MONTEGO BAY, St James — One of the participating hardware stores in St James, CC Fair Deal Hardware in Cornwall Courts, has been redeeming grants for beneficiaries from out of parish, some as far as St Andrew, under the Government’s Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters (ROOFS) programme.

“We have been getting people from St Ann, St Andrew, Westmoreland — I don’t know [how] them reach up here come to Cornwall Courts,” the representative, who did not wish to be named, told the Jamaica Observer.

The ROOFS programme provides financial assistance to rebuild homes that were damaged by Hurricane Melissa and assessed through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. It is one of six components of the Shelter Recovery Programme and has been allocated an initial $10 billion to assist households assessed as having sustained minor, major, or severe damage.

“Today I saw a lady come with her something [approval] saying that she come all the way from St Andrew,” the hardware representative said.

The team, according to the representative, has been working steadily to meet the needs of the individuals who turn up, but admitted there are challenges with the availability of some materials.

“Right now it’s just cement and blocks giving us some problems, in terms of sourcing them,” she explained.

She also highlighted that while they are able to meet most of the needs, there are a few things that are not readily available in their store for which individuals have been asking.

“They are complaining that they want roofing things but they don’t have any hardware on it [the list of participating stores] that mostly sell roofing [supplies]. We sell like zinc and siliconizer, that’s mostly it,” she explained. “They want like capping, shingles and so on.”

However, despite that, she said the team has been very busy after taking on the role as a supplier under the Government’s ROOFS initiative.

“It’s been hectic,” she told the Sunday Observer, and due to the demand their hardware can “only process the [ROOFS] grants Tuesday to Friday”.

A visit to another facility, Tools and Parts Supplies, revealed that they’ve so far been able to meet the demand for building material.

ROOFS beneficiaries who visit are asked to take a number and have a seat to wait until they can be accommodated, while people conducting regular business at the hardware are able to do things normally.

A representative at the Ministry of Labour in St James, who asked not to be identified, has indicated that there are plans to expand the number of participating hardwares in the parish as demand grows.

“Some more hardwares are to come on board because we have to take into consideration that some people are coming from Maroon Town — and even some people from like Barrett Town, Lilliput, and Greenwood are thinking of going to Falmouth, [Trelawny], it depends of the distance,” the individual told the Sunday Observer.

“If you live in Goodwill you wouldn’t come to Montego Bay, you would want to go to Falmouth,” the representative added.

He said currently the programme has become a critical tool in helping many recover from the impact of the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa that ploughed through sections of Jamaica last October.

“It’s been thousands of people, and they haven’t even reached halfway yet. It’s a good thing everybody never get text one time, because the hardware them wouldn’t have so much material at once,” he reasoned.

“Just picture you have 100 man come down and them want board, zinc and nails. We don’t know any hardware with so much material — and plus, them have their regular customers,” he added.

Approved beneficiaries under the ROOFS programme receive a text message on their mobile phones that contains a link to a QR code or a specific code that is used to redeem grants for building materials or cash at participating hardware stores and locations.

Another participating hardware is Lawson’s Block Factory and Hardware in Anchovy, and the source at the parish office for the ministry said the hardware stores have been working hard to provide support for individuals who present for supplies. However, in some cases they do have to contend with long lines of customers when beneficiaries show up.

“The problems that some of the hardwares have had is that they can’t take so much at once; I don’t [know] the amount of people they do per day,” he said.

However, he was quick to point out that participating stores have put systems in place to better accommodate beneficiaries and meet their needs.

“You know when someone makes their order today, they’ll get a call next week to pick it up,” he said about the process.

“They’ll give them their receipt and then they’ll call you and say, ‘Come for it,’ ” he explained.

He also said that one major hardware store previously on the list of participating stores is no longer part of the programme.

“There were some challenges at [one] location that led to a discontinuation of the arrangement at that location,” he said.

He also explained that the ministry is working to expand the number of outlets from which individuals can collect money under the programme.

“Things are not perfect but they are getting there, because they are getting more cash outlets. At this time they only have two cash outlets, one on Barnett Street and one at Fairview,” he said.

He also shared that the ministry is still doing assessments.

“There are individuals coming from foreign saying they weren’t home, man who say they were in Kingston,” he said. “It’s the same amount of assessments we now have in April that we had in November.”