Volunteers loved working and spending time with Thalia. There were Sunday lunches, swims in perfectly blue water, and a Christmas party, with warm company. It was nothing but gratitude all around.

For Thalia, despite the loss of her home, the storms have not dampened her spirit. “It didn’t take away my faith in people,” she says. “We have come together even more as a community.The storms just made it a little bit more precious, and how we should be.

I didn’t realize how attached I was to things prior…I just had my life, my health, and stuff wasn’t important anymore. It released a little bit of the tension I had. I said ‘Oh my God, how do I replace all the things I had?’

They can be, but my life can’t.”