Help us help Wylian get back to work!

My name is Sean Colwell and I co-own and operate Fire House Loft on Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans. Last Wednesday, February 9, around 3:20pm, my friend and colleague Wylian Da Costa's work van was broken into, hotwired, and driven off with $4,000 worth of his tools in it. The van was parked outside of a job site where Wylian and his crew were working, on the 1900 block of Bayou Road in New Orleans. Wylian works 60+ hours a week as a finishing carpenter and handyman to provide for his wife and son. He relies on his work van and tools to earn a living.

I have been working with Wylian on various construction and maintenance projects since 2019 and never in my life have I had the pleasure of working with a more hardworking, skillful, and all around pleasant human being. Wylian takes pride in his work and, frankly, undercharges for it. It's obvious to anyone who knows Wylian that he genuinely cares about his clients and does whatever it takes to ensure that his projects are completed to their satisfaction in a timely manner.

If you've ever been to Fire House Loft, you have experienced Wylian's craftsmanship and attention to detail first hand. Wylian helped us complete this renovation project in less than 9 weeks, start to finish - absolutely incredible.

Wylian and his crew turned this empty, drab space:

into a masterpiece of good times that many of you have enjoyed yourselves:

Wylian was born in the small town of Goioerê in southern Brazil. He immigrated to Massachusetts in 1999 when he was 15 years old with his parents, who sought a better life for their family in the United States. By 2007, when Wylian was 26, Wylian had moved to Florida and gotten into the carpentry and construction. By that time during the Great Recession, the family was unable to make ends meet due to loss of work and decided to plan a way to save up money for plane tickets back home to Brazil by moving to New Orleans to work in rebuilding the city after Hurricane Katrina. They ended up falling in love with the city, despite the many challenges we all face living here, and never left.

In 2012, Wylian married his wife Roberta, whom he had met in Massachusetts, and she moved to New Orleans to be with him and set down roots in their new hometown. In 2017, Wylian and Roberta had a son, Noah, who is now 5. With the help of their families, they bought a house together in 2020 and plan to spend the rest of their lives as New Orleanians.

The recent rise in crime in our city is an outrage to all of us. It is a shame that the criminals who live among us now feel so emboldened and immune to consequence that they do not hesitate to assault and steal from our friends and neighbors in broad daylight, from the Costco parking lot to quiet residential streets. While Wylian was certainly fortunate to not have been subject to any physical violence, he had his ability to provide for his family completely stripped away from him in less than 90 seconds.

Please help us show Wylian that our community still values the hard, honest work that he does every day as much as we condemn the violence and lawlessness that has gotten way out hand in our community. While we have already privately raised and donated several thousand dollars to get Wylian's tools replaced so he can get back to work, he still needs financial assistance to replace his work van (a 2007 Ford cargo van e-150), which will amount to around $14,000.

Wylian has pledged to donate any amount raised in excess of what he needs to replace what was taken from him (or if his van is recovered) to the Son of a Saint organization, which helps mentor young fatherless men in our community.

Here is a video of the theft (top left):

More photos of the van:

More photos of Wylian and his family: