Miami Herald,
The (FL) 2008-08-31
Edition: BRWC Page: WC1

DAVIE
HURRICANE RECOVERY: Davie gives mobile homes to Hurricane
Wilma survivors

MOVING:
Sharleen and Joseph Costadura, above, who have lived in Sunshine Village park for decades, began moving this month, almost three years after the storms, from their ravaged mobile home to a new one. At left, the Costaduras in front of their new home.


As part of a team effort, Davie is moving people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Wilma into new, sturdier mobile homes. LISA BOLIVAR, Special to The Miami Herald Davie has come to the rescue of about 75 survivors of Hurricane Wilma by providing new mobile homes for them, thanks to a local charitable organization and grant money.

Adopt a Hurricane Family, a not-for-profit organization based in Pembroke Pines and formed after Hurricane Katrina by Craig Vanderlaan, teamed up with Shirley Taylor-Prakelt of Davie's Housing and Community Development Department to remove substandard mobile homes badly damaged in the 2005 storms and replace them with new windstorm-rated units.

The town also partnered with the state Department of Community Affairs and
Broward County and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development's 2005 Community Development Block Grant, Disaster
Recovery Initiative. With that help and Vanderlaan's team, they were able to get
75 new FEMA trailers for about $500 each, Vanderlaan said.
The grant covers other programs, including Davie's Mobile Home
Repair/Replacement program.
One of the first families to move into their new home were Joseph and Sharleen
Costadura.

 

The couple, who had lived in Davie's Sunshine Village mobile home park for decades, began moving this month after closing on their new home in July - almost three years after the storms, a wait too long for Taylor-Prakelt.

"Just getting the grant money in our hands was a very long timeline, and it was frustrating for me to wait that amount of time," she said. "But the good news is, the minute we got the money in our hands and we were under contract with the county, we hit the ground running." Joseph Costadura's family had been in Sunshine Village for generations, and when Wilma devastated their double-wide mobile home, Joseph took the money he got from his insurance policy and began fixing things himself. But it wasn't enough, he said, as the rising cost of materials meant only the worst damage
could be repaired, leaving nuisance repairs on a wish list."We cannibalized parts from other trailers when the owners let us and painted the whole place, so it really looked good from the outside," Costadura said. "But you go inside, it looked like we have been testing a missile. And the toilets in the old place are like a theme park. They rock back and forth."

While the Costaduras, who have three grown children living with them, will move directly next door into a much smaller three-bedroom mobile home, they are happy with the situation."At least you can walk through the new house without falling through," Costadura said.
He praised Davie officials and Vanderlaan.

"I can truly say they were used by God," he said, adding that he had expected the town to grant him money so he could simply fix his old place. "But when they came into it and saw how much more we had to do ... [Vanderlaan] said he'd rather just give us a new one," Costadura said. "It's like we won the lottery." And Costadura said Taylor-Prakelt and Vanderlaan never made him feel inferior for his situation, always treating him with respect."When you get into a position where people can look down on you - they didn't make us feel like that one bit," he said. "I've never felt so good in all my life."
Sharleen Costadura was almost speechless. 'It's one of those 'pinch me' moments, you know?" she said.

For information on the program, call 954-587-0160 or visit www.adoptahurricanefamily.org.