Patricia Andre, who has lived in Rockaway for about 50 years, points to where the water rose at the home where she and her family have lived for decades. Photos by Anna Gustafson
Covered in the kind of dust that seems to permanently hover at construction sites, Patricia Andre stood in the back room of the Rockaway bungalow she has called home for more than three decades and, surrounded by people clutching tools and clambering up and down ladders, marveled at the evolution of a space that was once flooded with water higher than her waist.
Standing next to a wall covered in sayings she and family members scrawled on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy – such as the Johnny Cash lyric “How High is the Water, Mama,” which her son sang as they swam from their home to a neighbor’s for refuge during the storm – Andre said there was a time she didn’t know if life would ever be normal again. After all, like so many others on the peninsula, she had lost almost everything in her home during the storm and, after the initial shock of the hurricane wore off, she and her family realized there was another battle looming on the horizon: Finding funding to rebuild their home near Rockaway Freeway and 100th Street.
But, last week, standing amidst volunteers from the St. Bernard Project – a national nonprofit that uses privately-raised funds to rebuild homes in disaster areas – Andre said she can finally imagine returning home.
“It’s surreal – I can’t wait” said Andre, who raised her three children in the house that she will likely be able to move back into in a matter of weeks.
To mark the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Patricia Andre and her family wrote memories of the storm on a wall in her Rockaway home that was ruined in the hurricane. As the waters were rising and she and her family had to swim from their house to a neighbor’s for refuge, Andre said her son kept them laughing by singing the Johnny Cash song, “Five Feet High and Risin,’” which includes the lyric, “How high is the water, mama?”
“This has been a blessing,” she continued in reference to the St. Bernard Project, which rebuilds homes at no cost to lower-income individuals and families. “I’ve been to Build It Back, [the Small Business Administration], but when St. Bernard said they were gonna help me, they did. They came in with a tribe of people. It’s been great.”
Launched in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Project has gone on to rebuild homes in places across the country, from Joplin, Mo., which was devastated by one of the deadliest tornadoes to hit the U.S. in more than half a century, to Rockaway and South Queens.
The project partnered with the group Friends of Rockaway, a relief group founded almost immediately after Sandy, and together they have rebuilt 32 homes on the peninsula and in South Queens.
“We knew immediately it was going to be a good partnership,” said Friends of Rockaway Director Todd Miner, who leads the St. Bernard initiative in Queens. “This is the best system there is – a group like St. Bernard identifying community groups and working with them.”
The way St. Bernard operates, Miner said, is a breath of fresh air when it comes to Sandy programs, many of which have repeatedly failed, including the city’s Build It Back initiative, which has access to hundreds of millions of federal dollars to help homeowners impacted by Sandy – but not one home has been constructed through it.
“The lesson that should be taken from us is disaster recovery is messy and required on the ground resources,” Miner said.
In addition to completely rebuilding homes, the nonprofit also does various other work to get houses ready for families to move back in, including carpentry, plumbing, and electric work. They have done that at 57 homes in Queens.
Working each week with hundreds of volunteers – many from AmeriCorps – in places like Rockaway, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, and Hamilton Beach, the group has done so well that it now has a waiting list of 200 people – but Miner stressed that they won’t put down their hammers until “the work is done.” Additionally, residents are still welcome to contact them about rebuilding.
“It’s enormously meaningful, being able to do this,” Miner said. “I think, with us, it makes someone feel like there’s someone still thinking of them. Our volunteers have gone to family dinners in Broad Channel, and we’ll hold welcome home parties when they open their homes.”
As for Andre, she said she plans on inviting all the volunteers – from individuals who made the trek from North Carolina immediately after the storm to people from the St. Bernard Project – for a big soiree after she walks through her front door and into her home for good.
“We are gonna have a barbeque,” she smiled emphatically. “And everyone will be invited.”
Volunteers work at St. Bernard’s office in Far Rockaway.
God bless St. Bernard's and all of their volunteers-you are all amazing!
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