All Hands and Hearts Monthly Update - USVI (July)

USVI HURRICANE RECOVERY UPDATE JULY 2019

8,902 1,715

LIVES IMPACTED VOLUNTEERS

35,757

VOLUNTEER DAYS

1,383

JOBS COMPLETED

Current Activities Volunteers on St. John work hard to bring relief in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. We’re in the recovery phase and bringing lasting strength back to the island.

As we wrap up our time in St. John, our final rebuild queue is set. We continue to restore the interior of houses, from plywood to paint, giving our homeowners a home to move back into. While we have focused on interior work in St. John, the team also sealed its first concrete roof on the island and volunteered for a day at a local farm.

Volunteer Voices “I absolutely loved my experience on St John. From day one, everyone was so kind and willing to help. The work we do here is good and the people in this program are good. Getting to know community members and homeowners made this program extra special. Just knowing I was small a part of an organization that has had this big of an impact on St John is humbling. I truly fell in love with the work and this island. While I learned that primer is harder to wash off than paint, and termites do in fact bite...a lot, these past three weeks have been unforgettable and I only wish I could stay longer.”

Learn about our programs at

allhandsandhearts.org

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 severely affected the community, local economy and tourism.

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, we ran an impactful program on St. Thomas (September ‘17 April ‘19) 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.

About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure.

We have been awarded a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator five years in a row, placing us in the top 10% of all non-profits evaluated for financial and operational efficiency.

Pictured at right: (Top) Site Supervisor Ross assess the little details of the room to ensure quality control at the Robert’s rebuild. (Middle) Portuguese volunteer Vera and Danish volunteer Niels work together to cut plywood for the the Clendinen rebuild.

Our Partners in St. John

info@allhandsandhearts.org (508) 758-8211