Homeless dad, son still need help

By the end of February, the two-month contract will expire on the apartment that soca diva Fay Ann Lyons-Alvarez rented to help a fire victim and his son. Alan Maloney and his son Daniel Toussaint, eight, are dreading the date when they will have to move out of the Chacon Street, San Fernando apartment, as their home is yet to be rebuilt.

Neither father nor son is looking forward to returning to sleeping under the tent they had called their home, ever since a fire destroyed their house at Ste Madeleine last December. In an interview this week, Maloney, 54, said to date only the rubble has been cleared from around his home by Cepep.

He is yet to receive assistance from the National Commission for Self Help and the Ministry of the People’s National Social Development Programme (NSDP) to begin the rebuilding process. Both state bodies assist by providing building material worth up to $20,000. Maloney said he went to the Self Help Commission, San Fernando, on Monday, and was told his application was being processed.

Self Help chairman Surujdeo Mangaroo had promised $20,000 in material to start the rebuilding process. The T&T Guardian spoke to an officer from the NSPD, who explained that he told Maloney some time ago he needed to provide them with some other documents before he could get the grant.

The officer also said Maloney needed to get two estimates, one for plumbing and another for house repairs, as well as a report from the fire department, confirming that his home was destroyed by fire, and proof of ownership. The information was passed on to Maloney, who said he had not been well.

He said last week he went to apply for a new identification card and this week he would try to get his documents to show he was the owner of the property. Maloney said since the school term started, Daniel, a standard two pupil of Ste Madeleine Government Primary, had attended classes only last week. “We have both been ill,” he explained.

Maloney, a refrigerator and stove repairman, said  jobs had been slow in coming. “But we are managing,” he said with a shrug. Over the Christmas holiday, a good samaritan put up the father and son at a hotel in Port-of-Spain after reading about their sad story in the T&T Guardian. The stories on their plight also moved Lyons-Alvarez to pay two months’ rent for the apartment  while they get their lives back together.

Other kind people assisted in providing clothes, shoes and all Daniel’s school supplies.

• Anyone interested in assisting Maloney and his son can call him at 397-8711.