FOX 13 Tampa Bay
By FOX 13
September 20, 2018
SELF was featured in this publication as a non-profit organization that stepped in to help her when no banks would give her any loans. To read the full story, click here.
Here is an excerpt,
ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) – A St. Petersburg woman and her family had to dump buckets of water from inside their house for nearly a year after Hurricane Irma until a nonprofit stepped up to lend her cash.
“It was all coming in through here, and I was afraid this was going to come down,” said Kim Zeches.
Zeches’ house still bears scars from Irma because her roof was badly damaged and caused the ceiling to leak water into her house. She dumped about five buckets a day of water for nearly a year. She tried getting it repaired, but was scammed.
“I’m out between $800 and $1,000 in repairs to the roof that didn’t work,” said Zeches, who works in a school cafeteria at Midtown Academy. “It was hard work earning the money.”
Ann Vanek-Dasovich, regional manager of the nonprofit Solar Energy Loan Fund (SELF), said the organization steps in to help when no banks will provide loans or there are no other financial options.
SELF partnered with the city of St. Petersburg to help women, the elderly, veterans and other families secure low-interest loan for home repairs.
“Although FEMA and other insurance companies responded to the crisis that Irma created, they didn’t fill the void of everybody who needed help”
Vanek-Dasovich
She said to me the nonprofit specializes in helping working class families who own homes and are financially strapped to do repairs.
“We make sure that the project is done, that it starts on time, that it ends on time, that it’s done to their satisfaction and that it meets code”
vanek-dasovich