HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Fely and Sonny Baza stood before a crowd of military service members outside their Dededo home Thursday, with Fely at a loss for words and with tears in her eyes as the Typhoon Mawar-damaged roof of her home was finally replaced.
“We want to thank everyone,” Fely Baza said. “We appreciate what you guys did for us. It’s a home now. Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you to RISE UP and all the armed forces and the mayor’s office. Thank you so much.”
Her home was the last to receive a new metal roof under Task Force RISE UP, or the Roofing Installation Support Emergency Utilization Program.
It’s a moment she and her family had been waiting for.
“My grandkids can come home now. The work doesn’t end. We still have to repair more, but they fixed the worst part that we couldn’t do,” Fely Baza said.
A total of 537 metal roofs have been installed by RISE UP through the partnership of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer, or RED HORSE, squadron, the U.S. Navy Seabees, U.S. Army soldiers and the government of Guam.
“Team, what a tremendous event that we are all here together to support and celebrate this tremendous achievement,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lt. Col. Chelsey O’Nan said Thursday. “The last three months since the typhoon, we have been working hard as a team to make sure that each and every individual can get a home to get back to normalcy.”
Together, team members went to each of the 19 villages on the island and installed much-needed roofs for families’ homes.
“It’s been 61 days since the storm made landfall (and) 41 days since we made Task Force RISE UP. We were able to finish ahead of schedule with all of the support and dedication of all the teams,” O’Nan said.
Governor thanks FEMA, Biden
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero was present for the small ceremony that marked the completion of the program. She thanked those involved, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the president of the United States.
“FEMA has been such a great partner,” Leon Guerrero said. “They were here before the storm. I also want to give a shout-out to President Joe Biden because, when I wrote a letter and asked him to declare Guam to be a pre-landfall emergency, he responded quickly. That’s why FEMA came out here quickly. When I asked him to declare Guam as a major disaster, he did so quickly. That’s why we were able to get more help from our federal partners. When I asked him to declare FEMA to help us with individual assistance, he did so.”
FEMA helped to provide over $57 million in direct cash assistance to the people of Guam in recovery, she said. RISE UP was another avenue of assistance that helped a number of families on the island, including the Baza family.
“Here you see Fely and Sonny, who worked very hard to provide quality of life for their children (and) their grandchildren. And they just needed a little help to get them back on their feet, and here comes our federal partners to help them,” the governor said.
‘That’s what we are about’
Leon Guerrero also made it a point to note that many of the military service members who helped with RISE UP were part of the island community.
“I also want to thank all of the military partners for coming out here for their sacrifices and really helping our people,” the governor said. “I am especially humbled by the fact that most of our military partners were local people. Our own local people who came out through their various military service units to come and help their own local people. That’s what we are about as Guam. That’s the uniqueness of Guam.”
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Reginald “Reg” G.A. Neal presents a RISE UP ATL T-shirt to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero during a completion ceremony for the last RISE UP roof repair program Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Dededo.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, standing next to Fely and Sonny Baza, along with dozens of personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, Guam National Guard and other partners, gather for a photo during a completion ceremony for the last RISE UP roof repair Thursday, July 27, 2023.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero speaks during a completion ceremony marking the final RISE UP roof repair Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Dededo.
Fely and Sonny Baza thank everyone during a completion ceremony marking the final RISE UP roof repair Thursday, July 27, 2023, outside their home in Dededo.
