Quarterly Report for CREW

SUMMARY
v We said good bye to 3 staff members who we lost funding for this quarter
v Board elections were held and CREW has a new Board of Directors
v Grants ending
v In-kind material donations, meals and housing totaling $3,137
v Volunteer hours donated totaling $84,023.47
v Mitigation entered 100 clients eligible for services
v Met with new County Building Inspector
v Build Your Mission training put on by Volunteer Florida Foundation and the Florida Institute of Government
v Love Rocks fundraiser for Untied Way in Labelle at the Barron House


RESULTS

Staff changes: We have said good bye to Amanda, our part time case manger, she continues her work with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida. In addition, our Executive Director has gone to part time also working part time for The United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades, although so far still spends 90% of her time dedicated to CREW.

Pastor Thom Street of First United Methodist Church in Moorehaven is our new Board President. He has formerly served as our Glades County Representative. He also oversees the Glades county part of our UMCOR funds. Pastor Angel Ramos of the Community Presbyterian Church is our new Vice President. He previously served as our President. He also represents us and assists us with the funds we receive from PDA. Scott Jones, a civil engineer for Johnson and Prewitt continues to serve as our Treasurer. We welcome Sarah Hammock, who has a degree in Accounting and will be running the new Glades County First Bank when it opens will serve as our Secretary. We also welcome Craig Cudworth, CEO of Hendry Regional Medical Center to our Board as well. He brings a wealth of experience to the table. We are sorry to say good bye to Pastor David McClusky, who in addition to being the new pastor at Calvary Baptist in Clewiston, also serves as the education coordinator for Hendry Regional Medical Center.

The partnership between Means to Recovery (Red Cross) has come to a close. The Red Cross has directly assisted 23 of clients for a total of $203,060.20. One of our UMCOR/Florida Conference of United Methodist Church Storm Recovery grants has come to a close.

Since March of last year, C.R.E.W. has been working with FEMA, Hendry County, and the City of Clewiston to find suitable housing solutions for FEMA clients still housed in FEMA units as of April 24, 2004. I felt it necessary to note the following totals to show how many different agencies have contributed to families in FEMA trailer that are working with CREW. These numbers represent goods and services paid for by these agencies for direct assistance to the families in an effort to move from FEMA temporary housing to permanent solutions. Note these amounts do not include money for staff or costs of case managing all these cases. The money noted below is only for direct good and services to provide permanent housing solcutions.
Hendry County $318,842.77 Glades $6862.57
v Red Cross Means to Recovery Program $156,492.58
v CRWRC $60,692.21 $4023.01
v UCC $6,222.50 $900
v VFF $49,155.39
v Rotary $9,233.86
v Catholic Charities $4472.99 $1789.56
v UMCOR $7776.38
v Empowerment Alliance $4750.80
v Good Shepherd Lutheran $2,750.00
v NFL/United Way $15,242.11
v Grace United Methodist Church $200
v First United Methodist Church of Clewiston $778.95
v Other private donors $1075.00
v United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades $150

