 GCN Feature Dane’s Story – Part 3 The following is a recalling of recent events as they really happened days and months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The story is being told by Dane St. Pe, a resident for many years of coastal Mississippi. His story is so powerful, that it cannot be taken in all at once, but was broken up into a three-part inspirational series of stories that shows the true depth and breadth of the human spirit of tough, coastal Mississippians. Dane St. Pe tells us of just what transpired in his search to survive.-Ed. The presence of a Higher Power has to be in such a vast amount of coincidences…but then again, the Lord helps those who help themselves. (For Part 1 - Click Here For Part 2 - Click Here) By Mark Proulx - Special to GCN Filed 6/27/06 GCN “My plan to come back only included burying my dad and trying to start a life for myself. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought God had plans for me…” - Dane In preparation for a return to Mississippi, Dane began the torturous task of contacting FEMA. His future didn’t look good. Dane had filed for personal bankruptcy over a year before; his credit was in the toilet – along with most of his possessions – and he literally had nowhere to live. A friend whom he contacted suggested that he file for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, since it would look better to FEMA if he had been turned down. An SBA loan approval or denial, his friend mentioned, could also take months. With nothing more to lose, Dane applied to the SBA, knowing that this was probably the start of his road into hell, like so many others he had heard about. The FEMA people Dane had talked to on the phone couldn’t give him any
info on his FEMA trailer and said he Not only that, but there were a good many people still living in tents. “I told David I don’t care if I have to live in a tent. I have to get out of Florida and come home.” A couple of days before New Year’s when he decided to go back home, Dane began watching the Weather Channel. Just his luck, the day he planned to travel back was the day it was supposed to be raining. Everything Dane owned was stuffed into the back of the little beat up truck he had bought from his first job and he couldn’t afford to let it get all wet...so he had to wait. Like a storm of foreboding, that’s when Dane’s luck completely changed. “About 10:00 a.m. the next day, my phone rang. It was a lady from FEMA asking me if I still needed a trailer. I almost flipped and told her if it weren’t raining in Florida I would have been in Waveland knocking on her door that morning.” At the first opportunity, Dane left for Bay St. Louis. The FEMA trailer, a little Cavalier unit with a tiny kitchenette, cramped living room and a bath/shower was situated in the new trailer area directly across from Hancock Medical Center. Sitting in his little trailer, Dane could only reflect how lucky he had been up to that point. Staying about a week, Dane traveled back to Florida to finish up a job he needed to complete before he could permanently move back to his little trailer “home.” After about a week in Florida, Dane was shocked and dumbfounded by how his luck had turned.
That very day Dane went out and bought a better work truck and a tool box, and filled it with all the tools he could. Sometime during the day, a feeling came over him that he needed to get office supplies if he were going to be a real business. So, he went to Best Buy, bought a lap top, printer, copier, fax all-in-one, and all of the office stuff he could think of to start a business back in Mississippi. Home he came. Dane immediately went over to the train depot in Bay St. Louis to apply for his electrical contractor’s license. Since the testing was scheduled for once a month, Dane had to wait three weeks for his first shot at it. As luck would have it, the entire test was residential electrical code, something he wasn’t very familiar with, coming from a commercial and industrial background. Frustrated and disappointed, Dane did not pass the test the first time. A lady at the depot felt for him, so she told Dane he could come by and familiarize himself with the Residential Blue book at the office anytime he wanted. He couldn’t take it with him, but she could tell he was serious about getting on his feet. The lady was so sincere about wanting to help out Dane that he felt like he couldn’t let her down. Besides, having been back for a little while, he was certainly aware of how desperately Hancock County needed good contractors. For the next couple of months, Dane kept himself busy- actually too busy to take the contractor’s license test again. However, over this time he was able to familiarize himself with the code to the point he felt confident enough to take the test again. And pass he did. Immediately after receiving the news that he had passed, Dane was awarded a contractor’s license for his newly-established business - St. Pe & Son Electric. Running back and forth across the wasteland of Bay St. Louis and Waveland doing jobs, Dane came across those same knocked-over pillars in Clermont Harbor he had seen those long, awful months ago as he was climbing out of the wreckage and mountains of debris. A powerful emotion poured out of him upon seeing those pillars. “We need to make a monument out of these things,” he said to himself and he began talking to land owners on either side of the road on which the pillars stood. He was told the pillars actually resided on county property. Taking time out of his day, Dane went to the county offices to find out if he could salvage those pillars and erect a memorial specifically for Clermont Harbor. He was told by one of the personal assistants to the supervisors there that he should talk to Charles Gray at the Hancock County Historical Society to find out about using them as a memorial. However, she would definitely put Dane on the agenda for next board of supervisors meeting to discuss using these pillars as a memorial. Dane sought out the advice of Charles Gray about his desire to erect a memorial out of the pillars. After a long talk, Mr. Gray was ecstatic about the idea. Dane’s simple plan to salvage these pillars seemed to be a fitting memorial since Clermont Harbor had such a rich history. Gray decided it was not enough and immediately started helping Dane put plans into place to produce an entire history of Clermont Harbor, as well as a full proposal to erect the pillars as a memorial. As the project progressed, more professional people found out about it, and volunteered some time to draw up blueprints and research documents. “Eddie Coleman, Charles Gray and I put the proposal together with pictures of the pillars before and after, the history of Clermont Harbor and our idea for a beach memorial to bring before the Board of Supervisors of Hancock County. Much to my surprise, they approved it, but said I would have to get permission from the state since I wanted to build the monument on the beach.” On May 5, Dane met with a a representative from the Department of Marine Resources and Ms. Margaret Bretz, from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. He showed them the blueprints a local architect had done for them for free. Impressed and persuaded by his sincerity, they approved the monument. “For almost five months I struggled to get back on my feet and figure
