dedicated to the purchase, distribution and allocation of these materials to be used by Virgin Islands licensed contractors to rebuild homes in a code compliant fashion with special attention to applying ADA compliancy in regards to walk ways, kitchen and bathroom spaces for our aging clients.
The second house we finished belongs to a retired school teacher who designed the original home with her late husband. She has been staying with her daughter in the states since the storms. Her home was destroyed by Irma while she and her son rode the storm out in the cement storage room below her living room. She was evacuated to St. Croix via private boat between Irma and Maria and her son told her when they left that it was over. There was no way they would be able to rebuild their family’s home.
She returned to St. John two weeks ago and we visited her in her home last Wednesday. She stood with tears in her eyes that moved silently over the newly constructed home. Her home has been rebuilt with reinforced ceiling covered with a beautifully detailed paint job. There are grab bars as a safety precaution newly installed in the shower and one of our team was able to secure some like new furnishings from a villa owner. She looked around at her once beautifully terraced gardens and remarked how excited she was to work in them again. She hugged each of us as we left, expressing her gratitude and giving thanks for all that had been done for her. We were just grateful she was able to be back in her home. Returning to a “new” type of normal.
We have built this program from the ground up and are moving forward and ramping up efforts to reach our goals and return all of our clients to this “new normal” as quickly as possible. Disaster fatigue is a very real thing and they are tired of federal programs over promising and under delivering. They are tired of contractors taking on their project and then not showing up for weeks at a time. They are tired of buckets on their floor and blue tarps on their roof. With continued support from generous donors, we can move forward and bridge these gaps to a full recovery.
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