This month we met with Hendry County’s new building inspector, Bob Ott. It was wonderful to meet him and he provided CREW with some great resources, and we look forward to working with him this year. CREW participated in many community events including Build Your Mission training put on by Volunteer Florida Foundation and the Florida Institute of Government, as well as staff meetings at the United Way in Ft. Myers. Trish assisted the United Way booth and provided them with CREW Flyers at the Swamp Cabbage Festival. Trish also submitted a grant request for $5000 to The Home Depot. Hilda attended the Small Business forum where owners were to discuss commercial insurance and the nuts and bolts of it hosted by Regional Director of the Florida Department of Financial Services, Mr. John Fischer. Trish also participated in Conference calls with VFF and Florida VOAD. Trish picked up donated mattress and box spring this month from a local “snow bird” couple that is old friends of CREW. Trish also assisted in preparation for and implementation of the Love Rocks fundraiser for Untied Way in Labelle at the Barron House, and donated left over orange juice from the event to the local First United Methodist Church in Clewiston. CREW presented 14 new cases, and provided updates on 33 cases at our Unmet Needs Meeting. We have continued to work with the Family Services Network for our two counties. This month, our Director and shared employee with United Way met with First United Methodist Church in Moorehaven and a representative of Harry Chapin Food Bank to see how we could help those needing food in Glades County and to discuss the possibility of expanding the churches current program. Our Director also did two presentations for the Southwest District of the United Methodist Women about CREW and raised $175.00 in doing so. Our director also met with Susan J. Meister, of Gulf Coast Communications for UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). She has been writing for the agencies newsletter Bright Spots about the damage from Katrina and Rita, but came and interviewed us and many of our clients and we look forward to reading her article on http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/work/emergencies/ongoing/hurricane2005/brightspots/. Our director also met with CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Church) volunteers who are working in Belle Glade and Pahokee, for a neighboring LTRO, this month for dinner for which the First United Methodist of Church of Clewiston hosted them. Furthermore, our director served as a volunteer for the Homeless Coalition, assisting them in completing Point- In-Time surveys on the homeless with the Hendry County SHIP coordinator and Empowerment Alliance of SW Florida staff. Trish and Renee attended the Disaster Donations Management Training, Florida VOAD Meeting and ESF 15 Coordinators Meeting in Tallahassee this month. Trish, along with the other officers of the Florida VOAD received a plaque of appreciate from Alex Amparo, Director of Emergency Management from Volunteer Florida and the State Emergency Response Team (SERT). While their, Trish was also able to present some appreciation awards that we have been holding on to for a while to Danielle Kearney from Lutheran Disaster Resources Reverend Karen Thomas from the United Church of Christ. During this time, back in Clewiston, Imelda attended the local Family Services Network meeting and Anthony traveled to Ft. Myers to attend a meeting for agencies requesting funding from the United Way. Trish also attended a United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Board Meeting, the Hendry County Emergency Services Council, and the Hendry Glades Homeless Coalition meetings this month. Trish served as a volunteer serving breakfast to the Homeless Coalition’s “Breakfast with the Easter Bunny” fundraiser. Trish also attended local Democrats monthly meeting and passed out flyers for CREW’s fundraiser. In addition she met with Marvin Hammentree the Disaster Coordinator from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and Bill Roy and Gricel Hernandez, Disaster Recovery Representatives from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. We toured three homes that have recently had volunteers work and they were able to meet the homeowners. The First United Methodist Church of Clewiston also hosted them for dinner when they came for an in kind donation of $21.00. Gricel Hernandez, Disaster Recovery Representative from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church has been here 3 days a week since the beginning of the month helping our with case management. Trish has been hosting her at her house providing her place to sleep to save the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church’s money, as well as First United Methodist Church of Clewiston has been feeding her each Wednesday night for an in-kind of $21 for the meals, and approximately $100 for shelter. Trish and Renee also attended an event for individuals who donate to the United Way through payroll deduction, of which we both do. This is the first time CREW has been included as we had not prior been contributing though payroll deduction.

Trish hosted the St. Thomas United Methodist Church from Manassas Virginia’s volunteer group for dinner at her house and Chuck and his Wife hosted a fish fry for the group at the First United Methodist Church in Clewiston. This was their fourth trip to Clewiston to help repair homes.

4481.25 volunteer hours were clocked this quarter for an in-kind donation of $84023.44

Total cases 773 includes open, closed unassigned and referrals Total open cases 117

79 clients have been served in the months of January, February and March. We opened 8 new cases this quarter, completed and updated 71 recovery plans, and 8 more are pending documentation from client before they can be opened. For statistical information, that is requested note that:
v 38 are female.
v 41 are male
v 40 are Hispanic
v 27 are African American
v 12 are Caucasian
v 5 fall within ages of 20-29
v 13 fall within ages of 30-39
v 19 fall within ages of 40-49
v 22 fall within ages of 50-59
v 9 fall within ages of 60-69
v 8 fall within ages of 70-79
v 2 fall within ages of 80-89

42 cases were closed this month.
v 27 female
v 15 male
v 16 Hispanic
v 15 African American
v 11 Caucasian
v 9 fall within ages of 30-39
v 11 fall within ages of 40-49
v 12 fall within ages of 50-59
v 7 fall within ages of 60-69
v 3 fall with ages of 70-79
v 6 were referred to another agency
v 24 had needs met by CREW
v 11 refused services
v 1 had needs met by themselves

WORK DONE BY VOLUNTEERS

Two individual Baptist volunteers from Virginia the week of February 1, 2008 through February 7, 2008 come and help make some repairs to M. G. with drywall, installing doors, and windows, working in the office to help with some filing and general office duties. They stayed in their RV at the Wayside Park owned by Hendry County. The assisted with 65 hours for a total in kind donation of $1202.50. The First United Methodist Church of Clewiston provided two meals for this group for a total in kind donation of $14.00.

