Disaster Response Virgin Islands Project #39517

Revitalizing Children's Activities

by Coral Bay Community Council

Summary

This project will support interim and ongoing activities for our children, as well as transportation to and from activities on our small islands, and start-up of a new interim local facility and a Bookmobile. These are needed because all public facilities in Coral Bay available before the storms for activities were completely destroyed in Hurricane Irma, as were the basketball court, and parks and open space vegetation. Physical restoration is beginning and will take years.

$50,000
total goal

$47,200
remaining

11
donors

1
monthly donor

5
years

Challenge

All 4 public facilities in Coral Bay were completely destroyed in Hurricane Irma, as were the basketball court and park. There is one public and one private elementary school on island, and a couple of small preschools. All are in the western Cruz Bay side of the island, 8 or more miles from the homes of children in Coral Bay. Thus transportation availability is key for their participation in extracurricular & summer activities.

Solution

Funding transportation for children's program participants to get to and from programs both afterschool and in the summer is a key need. Also we need to begin to open up new venues in Coral Bay for children, and provide support for local programs, most run by volunteers. This project will facilitate a variety of children's programs and assist their leaders to meet the children's expectations and needs, and remove transportation and participation cost as barriers to program participation.

Long-Term Impact

Providing activities for children, removing barriers to participation, and helping the volunteer leaders provide complete programs will increase the participation of 50 children and reduce the stress on working parents concerned about transport and special fees for the programs, thereby increasing family well-being. This funding will also reduce the fundraising pressure and "burnout" on volunteer and nonprofit program leaders, so they can more happily focus on their core learning objectives.