Keep the Daycare Open

Rebuilding a Roof in One Week

April 1, 2019

“’No. We’re not gonna close down. We’re gonna keep it open.’” Germaine Clendinen, co-owner of Sunshine Bear Daycare and Pre-school in the Charlotte Amalia district of St. Thomas, was retelling the story of her teachers pushing to cut a week out of their two-week summer vacation.

They know if a school in St. Thomas can stay open, it needs to stay open.

Due to damage inflicted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, only 20 of 33 public schools in the US Virgin Islands opened on September 4, 2018— the scheduled first day of classes for public schools in the territories. On St. Thomas, only one middle school and zero high schools opened on that date.

“Some parents don’t really have people to watch their kids,” said Angelica Arnold, a teacher at Sunshine Bear. “They need to be in school.”

Sunshine Bear Daycare and Pre-school had been open every week of 2018, but Sunshine Bear did not go unscathed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. If it rained on the island— it rains 124 days a year in St. Thomas— the roof leaked.

“We’d get rain through the walls,” said Jocelyn Mulraine, Germaine’s mother and the manager of the daycare.

After reviewing a Department of Human Services list of schools that were open, but were still in need of repairs, All Hands and Hearts – Smart Response assessed the roof at Sunshine Bear. Our team decided that during the teacher’s one week vacation, we’d remove the roof and lay a new one.

Volunteers Maya and Karissa (purple hair)

“It was so cool how motivated we all were.” Karissa was one of twelve All Hands and Hearts volunteers who chose to work on her off days to ensure we’d complete the roof in time for the first day of classes. “I’d not seen that much determination on a site before. We were all like, ‘we’re gonna get this done.’”

A roof build is a draining project. At midday, the Caribbean heat beats down on your back and radiates up off the roof. Several times through the week of the build, it down-poured. When it rained, the team rushed to cover the roofs with tarps, waited for the rain to pass, then continued the build. In two weekends, and one work week, the All Hands and Hearts team completed the roof.

“Thank you so much for doing this.” Germaine stood in the playground and looked over the new roof. “Anything for the kids. I need for my kids to be relaxed and not freaking out if a drop is coming down.”

Passing pedestrians appreciated our work as well. When team leader Evan stopped by the market across the street from Sunshine Bear, the men in the deli congratulated him and his team for their hard work.

“They really appreciated it even though it wasn’t where they lived or where they went to school.”

Sunshine Bear is back open and accepting more students.

“A parent came to us last week to bring him in next week,” said Miss Mulraine. “They’re coming. They’re coming.”