On February 18, 2008 we had a volunteer donate 2.75 hours for a total in kind donation of $51.56. This volunteer is from the New Harvest Pentecostal Church. He worked on laying on the stakes for the pad for P. H.

We have also been blessed with the assistance from the CRWRC who has a contingent of volunteers in Palm Beach County who have sent some of the extra volunteers to help us with our repairs. We had six volunteers come and help on three homes. They worked on flooring and completed the repairs for I. F., they completed a roof repair and drywall, a sink repair and countertop for B. G., this group did drywall, molding and a roof vent repairs. They donated a total of 553 hours for an in kind donation of $10,368.75.

CRWRC has also sent a group of four volunteers for the week of February 25, 2008 through February 29, 2008, they have worked a total of 56 hours for a total in kind donation of $1050.00, and this group has worked on installing screens for E. Dunkley and replacing drywall for C. K. This group will also be working for the next two weeks on several other projects.

Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church from Virginia sent 23 volunteers this time to help with the house that we are currently building for P. H. This group was so large that we split them in to two groups. One group worked on the house, framing and sheathing, they have installed the trusses and will possibly be working on installing the windows and doors by Friday. The other half of this group have been working at A. B., replacing the roof and repairing the siding and skirting. This group stayed at the First United Methodist Church of Clewiston. The Methodist Church provided a meal as well. The Community Presbyterian Church also provided a meal while the group was here. Chuck and Sally Hager provided a meal on Tuesday for the group. This group worked a total of 1157.5 hours for a total in kind donation of $21703.10. The meals provided total an in kind donation of $630.00. The housing totals an in kind donation of $460.00. This group donated a total of $200.00 cash to CREW as well.

We have also helped CRWRC keep some volunteers who are working in Palm Beach County busy for this month. We had a group of 4 volunteers 3 men and 1 woman, come and work at B. W.’s house installing and finishing drywall throughout the house. This group of volunteers was from various places (Kansas, Ontario and Michigan). This group also worked at E. D. installing some new screens on the windows, for C. K. repairing a leaking roof and repairing some interior drywall. They also completed the ceiling drywall repair and painting for A.B., they relocated some insulation for R. W. in the attic and repaired and painted some drywall for D. C. This group worked a total of 252 hours for an in kind donation of $4725.00. This group worked here for three weeks (Feb. 23-March 15).

On March 1, 2008 St. Luke Lutheran Church sent a group of 8 male volunteers. This group of highly skilled men worked on the house we are building for P. H. They completed framing, sheeting the roof, adding shingles and completing siding on the entire house. They also installed 9 windows and the 2 exterior doors. This group contributed a total of 647 hours for an in kind donation of $12131.25. They were hosted by the Community Presbyterian Church who also fed the group for an in kind donation of $56.00. The First United Methodist Church also fed this group for an in kind donation of $56.00.

On March 8, 2008 Lutheran Laymen’s League came from North Dakota to work on the rebuild, unfortunately this did not happen due to contractors not passing inspections on their work. So, we had this group work on four other projects. This group consisted of 6 men and 1 woman. The group began working at Brenda West’s home tearing out old flooring and installing new underlay, they also installed new drywall on the ceiling throughout the house; they also sent a few to work on flooring underlay for R. V. The group sent a couple of the group to tie up some loose ends for L. P. to help get a final inspection to pass, and then went to work at B. J.’s house, installing new cabinets and replacing drywall in the ceiling there as well. This group donated a total of 591 hours for an in kind donation of $11081.25. They were hosted by the First Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church fed the group one night for an in kind donation of $49.00. The Community Presbyterian Church also fed this group for an in kind donation of $49.00.

CRWRC sent another group the week of March 17 – March 19. The group consisted of 2 men and 2 women. The group worked finishing drywall and painting for B. J. This group was also from several different places (Ontario, Michigan and Colorado). They worked a total of 56 hours for an in kind donation of $1050.00.

On March 15, 2008 Covenant United Methodist Church sent a group of 9 volunteers from Port Orange, Florida. This group was hoping to work on the rebuild; unfortunately this did not work out again, due to contractors failing inspections. We put the group in to complete the ceiling repairs and painting for B. W., They worked all week and have completed all the drywall repairs and painting. They worked a total of 349 hours for an in kind donation of $6543.75. This group was hosted by First United Methodist Church of Clewiston, who also fed them on two different occasions for an in kind donation of $98.00. The group consisted of 5 men, 3 women, and 1 youth.

