Monday, March 24, 2008


Breakfast with the Easter Bunny!
The Hendry Glades Homeless Coalition hosted a Breakfast with the Easter Bunny on March 22nd.

It was a fun and joyful event to benefit the homeless mission throughout Hendry and Glades Counties in Barron Park , LaBelle
Tickets


Our own CREW Executive Direcotor assisted in planning and helped serve breakfast. It was a great success that resulted in money raised for the homeless coalition as well as Happy Kids who left well fed after a great visit with the Easter Bunny and some left with prizes from the raffle as well.

This event was possible thanks to the hard work the Homeless Coalition is doing as well as the following sponsors:



Florida Community Bank

Badcock Furnishings & More

Labelle Rotary

City of Labelle

Duda

Winn Dixie

Carreer and Service Centers

Mary Bartoshuk

U-Save

Allstate

Langford Ford

Family Eye Care

Pistol Pete's

Ace Hardware

Bank of America

Methodists help Disaster Victims!

Click on the links below to read about how CREW, United Methodists and others are helping to continue to provide assistance to those affected by Hurricane Wilma and other disasters.

http://www.flumc.info/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000046/004615.htm

http://www.flumc.info/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000046/004614.htm

Friday, March 21, 2008

Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce
Presents its
2nd Annual Fundraising Dinner
A Barbeque to benefit CREW, helping the community recover from Hurricane Wilma and prepare for future disasters. We will also recognize our big funders.
Saturday, April 26th 4pm to 8pm
At First United Methodist Church
310 W. Osceola Ave., Clewiston, Fl 33440
Please RSVP by: 04/23/08 at (863) 983-2390

This will be a celebration of Florida Resiliency in the face of disaster. CREW with their partners wants to celebrate all the giving that has come from local sources and across the nation to help our two rural communities survive. There would be a: Silent Auction, Dessert Auction, Cake Walk, Barbecue Ribs, Corn on the Cob, Hayrides, Games for kids, and a arts and crafts table for the kids. For a complete schedule, visit our website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~hurricanerecovery/
$25 individual ticket (13 & over) X______= ____
$50 couple X______= ____
$75 family ticket X______= ____
Corporate VIP tables 8 tickets
$150 Red X______= ______
$200 White X______= ______
$250 Blue X______= ______
$500 Stars and Stripes X______= ______
(Special recognition certificate)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I cannot attend but please accept my tax deductible donation of $______
Name/Organization: _____________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________

Make Checks payable to CREW

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Testimonial from Hurricane Wilma Survivor

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 preform its duty. With no money to fix it, I turned to CREW. I explained my situation and then waited for an 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

Monday, March 17, 2008

Volunteers build new home and repair old ones from Hurricane Wilma!

Volunteers continue to come from accross the country to rural South Florida to volunteer their time to help rebuild and repair homes.

CRWRC has been here non stop since February, sending volunteers 5 days a week every week, however, we had to say farewell to them this week. We were able to show them our appreciate however for all they have done. They originally canvassed our area and provided CREW with damage assessments right after the storm in 2005. Since then they have sent funding and volunteers to help us continue our mission. Pictured here are volunteers from CRWRC that came this month to help repair homes not only in our area but in the Western Palm Beach area as well. This is a picture of our director handing them a plaque of appreciation for all they have done.

St. Lukes Lutheran Church from Washington State came as well, they came and helped finish the outside of our rebuild (see story in previous posts), and while waiting on inspections and local contractors to catch up with electrical and plumbing, they helped repair Hurricane damage in Brenda's home.


Lutheran Layman's League from North Dakota came to work on the rebuild, but do to problems with contractors they instead helped repair Brenda L , Raphael, and Brenda J's homes.









Covenant United Methodist Church from Port Orange Florida came and helped repair Brenda's home.














