At present, we have 12 active job sites across the island, and have completed 10 homes since the intiiative started in September 2018.
These home belong to full time St. John residents who are all seniors; families with small children, infants, or pregnant women; and residents with a disability or nonemergency medical need. Most of these homes are full rebuilds from top to bottom, and the majority of these individuals received little no federal assistance for rebuilding their home.
One of the homes that we are close to completion on belongs to a hardworking, native Virgin Islander and single mother of 3 (who we'll refer to as "A" to protect their privacy). A lost both her home and most of her belongings when Hurricane Irma struck St. John more than a year ago. She and her children rode out the storm in the lower, one-room unit while the home above, which has been in her family for 3 generations, lost its roof, sustained massive water damage to the interior, and was reduced to a shell of its former self. A and her children spent several days after Irma with little food and water before relief work arrived to help. For 16 months, she and her children have been moving from place to place when relatives and friends could accomodate them, but at times were forced to return back to their tarped shell of a residence. Through it all, A remained hopeful and grateful for her blessings, including her children, her health, and her community.
A registered with the St. John Community Foundation's Disaster Case Managers in November 2018. They referred her to the RHI program, and were also able to source donated good to replace some of her lost belongings. Work began on A's home in March 2019, and will be completed this very week!
RHI is the largest public-private partnership on St. John that addresses a critical recovery need, and your support is needed to make it work! Please consider a donation to RHI today, and help us bring more St. John residents like A home.