out what God had planned for me. When But something still wasn’t right. Dane knew there was far more to be done. So he thought. And he thought. “Every day I see people that didn’t have flood insurance or had it, but are getting the run around from the insurance companies. Not many people want the grant from FEMA because you have to get $350,000 of insurance and put a lien on your own property. The rules aren’t fair. There’s too much tied to the money being given out. People just need help…not excuses or strings attached. I’m sick of it. I think the money should go directly to the people who need it the most with no middle man taking a huge chunk out for himself. Our people need help…and I’m going to do something about it.” Then it hit him like a bolt of lightening. As the plans to unveil the beach memorial began to come to fruition, Dane held a meeting with the professionals who had been involved in the process. “What if,” he said, “we expand this into a full-blown non-profit with the idea of turning over every dime we can to people in desperate need…people who have been left high and dry in all of Hancock County? People with absolutely no help from the insurance companies, FEMA, the government, or loans? What if we develop an organization that specifically builds houses and give money directly to people who have no possible means of support?” Within a very short period of time, they all agreed that the memorial was the galvanizing effort needed to bring about the life of a new organization dedicated to helping out the citizens of Hancock County. The day that Dane, the Historical Society, Hancock County and the State of Mississippi were to unveil the beach memorial, Dane and his partners wanted to kick off the first ever Clermont Harbor Festival, a benefit festival to raise money for the people in Hancock County. Dane’s idea for the festival, however, was too big for the Historical Society to handle so he was counseled to start a non-profit foundation. He asked the professionals he had worked with to be founding members of this new foundation because he did not want to be solely responsible for the amount of money needed to be raised. They readily agreed. That day, the “Harbor of Hope Foundation” was born. The new Harbor of Hope Foundation is now in the process of attaining 501(C)(3) status. They have a construction consultant and an attorney on the board, and Dane as the spokesman. The plans for the foundation are that none of the members will be paid at all. The board members are strictly voluntary. Five percent of what is raised is planned to go to the Hancock County Historical Society as a way of protecting and preserving all of Hancock County’s treasures and memories. Twenty percent of donations raised at the festival will go to the Clermont Harbor Civic Association every year to help rebuild the town Dane deeply loves and in which he grew up. Fifty percent is slated to go to people across Hancock County with the stipulation that it goes directly to people who meet the requirements of “need.” Twenty-five percent will be directed by the foundation to other special projects. The target date for the unveiling and the festival is September 22-24, 2006. “I want to hand carry checks to our neighbors,” says Dane, “and say, ‘Forget FEMA and forget the insurance companies. This money is from your neighbors, your family and your friends from all over the country.’ I believe that if organizations in major metropolitan cities can throw millions of dollars away on causes I have never heard of, then I truly believe we can raise a lot of money for our own people…some great people who have been forgotten. We had a life here once, a good life. The only way we will bring back the Coast is to get these people back in their homes and on their feet.” (Dane’s personal note: I cannot do this by myself even though I’ m crazy enough to believe I can. I need help. Help me help the people around me to rebuild their lives. I never believed in mourning a person’s death, but rather to celebrate his life. I have tried to no avail to get in touch with any of the bike builders on the Discovery Channel - Jesse James, Orange County Choppers or Billy Lane - to see if I can get them to build a bike to be auctioned off at the festival. I believe we can get a lot of people to come. I need someone in the music industry to help get some really big name groups in country, rock, jazz, etc., to come to play for this benefit festival. I want to give away a home to a family like the people on “Extreme Make Over Home Edition” do. I want to see a bass boat raffled off and also a couple of four-wheel ATV’s for the hunters. I need start-up money for the festival and for starting up this foundation. Help me throw the biggest party the Gulf Coast has ever seen and show the world how good old Southern people celebrate in the face of adversity. Since we don’t have the papers approved yet, Mr. Charles Gray is willing to receive donations through his functioning 501(c)(3) and fund our efforts until we are approved. If you care to help, you can send your donation to: Hancock County Historical Society P. O. Box 312 Bay Saint Louis, MS 39520 (228-467-4090) Please note on your check: Clermont Harbor Memorial. My information is: Dane M. St. Pe P. O. Box 2842 Bay Saint Louis, MS 39521 email: stpeandson@yahoo.com (504-473-7466) Please don’t send me personally anything. I can rebuild my life on my own, but there are a lot of people around me who can’t. I cannot just sit by and do nothing. That would be unacceptable. Thank you and may the God of Heaven richly bless you for your giving.)
Contact the author: mxpowerdive@hotmail.com
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would have to go back to Mississippi to the local FEMA office in
Waveland to find out. Dane called his friend David and told him he was
finally ready to come home. David filled him in on the horrors awaiting
him in Hancock County, especially how hard it would be to get a trailer.
“I went to the
bank to deposit some money, and I happened to look at my receipt when I
walked out of the Wachovia branch in Florida. I noticed I had a sixteen
thousand dollar balance in my account! I almost passed out. I even
went back into the bank to see if a mistake had been made. They told me
it was no mistake. Evidently, the SBA loan had been flat out denied, so
the FEMA grant kicked in and they deposited it directly to my account.”
I got back and saw those pillars again, I just knew God wanted me to do
this. As soon as I started to go to work on it, people were waiting to
help me out every step of the way. All that was left was to get
structural drawings, go through the permit process, find out how much it
will cost, raise the money, and build it. I have a lot of faith that God
wanted me to see this through. Ever since Katrina, my life has pushed
me in this one direction.”
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