Once again, CREW thanks its partners, CRWRC, UMCOR, PDA, UCC, and The Rotary who gave us the financial backing to hire and pay staff members, buy supplies and manage volunteers this month. We also thank our partners who help us host the volunteers by feeding them and providing them a place to stay. God Bless the First United Methodist Church of Clewiston and Moorehaven, Community Presbyterian Church, and the local Pentecostal Church for housing and feeding our volunteers.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

United Way Rocks!

UNITED WAY OF LEE, HENDRY, AND GLADES SURPASSES
CAMPAIGN GOAL ONCE AGAIN
FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 12, 2008) – United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades announced at the Red Sox vs. Twins game at Hammond Stadium that local residents and companies contributed $7,600,332 to create real and lasting solutions to critical local issues. This surpasses the goal announced in June of $7.2 million and is a 10% increase over the amount raised last year. This is the 10th year in a row that residents and companies have come together to produce a double digit increase in giving. This makes our community’s United Way the number one United Way for campaign increases in the entire nation over the past decade.
"Throughout this campaign, I have repeatedly heard how much people value United Way and the results being achieved," stated Scott Edmonds, 2007-2008 United Way Campaign Chair and Chairman, President and CEO of Chico’s FAS. "The community has placed its trust in United Way and their network of partner agencies and initiatives to help the most people in the most efficient and effective way possible. I want to thank all of you who contributed and I promise you that your gift is going to improve the quality of life for the people of our community!”
"We are very proud to be part of a caring and generous community," said Cliff Smith, President of United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades. “We are pleased that we will not only be able to fully fund our 70 partner agencies, but we will be able to support them with additional funds so that they can help even more of our friends, neighbors, families and co-workers right here in our community.”
Sarah Owen, Director of Community Cooperative Ministries, a United Way Partner, is
delighted with the news. “United Way funding is crucial to our program. The fact that United
Way has achieved their fundraising goal during these slow economic times gives all of us in human services the confidence that we will be able to provide the critical services that our community needs.”
Since the inception of United Way in 1957, 80 million dollars have been raised in our community. All money raised in the United Way campaign stays in the local community to help support the local human service network. United Way partner agencies and initiatives like Alvin A Dubin Alzheimer’s Resource Center, Children’s Advocacy Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, LARC and United Way 211 serve a diverse range of needs in our community such as nurturing children and youth, strengthening families, meeting critical needs such as helping the elderly and disabled live independently, and empowering communities by bringing health and human services to neighborhoods.
In addition to raising funds for human service organizations in our community, the United Way promotes partnerships and collaborations among agencies and initiatives, helping them to work together focusing on issues and solutions that continue to improve lives.
2007 marked the organization’s 50th anniversary. The United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades has been “the way the community cares” since it was established in 1957. For more information please call United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades at (239) 433-2000 or visit www.unitedwaylee.org.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

CREW's Februrary Monthly Report

Love was in abundance this February, from donors to volunteers, CREW found lots of groups and individuals to show their love to our rural community this month.

Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting is on the 4th Thursdays of the month. Our Board of Directors meeting is on the Monday of the prior week. Both meetings are held at Hendry Regional Medical Center.

Although we are no longer funded to help with the FEMA close out project, we have continued to do so. We are still trying to find funding for three clients we had hoped to get from the City but have been unable to do so.

Volunteers continue to be our greatest resource. Two individual Baptist volunteers (not here as part of a mission from any particular church) came from Virginia for the week of February 1, 2008 through February 7, 2008 to help make some repairs to Maria 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, who generously lets our volunteers stay there free of charge, valued at $100 for the week. 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 down the stakes for the pad for Pam, the client we are doing a total rebuild for.

