Spruces Residents Commemorate Year Anniversary of HurricaneBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
03:20PM / Saturday, August 25, 2012 | |
The ceremony concluded with an ice cream social. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Residents of the Spruces Mobile Home Park gathered Saturday to commemorate one year since Hurricane Irene destroyed their homes.
Higher Ground, a nonprofit group formed after the storm to help those residents, and the Spruces Tenants Association organized an ice cream social for the residents.
A donated bench was installed and dedicated to the nearly 300 residents who were living there when the storm hit. A dedication plaque will be placed on the bench.
Peter Elvin, pastor at Saint John's Episcopal Church, started off a short ceremony encouraging the residents to focus more on human resilience than the storm itself.
"Who would have expected that an ocean born cyclone would cut its way hit into the mountains to die and cause so many good people to feel the death of that intimate part of them called home and neighborhood and normal. I won't say her name because in Greek it means peace and she doesn't deserve it," Elvin said. "Enough about a raging storm that took apart so many homes and hearts and hopes. Let's make this day about human resilience and recovery."
Only about a third of the homes that were in the park were reoccupied after flooding caused every home to be ruled uninhabitable. Some 200 people needed to find new homes because of the damage.
State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, said that the aftermath of the storm taught everybody to "have faith, determination and work together."
"And like today, there will be many more sunny days," she said.
Also attending the ceremony was Aaron Gornstein, undersecretary for the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
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