Rebuilding St. Thomas, USVI

The STRT stayed busy between November 2019 and February 2020. Although we had to take some breaks for the holidays, we were able to host three volunteer teams and work on four different homes. Our staff and volunteers were very happy to have gotten more Virgin Islanders back in their homes before Christmas and the New Year. Final Nail ceremonies are always special for clients, but helping them finish their personal recovery plans during the Holiday Season has been extra special.

Our Volunteer Construction Teams repaired roofs, installed new windows and hurricane-proof shutters, and worked to make kitchens operational again. One particular client needed their porch reinforced, which proved trickier than originally thought. Besides these larger projects, smaller undertakings were also wrapped up: residential gardens, smaller quality-of-life repairs, and consistent donation deliveries. One specific client that we worked with is also a local farmer. Our volunteers had a great time learning best growing practices from our client while repairing the home. Volunteers and the client were able to visit and plant in one of the nearby community gardens. 

As always, we are eternally grateful for our Volunteer Partners: Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands (EDotVI), Reformed Churches of America (RCA), Family Resource Center (FRC), Salvation Army VI (SAVI), Catholic Charities of the VI (CCVI), and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), to name just a few, for their commitment to supporting St. Thomas through her journey back to full recovery.  

STRT has some other wins to celebrate since our last update:

• Increased access to healthy, locally grown food through our reGro project.
• Continued collaboration with federal Community Planning and Capacity Building agents on the Community Response Plan as we look towards 2020 planning.
• Expansion of the Virgin Islands Voluntary Agency Active in Disaster (VI-VOAD): a vehicle through which the Virgin Islands will be able to communicate and collaborate with national nonprofit partners even more effectively both through this IrMaria recovery and for future preparedness and disaster response initiatives.
• Presented at 3 international conferences to advocate for the continued support of the Virgin Islands.
• Selected a Community Engagement Specialist to increase our impact on our partner organizations and constituents