CREW, Inc

Bobby's Blog: First Blog

2011-02-05T13:22:00.000-05:00

Bobby's Blog: First Blog: "Hey,guys this is my first blog,so right now,enjoy this vid! and this one too....... and this one...........May the f..."

CREW greive's the loss of Marcus Hepburn

2010-06-09T19:41:00.001-04:00

CREW has closed it's doors, but remains ready to reactivate should another storm hit our area, it's board members and previous staff mourn the loss of a great contributor to Florida's Disaster Recovery efforts over the past several years.

CREW's September Report

2009-10-14T20:43:00.001-04:00

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY REPORT

CREW continues it’s struggle with a skeleton CREW and limited funding to help the area’s remaining Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Fay victims. Our activities in September are listed below.

We are still helping our families surviving Hurricane Wilma, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. We also continue to help families affected by Tropical Storm Fay, the 6th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season which hit our area August 19th. In our area (Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties), Fay caused massive flooding, two deaths in Moorehaven, lots of flooding and wind damage. Roofs were torn apart and homes flooded.
We have successfully helped all of our Tropical Storm Ernesto families.

We are no longer taking applications for cases from these storms, and God willing we will be able to close our current cases soon and will have no more storms in our area to assist with.
Since May, 2006 to the end of September 2009, we have had 106 volunteer groups and 328 individual volunteers who have donated 26,458.50 hours for a cumulative in kind donation of $529,170.00. These groups have also donated supplies and cash for a cumulative total of $7,814.00. The local churches and businesses have also donated space and meals to these volunteers for a cumulative total of $426,275.00. We have also been donated storage space for a total in kind donation for the year of $1,420.00.

On September 25, 2009, East Lake United Methodist Church returned with 5 volunteers. They worked in Labelle, installing some underlay for the floor and vinyl tile. They worked for a cumulative total of 50 hours for an in-kind donation of $1000. The group arrived on Friday night and spent the night at the First United Methodist Church for the night. They have been coming regularly to help us for years and will be back in October.

We held an LTRO meeting this month which included 5 volunteers and was held in space graciously donated by Hendry Regional Medical Center who also donated meals for the group. Our next meeting will be in November 19th @ 12:30.

We have been donated space for storing all of our equipment by Sharon Harris in Moore Haven. This donation was started in January and the total in kind donation equals $1,420.

In September we had 54 hours donated for an in kind value of $1080.00. The total in kind donated from the churches for meals and housing and meeting room and storage this month was $405.00.

We currently have 806 total cases. 795 of these have been closed.

Here is a neat story about two that were closed this month! Maria is a 61 year old woman who has battled Polio her entire life. She cannot read or write, she lives in Monutra with her husband who supports them by mowing grass for the area. Tropical Storm Faye damaged their roof, doors and interior walls. Two volunteers from Orlando, not connected to any church or other volunteer group came and made the repairs needed in her home. Sandra is a disabled widow who lives in Palmdale. Tropical Storm Fay damaged the roof and skirting on her trailer. A youth group from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Maryland repaired her roof, ceiling and skirting.

We have thirty seven total cases currently being worked on by case managers, ten are awaiting documentation from the families until we can officially open them, four are FEMA cases. We have referred thirty cases to Centro Campesino, and are waiting for them to see who they can help and with what. We currently have half our cases fully funded waiting for volunteers to make repairs. Due to time constraints we are also going to be hiring contractors to help complete some of the work. We were able to close six cases this month with all needs being met, thanks to our great volunteers and case managers!

We currently have 2 full time case managers that are reviewing case information for Hurricane Wilma clients. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation as quickly as possible. They are also doing duties of the former construction coordinator (or finding volunteers to do this) and the duties of the volunteer coordinator.

A Board of Directors meeting was held on September 17th. The next meeting will be November 19th at 12:00 at HRMC. Our next LTRO meeting will be at 12:30 following this meeting at the same location.

Our financial status is grim and we are just barely making ends meet, especially in terms of office supplies and administrative costs. We encourage you to help with our upcoming fundraiser by donating baked goods and items for our yard sale, or by donating any funds you may have, we know that these times are tough economically for all. In September we were able to raise $19,914.76; however this did not cover the month’s expenses of $28,172.96.

We have created a new Facebook page, come check it out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=mf.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need volunteers who can help repair homes but also need volunteers to assist in the office. We really want local volunteers, people to invest in their own community. We also need volunteers to help with our upcoming yard sale in November. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

Donations can be sent to 352 W. Arcade Ave., Clewiston, Florida 33440. We are a registered non-profit and donations are tax deductible.

