Disaster Response United States Project #35662

Stabilizing Communities after Hurricane Florence

by All Hands and Hearts

Stabilizing Communities after Hurricane Florence

Project Report | Sep 4, 2019
Winding down in North Carolina...

By Julieann Jones | Grants Associate

An amazing beneficiary - ready to return home!

Greetings donors!

It’s been nearly one year since All Hands and hearts arrived in New Bern, North Carolina to support communities impacted by Hurricane Florence. With the program closing officially before the end of the month, we are ready to share one last report with you.

Just because a program is set to wind down, doesn’t mean our staff will stop making training a point of focus on program! Staff members continue to host Tool Training sessions every week for volunteers to better prepare them for what they’ll face in the field. Whether the session is covering the best tool to use when cutting drywall, or how to mud a closet, the goal is to empower our volunteers to learn something new and take on a new challenge - all aligned with our commitment to producing high-quality work.

We are thrilled to report that our roofing pilot has officially finished! As mentioned in our last report, a substantial number of beneficiaries were waiting for roof repairs that would allow them to address water that had already made its way inside their home. Without these repairs, homeowners were at risk for an even longer waiting period and the further spread of mold inside their home. Our team is proud to report they completed work on 17 roofs, helping each of those families take one giant leap towards fully realized recovery. To celebrate the progress they make, our teams love to organize homeowner dinners. Homeowners are invited to join our team on base to share a meal and reflect on the progress made. It’s also a way for our teams to say thank you to community members for welcoming them so warmly. Though these numbers will grow a bit more before the end of the month, we are happy to share the following metrics - to date, our teams have:

Worked on 206 sites, 192 of which were homes
Completed 306 jobs
Positively impacted 589 people

As hurricane season begins, the team has run through several evacuation drills to ensure the safety of all staff and volunteers should a Hurricane hit the area. As we speak, teams are keeping a watchful eye on Hurricane Dorian as it approaches the Carolinas with the potential for heavy rainfall and floods. Though we are closing our Hurricane Florence project page here on GlobalGiving, we encourage you to continue following our efforts on our newly posted Dorian Response page. There, we will post updates as our response plan evolves.

Thank you so much for sticking with us during our time spent in North Carolina. We care a great deal about the communities where we were fortunate enough to serve, and we are grateful for the support from you that helped make it all possible.

Thank you from the entire All Hands and Hearts team!

AHAH staff running an evacuation drill

Volunteers hard at work in North Carolina

Links:

Squidders - A conversation with Russell Hudson

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Jun 7, 2019
See What's New With AHAH in North Carolina...

By Julieann Jones | Grants Associate

Hello Donors!

Recovery work is in full swing in North Carolina, and we are excited to update you on our progress! It’s almost been nine months since Hurricane Florence made landfall, and there is still a great deal of work to be done. We are working in the New Bern area, working hard to clean up water damage and conduct the critical repair work that will return families to the comfort and safety of their homes. The optimism and hope that these communities have is contagious, and we are truly honored to participate in the work that is helping make recovery a reality for them.

When our teams started this phase of work, they quickly realized that roofing would be a significant obstacle. According to Skip Lee, Chief Building Inspector for Pamlico Co., approximately 85% of the 7,000+ roofs in Pamlico County were impacted by the storm. Even if a roof sustained minor damage, we have to make sure there is no chance that it could leak water into the home the next time it rains risking the development of mold. Roofing work can be expensive for homeowners, and it doesn’t typically fall under our scope of work - but, we recognized that finding a way to incorporate this kind of work into our own would make a big difference for homeowners feeling “stuck” in their recovery timeline. So, we started the All Hands and Hearts Roofing Pilot which now includes staff with roofing expertise! We hope to repair 15-18 roofs in tandem with our typical scope of work, allowing us to help even more homeowners and their families move forward with recovery faster. So far, the team has successfully finished six roofs (shingle and metal based), with another four added to the queue!

Another focus for our team this quarter has been the use of resilient materials and techniques on projects. We recognize that the areas in which we work may eventually face a new flood event. Our goal is to take steps now that will better prepare homeowners - so, should they experience flooding in their home again, they are better equipped to deal with the damage quickly, easily, and inexpensively. One example of a resilient building material we use is styrofoam insulation; not only is it a very effective insulator, but it is also exceptionally water resistant. Other resiliency techniques we are utilizing include raising the outlets to four feet high, using AC window units instead of ground duct HVAC systems, and creating a moisture barrier at 4 feet (to prevent water soaking higher into drywall).

To wrap things up, I want to share the latest numbers “from the field” with you! Since our last report, we have worked on 168 homes, helping 478 people!

Thank you for helping make this incredible impact possible.

Insulation ready to be installed

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Mar 11, 2019
Florence Recovery - Let's Keep On Going!

By Julieann Jones | Grants Associate

A Recovery Volunteer in North Carolina

Hello Donors!

Last time we provided an update, we were preparing to wind down our response program in North Carolina. Over the course of this three month response period, a wonderful group of hardworking staff and volunteers successfully completed work on 150 homes, serving 390 individuals impacted by Hurricane Florence. The generous support we received from GlobalGiving, and their supporters like you, have made so much of this possible as it allowed us to mobilize 285 compassionate volunteers into the New Bern, Craven, Pamlico, and Jones County areas. Here, our teams and volunteers worked eight hours a day, six days a week, to address the critical needs of families struggling to recover from the storm. Linked below, you’ll find a blog article sharing the story of Marianna Mack (a volunteer turned All Hands and Hearts Assessor), who did an amazing job helping us find the families that we could ultimately help in our North Carolina service areas.

We are excited to now share with you that recovery efforts, or “phase two” of the work All Hands and Hearts does, began officially on January 7th, 2019! Even as the temperatures dropped, our volunteers and staff bundled up so they could keep on going! Currently, our teams are pivoting on a transition point of work (simply because a number of homes still require work related to water damage and mold removal). Still, teams remain flexible - adapting their day of work to fit the needs of each homeowner. When possible, teams are conducting “finishing” work. This might mean adding insulation and drywall to homes so they are comfortable in the cold, spackling and painting, or even adding new cabinets and flooring.

A great example of what happens at this “pivot” point has taken place at the home of one of our beneficiaries in the New Bern area. His home was not only damaged by flood waters that rose four feet high, but also by fire and smoke damage that happened when the floodwaters shorted out his electric wheelchair. Thankfully, he was not in the home at the time. Our teams have worked on his home since the fall, clearing out the water and smoke damaged debris and building materials. Once recovery began, our teams returned to make critical and cosmetic repairs. His home has since been finished! One of our site supervisors tells us, “A few days before finishing his home, we knew we were helping him feel like his house was a home again because he had put the salt & pepper shakers back on his kitchen table”.

We are so happy that we have been able to work with the amazing and resilient people of North Carolina since Hurricane Florence first struck. Thank you for supporting this project from the beginning, and we hope you’ll join us as we keep on going!

Links:

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