USVI HURRICANE UPDATE - ST. THOMAS & ST. JOHN (October 2018)
CURRENT ACTIVITIES (RESPONSE AND RECOVERY PHASES)
St. John ● As our resilient housing initiative continues and expands, we’ve added a second rebuild team. ● Response work is still needed on the island, so debris removal and muck and gut work continues. Volunteers remove anything containing mold or rot in the structure to leave each home free of any spores or rotting wood.
St. Thomas ● St. Andrew’s Computer Lab and Angels of Love Daycare and Preschool are complete. ● We’ve now begun our fifth school repair. ● Work continues in mucking, gutting, and sanitizing high-priority homes affected by the storms (below). ● We celebrated the completion of over 500 projects on St. Thomas -- receiving a Humanitarian Award from Senator Forde.
With games, facepaint, food, and music, our volunteers (above right) celebrated the completion of 500 projects on St. Thomas with the community and those whose homes and schools have been impacted. It was a unique and relaxed opportunity for volunteers and community members to show their appreciation for each other (above left)!
OUR IMPACT
7,129
PEOPLE IMPACTED
1,299
JOBS COMPLETED
1,234
VOLUNTEERS
25,403
VOLUNTEER DAYS
DISASTER PROFILE On September 6, 2017 Hurricane Irma slammed into the US Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm, with record wind speed of 200 mph. The islands suffered severe wind and flood damage, reducing many areas to rubble. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Maria struck the islands on September 20 as a Category 4 storm and damaged several community facilities and individual homes. The storms have severely affected the community, tourism, and local economy.
OUR WORK Thanks to critical support from partners like Norwegian Cruise Lines and Island Spirit Fund, donors, local community, and volunteers from around the world, All Hands and Hearts - Smart Response has run an impactful program on St. Thomas since September 27th, 2017 and St. John since February 16th, 2018. We have responded to the community’s needs with debris removal, mucking and gutting, mold sanitization, and now full rebuilds for homes and schools.
OUR MISSION To effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. By listening to local people, and deploying a unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, we rebuild safe, resilient schools, homes and other community infrastructure.
OUR USVI PARTNERS
5 YEARS IN A ROW! Only 10% of charities have received at least 5 consecutive 4-star ratings. This means All Hands and Hearts outperforms most of the other 1.5 million charities in America in operational and financial efficiency.
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For additional information: Ethan C. Yake, Chief Partnership Officer ethan@allhandsandhearts.org or (518) 669-7147 www.allhandsandhearts.org