CRWRC Disaster Response Services (http://www.crcna.org/pages/crwrc_drscurrent.cfm) continues to send volunteers this month. They have a large group of volunteers in Palm Beach County helping out the Hurricane Wilma victim in the Western part of the county. They have an overflow of volunteers who are helping us with our repairs. They sent six volunteers to come and help on three homes. They worked on flooring and completed the repairs for Iris. They completed a roof repair and drywall, a sink repair and counter top for Bernadette. This group did drywall; molding and a roof vent repairs for Debra. 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 to work on installing screens for Eunice and replacing drywall for Cynthia during 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, This group will also be working for the next two weeks on several other projects.

Manassas St. Thomas UMC http://www.mstumc.org/missions/mission%20trips.html
from Virginia teamed up with Creekside United Methodist Church in Cummings Georgia http://www.creekside.net/default.aspx sent 23 volunteers this time to help with the house that we are currently building for Pam. They were also here in November. 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 Ana, 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. Trish provided a meal for 3 volunteers for a total of $21.00 in kind donations. Chuck and Sally Hager provided a meal on Tuesday for the group. This group worked a total of 1211 hours for a total in kind donation of $22706.25. The meals provided total an in kind donation of $609.00. The housing totals an in kind donation of $460.00. This group donated a total of $200.00 cash to CREW as well, and also donated money to the First United Methodist Church of Clewiston where they stayed.

As of February 29th in Hendry County 63 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in all of these cases. There are 10 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened.

In Glades County, 10 cases have been assigned to case managers and 8 of these have updated recovery plans completed or in the process of completion. There are 3 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened.

In February 18 cases have been closed in Hendry County, with all clients’ needs being met or client’s refusal of services. In February 0 cases in Glades County have been closed. To date there are 3 unassigned cases in Hendry County. To date there is 1 unassigned case in Glades County.

This department currently has 2 full time and 2 half time case managers that are reviewing case information. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation as quickly as possible. Total overall open cases: 73 Total not currently opened pending documentation: 18

Although we still work with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida we are no longer sharing a staff member or office space with them.

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. Originally, FEMA gave C.R.E.W. a list of 65 families whom FEMA believed would be in need of additional assistance. Additionally, the city of Clewiston supplied a list of approximately 20 other families residing in FEMA mobile homes on non conforming lots inside Clewiston City Limits. Of these cases, C.R.E.W. was able to help the majority of these families find permanent housing solutions. We were able to close one of them in February. We have been unable to close 23of these cases. Three of these are in need of funding that we expected but did not receive. The rest are either waiting on permits, in the process of being set up, or waiting for the families to raise the money needed to transfer their titles.

Our construction coordinator has assessed 16 homes, 12 to assist Catholic Charities in the hopes that they can provide funding for the families. He supervised and assisted in getting needed materials and having jobs lined up for the volunteers mentioned above. The total cost of the projects done by volunteers was $6000 (not including the rebuild which should cost about $60,000 total).

We received in kind donations this month as well. We received a box of nails fro the Manassas VA group, a mattress and box spring from a member of the FUMC in Clewiston, paint from two clients to use on their houses, and a giant tarp from a client. The total value of the in kind donations was $275.00.

We also received word that we were approved for our PDA grant finally! We expect the first check soon.

This was a busy month; Trish attended the 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 hosted the Manassas volunteer group for dinner at her house and Chuck and his Wife hosted a fish fry for the group at the Methodist Church in Clewiston. This was their fourth trip to Clewiston to help repair homes. Trish assisted the United Way booth and provided them with CREW Flyer's 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 FUMC in Clewiston. CREW presented 14 new cases, and provided updates on 33 cases at our Unmet Needs Meeting.

We currently have $159,678.75 in the bank ($113,187.03- less outstanding checks). We deposited $69,365.92 this month.

