By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-990547.mp3
Springfield, MA – Surplus windows and doors from an ongoing sound proofing project in communities near Logan Airport in eastern Massachusetts will be used to help rebuild communities devastated by the tornadoes in the western part of the state. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, Massport as it is known, operates airports and ocean shipping cargo terminals in and around greater Boston. It has no official presence in western Massachusetts. But the quasi public agency will now leave a legacy in the region's tornado recovery.
Massport is donating roughly 600 brand new windows and doors to help rebuild or repair homes destroyed or damaged by the tornadoes that hit the region on June 1st. Massport Executive Director Dave Mackey says the surplus items come from a federally funded program, which since the late 1980s has sound proofed more than 11 thousand buildings in the flight paths of Logan Airport.
Mackey , who with other Massport officials, traveled to Springfield's Six Corners neighborhood earlier this week, to announce the donation, said they were taken aback by the devastation they saw..still fully evident almost five months after the tornadoes blew through.
More than 500 houses were destroyed and thousands more were damaged by the tornadoes
The windows and doors, with a total value of 300 thousand dollars ,will be distributed by the Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity on a first come first serve basis to eligible homeowners in any of the more than half dozen communities in the 39 mile long path of the tornadoes. Habitat chapter vice president Walter Tomala says contractors should be able to easily reframe openings to accommodate the fixed sized windows and doors.
Waleska Quinones accepted the offer of donated windows. Her family's home in Springfield's Six Corners neighborhood, originally built by her grandfather, was completely destroyed by the tornado..
Quinones, her husband, their children, her mother and grandmother are living in temporary quarters while their home is rebuilt. Their insurance will not cover the entire cost, so the donated windows will fill part of the gap. Housing specialists say a lot of homeowners with tornado damage face a gap between insurance coverage and construction costs.