The Fuller Center helps Ida-impacted homeowner rebuild
The Fuller Center's Disaster Assistance Response Team has a team of volunteers who are helping complete some of the construction work.
More Stories
A dozen teens were hard at work Thursday putting in windows and helping with scaffolding at a construction site to rebuild a home destroyed during Ida.
The home is located at the corner of Warren and Florence avenues in Greenburgh.
The home owner, Pascal Amoah, looked on as he recalled the night Ida hit.
"The whole house started getting water," he said.
Amoah said his home saw a surge of 6 feet of water in a matter of minutes.
He quickly evacuated his pregnant wife and two children.
"We had to swim in the water," Amoah said. "By the time we got out, the whole house was gone. That was the scariest moment of my life."
Amoah did not have flood insurance because his home is not in an official flood zone.
He's spent the last 2 1/2 years rebuilding his home with little help from FEMA.
Amoah said he is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
The sight of a crew of volunteers equals hope for him.
The Fuller Center's Disaster Assistance Response Team has a team of volunteers who are helping complete some of the construction work.
"We save thousands of dollars to help a family save money," said James Killoran, executive director of The Fuller Center for Housing, Greater New York City.
Killoran explained DART works year-round coordinating volunteers to projects to help homeowners impacted by floods.
Right now, the nonprofit is working on four homes in Westchester County.
The group at Amoah's home consists of students from the Greenwich Country Day school in Connecticut who are on a three-week intersession focused on volunteerism.
"It's super rewarding to see that we really are making a difference in these people’s lives," said Aden Becton, Greenwich Country Day senior.
Many of the students live in Westchester in flood-prone communities.
"It's not like we are going to a different country to help out, these are people who are in our towns and places that I have friends," said Bobby Jones, Greenwich Country Day senior.
While this volunteerism is saving Amoah some money, it is also proving being resilient doesn't mean doing it alone.
If you would like to volunteer with The Fuller Center or make a donation, click here.