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

Or you can shop for Avon products and benefit by CREW by shopping through this link: and using CREW as your Charity of choice by shopping though: http://www.beautyfundraising.com/
Use GoodSearch & GoodShop for CREW! Raise money for your favorite charity (CREW) or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com. http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx

Augut Monthly Report

2009-09-17T02:49:00.001-04:00

CREW, Inc.
944 Harlem Academy Ave
Mailing address: 352 W Arcade Ave.
Clewiston, FL 33440
863-983-2390
FAX: 863-983-8137
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=mf
http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CREWInc
Help CREW by simply shopping though iGive visit this link:http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=324218&causeid=35958
Raise money for CREW just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com. http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx
Or buy Avon products on line, using CREW as your Charity of choice by shopping though: http://www.beautyfundraising.com/

AUGUST MONTHLY REPORT

CREW continues to struggle with a skeleton CREW and limited funding to help the area’s remaining Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Fay victims. Our activities in August are listed below.
We are still helping our families surviving Hurricane Wilma. Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the 22nd storm (including the subtropical storm discovered in reanalysis), 13th hurricane, 6th major hurricane, and 4th Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season. We have closed 729 cases from this storm. We have 41 cases still open, 9 of which are FEMA cases we are assisting with. There is another 18 that will be open pending clients bringing in requested documentation and completing our extensive application process to ensure damage is truly Hurricane related.
We are also still helping our families affected by Tropical Storm Fay. Fay was the 6th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season which hit our area August 19th. In our area (Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties), Fay caused massive flooding, two deaths in Moorehaven, lots of flooding and wind damage. Roofs were torn apart and homes flooded. We responded by finding volunteers to muck out flooded homes and tarp roofs. We also partnered with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to get flood buckets, health kits, vitamins and tarps to people who needed them. We currently have about 56 clients from Fay documented, although not all have requested assistance. 20 are pending documentation to open, 17 are open. We have mucked out 6 homes and tarped 40 homes from this storm (this was prior to the cases even being opened). We worked on electrical work and repaired roofs for two of these clients in November.
We have successfully helped all of our Tropical Storm Ernesto families. Ernesto made landfall August 30th, 2006 in southern Florida, the storm produced a storm tide of about 1 foot (0.3 m) above astronomical tide levels, though no beach erosion was reported. Winds were fairly minor across the state, reaching 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) at a station on Lake Okeechobee. Ernesto dropped heavy rainfall across southwest Florida, with a state maximum of 8.72 inches (221 mm) recorded at South Golden Gate. The rainfall caused the Fisheating Creek to overflow, and some flooding also occurred in portions of Collier County. Floodwaters entered at least 13 homes in Palmdale.
Since May, 2006 to the end of August 2009, we have had 105 volunteer groups and 328 individual volunteers who have donated 26,408.50 hours for a cumulative in kind donation of $528,170.00. These groups have also donated supplies and cash for a cumulative total of $7,814.00. The local churches and businesses have also donated space and meals to these volunteers for a cumulative total of $426,175.00. We have also been donated storage space for a total in kind donation for the year of $1,050.00.

In August we had 2 gentlemen from Orlando return and volunteer to do some assessments and some repairs. They worked in Clewiston completing a roof repair and the bathroom repairs for 84 hours for an in kind donation of $1680.00. They also worked in Montura making some minor repairs to the window, baseboards and trim. The worked for 45 hours for an in kind donation of $900.00. These two volunteers stayed at the Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal Church for an in kind donation of $320.00.

We had a group from First United Methodist Church of Boca Raton come and work for a day on repairing flooring underlay in Labelle.. This group worked for 42 hours for a total in kind donation of $840.00.

We have been donated a space for storing all of our equipment by Sharon Harris in Moore Haven. This donation was started in January and the total in kind donation equals $1,235.00.

As of the end of August we have had 171 total hours donated for an in kind value of $3420.00. The total in kind donated from the churches for meals and housing and meeting room and storage this month was $320.00. Total overall donations by volunteers: $755.00.

We currently have 804 total cases. 772 of these have been closed.

We have 47 total cases, 37 are open and 10 are those awaiting documentation from the families until we can officially open them. We have referred thirty cases to Centro Campesino. We currently have nine cases fully funded waiting for volunteers to make repairs. Four of our cases are open FEMA cases we are assisting with.

