Pittsburghers with family on Virgin Islands rally recovery effort

For two days after Hurricane Irma hit the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Kelvin Joefield Jr. heard nothing from his family.

Then, finally, the 24-yearold Harrison man got word from his mother, three uncles and grandfather. They were OK. Part of the roof of the family’s home was blown away, the house was full of water and the furniture was ruined, but they were OK.

“It was just a sigh of relief after not hearing from them for a while,” Mr. Joefield said.

Although he is nearly 2,000 miles from the Virgin Islands, he and other Pittsburghers with family on the islands are finding solace among each other and are working to rally support for recovery efforts.

“You wouldn’t dream of this happening,” Mr. Joefield said. “It’s really terrible, unbelievable.”

After the storm, he hopped on Twitter and followed the hash tag #VIstrong. There, he connected with Zuri Hodge, 22, of Verona, who started a group chat on a messaging app among people from all around the country with connections to the islands.

Members of the chat pooled resources, traded contacts and tried to draw attention to the plight of the islands even as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida.

Ms. Hodge said her brother and father are in the British Virgin Islands. She hadn’t spoken with them since the storm hit Wednesday, but they did manage to call her mother and let her know they’re OK, she said Saturday.

“One door flew off,” she said, “The cars got scratches and my dad’s taillight was knocked out — so they were fortunate because a lot of cars floated away, a lot of people are homeless. They lost roofs, houses.”

Ms. Hodge started a fundraising campaign on the website GoFundMe, hoping to raise $10,000 to donate to relief efforts. She’d raised more than $1,500 by Saturday.

“I can’t sit around when people are losing everything,” she said.