Nov. 30, 2008 — A Boston firefighter and a yoga instructor opened their hearts and their wallets to help wounded veterans and Sept. 11 firefighter families by providing complimentary stays at their St. John vacation villa.
"We've had a couple of veterans but more widows of firefighters," yoga instructor Deborah Bernstein said.
The story has its roots in a trip Bernstein and Scott Whalen, a captain in the Boston Fire Department, made several years ago to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. to take Boston Red Socks and Boston Patriots t-shirts and hats to the wounded veterans.
Bernstein, 37, a former management consultant who once worked for Price Waterhouse Cooper, and Whalen, 39 and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the first Gulf War, were so moved by the Walter Reed experience they decided they had to do more.
Shortly after the Walter Reed visit, they spent a week on St. John. It was their second trip to the island. A germ of an idea mushroomed, and soon Whalen and Bernstein were shopping for a St. John house where they could donate vacation weeks to veterans and fire department families as well as generate income by renting the villa to vacationers and running yoga retreats.
"It just morphed into 'we'll buy a place,'" Bernstein said.
They decided on Florian Villa, located off Gifft Hill Road and named after the patron saint of firefighters. It has three bedrooms and a loft bedroom, giving them lots of space for veterans and firefighter families to spread out.
"It's a reprieve for them," Whalen said.
Although they were able to buy the villa with their savings, money began flying out the window once they started renovations. Bernstein sold her yoga studio to raise money and to concentrate on Florian Villa, and eventually the couple sold one of their cars to raise cash.
"Every month I felt like there was another $10,000 in expenses," Bernstein said.
The worst is over, and now they're able to focus on helping others.
During the first week of March, they'll host a group of wounded vets who are learning scuba skills through SUDS — Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba, a Walter Reed program — as part of their rehab.
The veterans will need transportation help on St. John, Whalen said.
"We have to make sure everybody gets to where they want to go," he said.
They haven't ironed out those details yet, but Bernstein and Whalen both said they've received help from Whalen's fellow firefighters who flew down to help on previous trips. "A lot of those guys are veterans too," Whalen said.
To help, call Bernstein at 617-429-6182 or visit www.florianvilla.com.
Back Talk
Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
