ST. MARY PARISH — A Berwick couple made a donation they're hoping lasts a lifetime.
Jason Romero owns Uncle J Custom Boats, a company that manufactures custom aluminum fabricated boats.
When he and his wife Alex heard of the town's plans to repair a wooden bridge on the walking trail along Hwy. 182, they stepped in.
“They were gonna repair the bridge,” Mr. Romero said.
“So they were just gonna repair it and I mean anyone who knows anything about towns and cities, its not like there’s a open pocketbook to to go out of so what would the repair have been?”
Romero had an idea for a durable bridge.
“We own a fabrication shop and we thought it would be best if we would build it out of aluminum so that it's a lifetime bridge,” Mr. Romero said.
“It can hold a lot of weight so it’s not like, how many people ride their golf carts up in here bikes?” Mrs. Romero asked.
“So like it’s gonna be able to last years and years and years hopefully forever. And that way they can keep walking and traveling and just being outdoors.”
Romero said a bridge like this would cost nearly $10,000 to $15,000, and this was a collaborative community project.
“I don’t wanna take all the credit on this cause there was a local company Vida Paint that donated the paint and Sons Blasting & Painting that blasted and painted it for free also,” Mr. Romero said.
According to Town of Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur, the wooden bridge was nearly 20 years old and rotting.
“Soon as the other bridge was coming down it collapsed,” Mr. Romero said. “It broke in half, so I’m not sure if a repair would’ve been good enough.”
The Romeros said they wanted to donate the bridge to help create a better community for their young children.
“We just want a better community for them you know and them coming up in this town it starts with having good equipment,” Mr. Romero said.
“So we seen the opportunity to make something better so we did it.”
Romero said there will also be a second bridge.
“We decided to go ahead and build a second bridge that they were gonna repair so in the next couple of weeks another one exactly like this will be going up,” Romero said.
At a town council meeting on Tuesday evening, the Romeros were given the “Beacon Shines On” award from the town.