CLIENT STORIES

One of our biggest undertakings this quarter was our 2nd rebuild. We are doing this for Pam. Pam is a 53 year old woman who works for Southern Gardens and has been there many years. She also does some cleaning for extra money. In addition to all this, she volunteers at local agencies regularly. Hurricane Wilma picked up Pam's mobile home and twisted it. Pam was inside the home during the storm and began to screw the wall back in as the storm was barreling down and ripping her home apart. After the Storm, she was told to leave, but she had no where to go, so she stayed where she was. Just prior to the storm, her insurance company cancelled her policy, because she failed to have "hand rails" on her porch. FEMA gave her $2600.00. She used the money to repair the water system and set the trailer back on the blocks. Pam has multiple medical problems, and the mold in her home was adding to her issues. Only one room in the trailer was livable, so she moved all her belongings into that one room. She has been living, eating and sleeping in her living room ever since. CREW received funds from CRWRC, UMCOR and is still raising funds to rebuild this home. The concrete slab was poured and then volunteers began working on it from the St. Thomas United Methodist Church group this in February. More volunteers worked on it throughout the quarter and we hope to have it completed soon.

Brenda is 57 year old white single mother a single mom raising her three bi-racial children as well as two of her grandchildren. Brenda’s trailer was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma and the $2000.00 she received from FEMA was not enough. She is a seasonal farm worker and is very low income. The remaining repairs are about $5590.00, we received funds from the local Rotary to hire Bryant Roofing to come and repair her roof, volunteers from Covenant United Methodist Church came and repaired interior damage, walls, floors, ceilings, removing mildew and painting with funds donated by the Rotary and Catholic Charities.

Another client helped was Brenda, an African American 57 year old female who has lived in Clewiston over 34 years with her family. She lives with her daughter and son-in-law. She has worked in the Bakery in Wal-mart for the past 8 years. Hurricane Wilma destroyed her roof, inside ceiling, floors, 2 doors, and 3 windows. She had no home insurance when the storm hit as she could not afford it. She applied with FEMA who gave her $4000 which she used to repair her roof, generator and buy food. We sent volunteers several volunteer groups including Covenant United Methodist Church this quarter to help them and bought the $1600 in materials needed.
My heart was truly overwhelmed when CREW received the following thank you letter from Anna. Anna is a 40 year old Mexican woman that lives with her disabled cancer stricken husband and three children. Their home was severely damaged, more than the $600 they received from FEMA could address. They needed a new roof, new siding, flooring window and skirting replacement. Volunteers from CRWRC and St. Thomas Methodist Church in Manassas, Virginia came and repaired her home with donated funds from CRWRC and other sources. Here is the letter she wrote in response to the work our volunteers did. I also included pictures of the volunteers working on her home.

To whom it may Concern,

I'm writing this letter today in gratitude. Words cannot express what appreciation my heart fills in this moment. Everyone of us works towards a single goal in life, but as parents, we work mostly to provide a roof over the heads of members of our family. For years I have done just that! Work, work, work to maintain our home. Then devastation appeared. Hurricane Wilma came through our town and destroyed what peace we had. I came home that October and felt like my dream had been shattered. My roof was missing. Most of what I worked so hard for was destroyed. Still, my family and I tried to pick up the pieces and continue on with life. We did as much repairs as we could do, we were trying to save money so we could hire professionals. As the saying goes, "When it rains, it pours!" That's exactly how it seemed. On January 3rd 2007 my husband and I received the news that he had cancer. Suddenly there was doctor visits, hospital visits and specialists to see! Slowly what money we had saved to fix our home was spent to take care of my husband. My husband made it, he beat the cancer. Our roof was there but it failed to perform its duty. With no money to fix it, I turned to CREW. I explained my situation and then waited for an answer. The one I got was completely unexpected. Not only would they fix my roof but it would be at no cost to me. What a blessing!! Things were starting to look up. March of 2008, volunteers from CREW showed up at my house with supplies in hand. There it began, they started fixing my roof. More surprise was when they asked to come inside to see the repaired needed there. They fixed walls, windows and doors! They did it all. I just wanted to write this letter and say thank you. Thank you for repairing the roof! Thank you for fixing the floor. Thank you for repairing the walls and windows. Thank you for repairing the doors in our house. But mostly thank you for repairing my Dream! You gave me back what the hurricane took away. I thank CREW and those who volunteered for CREW. I don't know what I would have done without you. You are all angels!

God Bless you, Anna and Family