We are working on our 2nd annual fundraising dinner on April 26th; we need donations for the silent auction, and help finding corporate sponsors, and selling tickets. We have asked Wal-Mart for a donation of items for the silent auction and a corporate sponsorship, and they are taking it to their committee. I got a piece of handmade stained glass donated. We need address and organizations that we should send invitations too. We have also contacted Family Dollar and Cato’s as well.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need volunteers who can help repair homes, but also need volunteers to assist in the office, as well to help work booths at the upcoming fairs and festivals throughout Hendry and Glades Counties. We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. We desperately need a shredder and a volunteer to help shred the back load of paperwork, since our shredder died.
You can also help by simply shopping through the iGive portal and registering CREW as your charity of choice. Simply visit the link below to do so. http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=324218&causeid=35958

Donations can be sent to 352 W. Arcade Ave., Clewiston, Florida 33440. We are a registered non-profit and donations are tax deductible. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

Visit our blog site to learn more about what we are up to and to see pictures. http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to check out our calendar of events to see when volunteers are coming and find out what our staff members are up to! http://calendar.msn.com/trishadamslcsw@hotmail.com

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Help The American Red Cross in Glades County!

You can have your picture taken with the White Face Capuchin Monkey on March 12th, 2008 at 2:00 P.M. at Glades County Emergency Management Office.

Have your picture taken and help raise money for a great cause, the American Red Cross in Glades County!

5x7 $ 5.00
8x10 $10.00

Teamwork, our greatest accomplishment!

Last week and this week have been a time for CREW to recognize those that have helped us accomplish so much, as well as be recognized for working with others for the common goal of improving the lives of the those in our community.

Here is a picture of Pastor Thom Street, President of CREW, receiving a certificate of appreciation from the Red Cross which was presented to CREW at our monthly LTRO and Unmet Needs meeting for all of our efforts "in assisting the families, individuals and communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The Red Cross has been and continues to be a great partner with CREW in helping meet the needs of our two rural counties.


Renee Mergott, Volunteer Coordinator for CREW and acting Case Manager Supervisor for CREW traveled with Trish Adams, Executive Director of CREW and Long Term Recovery Coordinator for Hendry and Glades County for the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades traveled to Tallahassee and Havana Florida for three day this week to attend the Florida Donations Portal Training, Florida VOAD meeting and ESF 15 meeting. While there, they were able to network with lots of partners in disaster recovery, such as Reverend Karen Thomas from United Church of Christ Disaster Services and Rick Heers from IHOPE.



At one point during our time in Tallahassee, CREW was finally able to catch up with Reverend Karen Thomas (pictured here with Trish Adams, Executive Director) from the United Church of Christ Disaster Relief Services. She has sent us numerous volunteer groups, as well as funded a number of our projects, you can read about them in previous posts. We have been trying to give her our appreciation of assistance since our big Fundraiser last year, and we were finally able to catch up with her, certificate in hand.



We were also able to catch up with Danielle Kearney from Lutheran Disaster Resources while in Tallahassee. LDR has been a great partner from the day CREW was formed. They helped teach us how to do what we do, provided us with software to do it, volunteers to accomplish and funds to help buy the materials needed to complete it. We had been waiting to give her her certificate of appreciate for a long time as well. http://www.disastervolunteers.org/ops/info.php?desc=160





That night Renee and Trish left Tallahassee for Havana Florida, where we stayed at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy Barracks. The next day we networked with agencies and attended the Florida VOAD http://www.flvoad.org/ meeting where the Florida VOAD officers were presented with a plaque of appreciate from Alex Amparo, Director of Emergency Management from From Volunteer Florida and the State Emergency Response Team (SERT). Volunteer Florida http://www.volunteerfloridafoundation.org/index.php.


Monday, March 03, 2008




CREW's wonderful volunteer Methodist group from Manassas St Thomas Virgina (rebuilding Pam's home, 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) and Cummings Georgia, (you can read more about in previous week's post). In addition to working on the rebuild, they sent some of theirr CREW to repair Ana's roof. Ana is a 40 year old woman that lives with her disabled husband and their three children. Her husband has cancer along with multiple other problems. She used the money she received from FEMA to repair her siding.


Check out the pictures from the group at this link: http://72.41.188.72/2008-02-MissionTrip/index.html