St. John Revolving Fund Holds Villa Raffle to “Keep the Giving Going”

A housefire. A death in the family. A hurricane. A sudden illness.

For the last 30 years, residents of St. John have turned to the St. John Revolving Fund for financial assistance when a large-scale or very personal disaster strikes.

Now the Revolving Fund is turning to the community to “keep the giving going” with a raffle to win a five-night stay at Kapok Villas and a $200 gift certificate for dinner at Morgan’s Mango. Tickets are $35, or four for $100, and are available at The Upstairs Bar in Cruz Bay.

The raffle is part of a fundraising effort that began Sunday at the Windmill Bar and Grill. The yard sale and plant sale were canceled that morning because of rainy weather, but the cookie bake-off was a huge success. A new date for the canceled events is pending, and the raffle drawing will be held May 11.

The St. John Revolving Fund works on a “pay-it-forward” basis.  St. John residents facing a critical need may begin the process by filling out an application online. In the past 30 years, more than 350 individuals have received assistance.

The fund began when Hurricane Marilyn ripped through the Virgin Islands in 1995.  Laurie Tittle, then a nurse at the Myrah Keating Smith Clinic, went to Connections in Cruz Bay with a warning.  “You’re going to see a lot of people who need help,” she told proprietor Cid Hamling.

Tittle and her husband Terry lived on a boat, and they knew many in the marine community who had lost everything in the storm.  Among them was a man who lost his eyeglasses and didn’t have the money to replace them. Terry Tittle approached Hamling with a question: Why not start a loan service?

Hamling, who launched Connections as a mail and message center in 1983, had worked as a social worker for years, and she was instantly receptive.

Based at Connections, the fund began informally. After being verified, individuals in need borrowed money and paid it back when they could. After some years, the fund became a 501c3 non-profit corporation, and today it is fiscally managed by the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.

A St. John-based advisory committee still screens the applications, and its members have deep roots in the St. John community: Abigail Hendricks works with seniors through the Department of Human Services; Simonia Dagou is the administrative assistant at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church which hosts food and housing programs for people in need; Christie Register, co-owner of the Windmill Bar and Grill and The Upstairs Bar, knows many who work in the hospitality industry; and Leslie McKibben, who lives in Coral Bay, has raised funds for local non-profits.

Hamling still remains active with the fund.  “People can make a tax-deductible donation to keep the fund going,” she said, “but they can also specify an individual to receive a ‘pay it forward’ grant.”

The need for assistance is never-ending, she said.

Austin Allen,  a seasoned food service worker in Cruz Bay, found himself responsible for two younger sisters when his mother passed away in February last year.  “I had to fly back to the States,” he said. “Luckily, my landlady was understanding, and my bosses at The Terrace were amazing, but I was living paycheck to paycheck. Someone told me about the Revolving Fund, and it really saved my life at that time.”

Jessica Zendzian, who now lives on St. Thomas, said her family was “in deep need” when she heard about the St. John Revolving Fund. A certified veterinarian technician who had to retire because of a chronic auto-immune disease, she faced a barrage of problems last fall. First, her husband broke his arm, and then, “My 14-year-old daughter’s health started deteriorating in front of my eyes,” she said. “It was super scary.”

After visits to numerous doctors on St. Thomas, Zendzian was told she had to take her daughter to the States. Fortunately, a team of specialists at Duke University was able to diagnose and treat her daughter’s unusual health condition, but the month away from home was expensive, and the medical bills are still rolling in. “The grant from the St. John Revolving Fund was a godsend,” she said.

Hamling, now off island seeking medical care, gave a shoutout to Kim Hart for leading the fundraising drive in her absence and providing the five-night villa stay at Kapok Villas that is being raffled off on May 11.

Kapok Villas is a small family-run vacation rental business on Gifft Hill, and Hart is a third-generation on-site owner and host. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit includes a shared full-size pool and a large deck. “Our places are centrally located and perfect for families or large groups,” she said.

Raffle tickets may be purchased at The Upstairs Bar in Cruz Bay (formerly The Backyard) and the Windmill Bar. Donors can make out a check to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) and write “St. John Revolving Fund” in the memo line. Checks may be mailed to CFVI, P.O. Box 380, St. Thomas, VI 00803. Tickets may also be purchased through Venmo (Venmo@TheWindmillBar) and PayPal (PayPal@TheWindmillBar) and note “for raffle for Revolving Fund.”