For 30 years, the folks at Women’s Coalition have been answering the call of people who cry out for help. Tuesday Mary Mingus and Clema Lewis, co-directors of the Coalition, called out to the public for help after an electrical fire Friday damaged the Coalition’s crisis center.
They both said there is an immediate call out for advisors and experts to help on fire clean up, salvage, restoration and help deciding where to go from here.
The purple-domed building at the top of East Street in Christiansted doesn’t look like there was a fire, but on Tuesday the acrid smell of a fire still hung heavy in the air. During a media tour, it appeared nothing inside the building was salvageable. There was burned office furniture and equipment, smoke and water damaged books and papers, melted plastics, and brownish-black, greasy soot on everything.
Lewis said the insurance adjuster had been scheduled for Friday but was able to respond quicker and will assess the damage Wednesday. The adjuster will determine if the building will be demolished. Lewis said the adjuster asked for a list of items destroyed, but that has been difficult to pull together because the air and fumes may be toxic and everything is covered with soot. For the tour reporters were given surgical masks, but their eyes quickly became irritated.
Office manager Carolyn Forno said they had all information and files on the computers backed up and clients files were on another floor and did not get damaged.
“Thankfully the fire was contained and didn’t spread and no one got hurt,” Forno added.
The building will remain closed indefinitely, but its services have been moved to the nearby Alice Pfaelzer Children’s Center, the bright yellow building with blue trim at the corner of East and King Cross streets.
Counseling services will be available at the center from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The coalition telephone number remains the same – 773-9272 – but there are only two lines in the building, so callers are asked to be patient and redial if necessary.
The Children’s Center’s telephone number is 773-9222.
Lewis said the Coalition has curtailed the programs for emergency financial assistance until it has made an assessment of the coalition’s finances. There is no way staff can function right now with business as usual, she added.
“We are asking people to please be patient,” Lewis said, wiping away a tear. “For right now we can’t do what we’ve been doing for 30 years. Please keep us in your prayers and support us as we get back on our feet.”
She added, after all assessments are made, she will inform the community of any needs the coalition may have.
Mingus says the folks at the coalition are in shock and disbelief over the fire.
“Our work here is hard and has been an uphill struggle and then this happens – it is a lot to handle. But St. Croix built us,” Mingus said with determination in her voice. “This community will come together and rebuild again.”
