It didn’t take long for Dara Eskridge and Aaron Williams to spring into action after a deadly tornado ripped through parts of north St. Louis.
Eskridge and Williams helped lead the 4TheVille Hub, which provided critical supplies and housing stabilization to people throughout north St. Louis.
Both Eskridge and Williams have deep ties to the community: Eskridge is the CEO of Invest STL, which helps financially support neighborhood development initiatives. Williams is President of 4TheVille, a nonprofit group that aims to preserve and expand the cultural history of several north St. Louis neighborhoods.
The Hub shut down earlier this month, prompting both Eskridge and Williams to reflect during a St. Louis on the Air episode on the volunteer effort’s impact – and how they plan to keep the assistance coming to tornado victims.
“We all serve these communities, work with these communities, live in these communities,” Williams said. “So we understood the assignment, and all we needed was a place to gather and begin to organize with each other.”
Eskridge said Invest STL is pulling together funds for a direct cash program known as the Northside Resilience Fund, which could provide $3,000 per affected housing unit. She said the money could serve as a bridge of sorts as people wait to get more substantial aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as the state and city.
She said the goal is to raise around $4 million for the direct cash program. Already, Eskridge said groups like the James S. McDonnell Foundation and the Missouri Foundation for Health provided around 65% of that total.
“We are all applauding the FEMA and the disaster declaration,” Eskridge said. “We know that's not really a fast system, right? So it will be some time before resources start flowing to people who need it most. And so, the direct cash assistance is meant to be something that can be more immediate and far more flexible than most government programs can be.”
Williams and Eskridge are also planning on advising the city about how to pursue longer-term relief efforts. In particular, Williams said they’ve collaborated with city officials about how to efficiently place tarps and boards onto houses.
“It will mirror the same program that we were operating out of our emergency response hub, where subcontractors are assigned to specific buildings to complete a scope of work that's defined by whoever is managing the process,” Williams said. “I'm grateful that the city was willing to listen to us.”
Full-circle moment
In the aftermath of the tornado, nongovernmental organizations like 4TheVille, Action St. Louis and the Urban League took on many of the short-term relief efforts. Some residents questioned whether it was fair to put the onus on volunteers instead of having the city or state deal with much of the initial response.
Williams, though, said that a similar situation occurred in 1927, when a tornado killed dozens of people and injured hundreds in St. Louis.
During that disaster nearly a century ago, groups like the American Red Cross and educational institutions like Sumner High School mobilized to temporarily house people displaced by the storm.
“What history tells us, or what archives tell us, is that the community responded the exact same way, and it was an essential function of the response effort,” he said.
Eskridge added that no matter how the state or city government responded to the tornado, groups that were already committed to places like the Ville would have shown up anyway.
“There wasn't really an organized playbook for this,” Eskridge said. “We showed up in ways that were maybe not very typical for us, and caused us to stretch and allowed us to kind of stand in the gap while the government got their footing.”
For future disasters, Eskridge said governments and volunteer organizations should continue to work together. City government, she said, is more equipped to handle things like coordinating state and federal resources or building inspections or forestry-related matters.
“But then at the hyperlocal level, the neighborhood level, I think it is absolutely beneficial that you do have these community-based organizations who are ready to be able to respond immediately,” Eskridge said. “Because they have the closest relationships in the neighborhoods.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
