CLASS alumni lends a hand in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences alumni Andy Stofleth has been working with SBP (formerly known as St. Bernard Project) for the last five years to aid communities impacted by natural disasters.
SBP is a non-profit organization which provides vulnerable communities with resilience training and helps to rebuild after natural disasters have occurred. Stofleth currently serves as the executive director for SBP’s operations in the Caribbean region.
On Sept. 1, 2019, the Bahamas suffered extensive damage from the Category 5 winds of Hurricane Dorian. According to SBP’s website, with Stofleth’s leadership, SBP has since been able to rebuild the Grand Bahama Children’s Home as well as homes for 550 families. SBP has also provided mold remediation training for more than 500 people and works with other nonprofit organizations to supply clean water to 400 people daily.
In January of 2023, Stofleth and SBP announced the start of a new partnership program with the Roads Buildings and General Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to help rebuild homes following volcanic eruptions that occurred on the islands in 2021. The program will use concrete blocks made with volcanic ash to help rebuild more than 60 homes.
In a post about the project launch on his LinkedIn page, Stofleth said, “I couldn't be more excited that this project is finally underway in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. For the better part of a year we've been conducting testing and gathering data on volcanic ash for use in block making and collaborating with our partners BRAGSA to build a working facility to scale our production… Now we roll up our sleeves and do the real work.”
Stofleth graduated magna cum laude from EKU in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in public relations. During his time at EKU, Stofleth was awarded College of Business and Technology Distinguished Senior Award and a Phi Kappa Phi Chapter Fellowship.
Published on February 20, 2023