Stefan Youngblood, currently living in Raleigh, NC, is a worship musician and songwriter who was on the very first Heart Sounds International team to Tunisia in 1999, and has participated in other HSI projects. 

In the mid-90s, Stefan lived in the Virgin Islands and was a music teacher in St. Croix.  In early October 1995 Hurricane Maryland devastated islands in the Caribbean.  Stefan wrote a song during that event to inspire hope.  That song had a huge impact on the island of St. Croix.  The song had extensive airplay, and government officials sent Stefan and his elementary school students to another island to encourage other disaster victims.

Stefan has decided to use the song again to inspire hope so needed by the current victims of Hurricane Katrina.  It dawned on him suddenly to do this while searching his files for some materials related to a job application.  A few phone calls later; he had a producer committed to prepare an updated arrangement.  Stefan’s brother offered to fund Stefan’s costs to do the project.  Stefan’s sister, a former producer for Oprah, and now a TV executive in Seattle, is ready to contact friends in the major broadcasting networks including ABC’s Good Morning America.  Peggy Tatum, Publisher of TCP Magazine has agreed to handle public relations.

The idea is to get people to sing on the recording via the recording tools built into Windows that they can email to him, as well as use HSI engineers who have field recording experience using battery-powered equipment to find ways to perhaps get disaster victims on location in the region to actually sing on the recording as well.

Following is the newspaper article that came out Friday, October 6, 1995, in The St. Croix AVIS newspaper, page 3 during Hurricane Maryland.  The original includes a picture of Stefan with the school children who made the recording. 

Hurricane Maryland Inspired Song Has Calming Effect on Disaster Victims

In the darkness after Hurricane Maryland while Virgin Islanders trembled with fear at the drenched destruction all around, one song breathed hope, back into the territory.  “We will rise,” composed by Stefan and Donna Youngblood of St. Croix, was recorded with the voices of local children four days after mighty Marilyn swept through the islands.

It first aired on Holland Redfield’s evening talk show on WJKC-FM. Residents responded with overwhelming emotion to the song that begins: 

            In a time when fear may surround me

            When storm winds have raged through the lands

            And despair seems all that the eye can see

            There’s a shelter called hope where we can stand.

            And no storm can blow this hope away

            For the past has taught us that we can say

We will rise once again.

Redfield said he dedicated the pilot broadcast to all the hurricane-hit people who were “at the end of their ropes.”

“It was a highly inspirational piece, and the timing of it, because of the effort to rebuild, and the frustration,” said Redfield. “And because youngsters did it at the height of a disaster. It really was a reflection of the character of the people of the Virgin Islands.”

Stefan Youngblood, music teacher at Charles Emmanuel Elementary School, recruited about 30 of his current and former students to record “We Will Rise.”  The group rehearsed briefly in the Charles Emmanuel music room Tuesday, Sept. 19, then taped the next day on a four-track recorder powered by generator. 

“It sounds a thousand times better live,” said singer John Richter, a senior at Country Day School.

Despite less-than-perfect acoustics in the school music room, six hours of the group’s sincere efforts resulted in a song that inspired Virgin Islanders to rise above despair.

“The catchy little tune has a “We Are The World” flavor and islanders can be heard singing along,” said a public relations officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “These kids have plenty of talent and will go far with the right support.

At the time of production, ensemble members said they were unaware “We Will Rise” would effect V.I. residents so profoundly. 

“We thought it was going to have some impact, but this is a lot.” Said Claudia Graham, a Charles Emmanuel fifth grade teacher who participated in the recording project.

“We knew people would hear this song,” said John H. Woodson, eighth-grader Gricelyz Rivera. We could encourage people. Give hope.”

FEMA officials said they will use the original recording of “We Will Rise” as background music for a slide show illustrating the territory’s disaster recovery efforts.  The song will also be broadcast on the Virgin Islands Recovery Network.

St. Croix readers continue to request copies of the Sept. 29 AVIS, in which the words to “We Will Rise” were printed on page eight in a letter to the editor. 

Jerry Koenke, assistant Tourism commissioner for St. Croix, is considering the production of a “We Will Rise” music video “to demonstrate the resilience of Virgin Islanders,” Redfield said.

“I think it’s a beautiful song, but most of the credit goes to Stefan,” said singer Jesse Herold, a Country Day senior.

A proficient writer of Christian songs, Stefan Youngblood said his inspiration stems from his love of children and his relationship with God.

“I think that’s where I find my reason to find hope,” said Youngblood. “I take my faith seriously.  I think it gives these young people hope in more than something than just what they can see.  The soul of a person needs to have hope.  It keeps us going.”

Tapes of the original recording of “We Will Rise” are currently available for five dollars each in the main office of Charles Emmanuel School.  All proceeds benefit the school’s choral program. 

“It means everything to see the kids accomplish something,” Youngblood said. “When I met with the kids I teach, they were beaming to know that they had done something that they can feel good about.  They were beaming to know that they took part in a project that has positively affected the Virgin Islands.”