The Island Spirit Fund

Thanks to your generous support, the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands are able to invest in the sustainability of their natural environment. Island Spirit Fund partner Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) has been busy funding environmental restoration with two local organizations, the University of the Virgin Islands and St. Croix Environmental Association. Your donations are improving coastal ecosystems with the introduction of can and bottle recycling and the planting of native trees.

The University of the Virgin Islands was able to secure additional funding to expand their recycling pilot project, allowing the initiative to be rolled out to both the St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses. Before the recycling bins and materials are placed around the campuses, the project leaders have been hosting awareness events. When the bins are installed, the work won’t quite be over, as the leaders of the project see a significant need for education around recycling—both on the importance of recycling and about the proper way to recycle various items.

St. Croix Environmental Association (SEA) is planting native trees on their home island. The trees play an important role in hurricane recovery and in restoring an ecosystem that can better withstand future storms:

• Native trees are adapted to withstand the impacts of and recover from hurricanes.
• The root systems of native trees are adapted to holding soil in place, keeping it on land rather than washing into the ocean and hurting coastal ecosystems.
• These trees also host native pollinators, such as bees, hummingbirds, and bats—all of which are essential to forest recovery and the production of fruits, an important food source for the island’s humans and wildlife alike.

Thanks to generous discounts provided by the sellers, 310 trees were able to be purchased, exceeding the initial goal of 250. Of these trees, about half were given away at community events and the other half were planted by volunteers. Nearly 50 volunteers of all ages helped the relief effort by planting trees at a coastal reserve near an old tower that is home to several hundred cave bats.

Learn more about both these programs in the Community Foundation for the Virgin Islands’ project reports.

We love being able to share these stories from the field. Check your inbox in the coming months for updates on the progress of Island Spirit Fund partner organizations!

Our partners in the U.S. Virgin Islands are in it for the long haul, helping fill in the gaps and helping ensure that even the most vulnerable in the community recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Some survivors affected by the hurricanes are ineligible for government disaster aid programs or will continue to have unmet needs even after receiving the maximum amount of help from the disaster recovery programs. This is where recovery group, like the St. Croix Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG), come in. LTRGs are locally based teams committed to seeing the islands through to full recovery. The groups are helping Virgin Islanders remove debris, feed their families, and make repairs to their homes.

“The mission of the St. Croix LTRG is to help members independently provide community services on a daily basis and provide effective relief and recovery services to people affected by disaster on the island of St. Croix,” said Pastor Gary Moore, chairperson of the St. Croix LTRG.

“As we transition from the emergency response phase of the disasters to long-term recovery, it is important that we come together as community leaders to communicate, cooperate, coordinate and collaborate for a more sustainable and resilient future for our entire St. Croix community.”

What does long-term recovery look like in action? An example comes from the Resilient Housing Initiative of the St. John Long-Term Recovery Team. The group recently finished refurbishing the house of a retired school teacher who designed the home with her late husband. She had been staying with her daughter in the U.S. mainland since the storms. She returned to St. John when her home was rebuilt and members of the recovery group went to visit her. She stood with tears in her eyes as she looked silently over the newly constructed home.

The group had restored the home with a reinforced ceiling, safety grab bars in the shower, and like-new furnishings donated from a villa owner. She looked around at her once beautifully terraced gardens and remarked how excited she was to work in them again. Hillary Bonner, the group’s Director of Operations says, “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 and returning to a ‘new’ type of normal.”

Thank you for your part in supporting full recovery on the U.S. Virgin Islands.