We currently have 2 full time case managers that are reviewing case information for Hurricane Wilma clients. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation as quickly as possible. They are also doing duties of the former construction coordinator (or finding volunteers to do this) and the duties of the volunteer coordinator.

No Executive was held this month. Our next meeting will be September 17th at 12:30 at HRMC. Our Board of Directors meeting will be at 12:00 just prior to LTRO meeting at the same location.

We have created a new Facebook page, come check it out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=mf.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need volunteers who can help repair homes but also need volunteers to assist in the office. We really want local volunteers, people to invest in their own community. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

Donations can be sent to 352 W. Arcade Ave., Clewiston, Florida 33440. We are a registered non-profit and donations are tax deductible.

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

Or you can shop for Avon products and benefit by CREW by shopping through this link: and using CREW as your Charity of choice by shopping though: http://www.beautyfundraising.com/
Use GoodSearch & GoodShop for CREW! Raise money for your favorite charity (CREW) or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com. http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx

2009-09-17T02:27:00.000-04:00

CREW, Inc.
944 Harlem Academy Ave
Mailing address: 352 W Arcade Ave.
Clewiston, FL 33440
863-983-2390
FAX: 863-983-8137
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=mf
http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CREWInc
Help CREW by simply shopping though iGive visit this link:http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=324218&causeid=35958
Raise money for CREW just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com. http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx
Or buy Avon products on line, using CREW as your Charity of choice by shopping though: http://www.beautyfundraising.com/

JULY MONTHLY REPORT

CREW continues to struggle with a skeleton CREW and limited funding to help the area’s remaining Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Fay victims. Our activities in July are listed below.

We are still helping our families surviving Hurricane Wilma. Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the 22nd storm (including the subtropical storm discovered in reanalysis), 13th hurricane, 6th major hurricane, and 4th Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season. We have closed 729 cases from this storm. We have 41 cases still open, 9 of which are FEMA cases we are assisting with. There is another 18 that will be open pending clients bringing in requested documentation and completing our extensive application process to ensure damage is truly Hurricane related.

We are also still helping our families affected by Tropical Storm Fay. Fay was the 6th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season which hit our area August 19th. In our area (Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties), Fay caused massive flooding, two deaths in Moorehaven, lots of flooding and wind damage. Roofs were torn apart and homes flooded. We responded by finding volunteers to muck out flooded homes and tarp roofs. We also partnered with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to get flood buckets, health kits, vitamins and tarps to people who needed them. We currently have about 56 clients from Fay documented, although not all have requested assistance. 20 are pending documentation to open, 17 are open. We have mucked out 6 homes and tarped 40 homes from this storm (this was prior to the cases even being opened). We worked on electrical work and repaired roofs for two of these clients in November.

We have successfully helped all of our Tropical Storm Ernesto families. Ernesto made landfall August 30th, 2006 in southern Florida, the storm produced a storm tide of about 1 foot (0.3 m) above astronomical tide levels, though no beach erosion was reported. Winds were fairly minor across the state, reaching 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) at a station on Lake Okeechobee. Ernesto dropped heavy rainfall across southwest Florida, with a state maximum of 8.72 inches (221 mm) recorded at South Golden Gate. The rainfall caused the Fisheating Creek to overflow, and some flooding also occurred in portions of Collier County. Floodwaters entered at least 13 homes in Palmdale.

Since May, 2006 to the end of July 2009, we have had 104 volunteer groups and 323 individual volunteers who have donated 26,279.50 hours for a cumulative in kind donation of $52, 5590.00. These groups have also donated supplies and cash for a cumulative total of $7,814.00. The local churches and businesses have also donated space and meals to these volunteers for a cumulative total of $426,175.00.

On July 17, 2009 we had a group of 17 volunteers come from Williamsport Maryland to work for a week. This group consisted of 9 adults and 8 youth. The group stayed at the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church while they were here working for an in kind donation of $340.00. The group worked in Palmdale, they tore off the old roof and replaced with a new roof, they also replaced skirting and cleaned up the yard. This group donated a total of 447 hours for an in kind donation of $8940.00. They also donated $250.00 to CREW.

On July 18, 2009 we had a group of 7 arrive from Plymouth Connecticut. The group stayed at the First United Methodist Church of Clewiston for an in kind donation of $140.00. The group worked on two homes while they were here, they worked in Felda replacing the flooring, toilet, shower surround and some drywall in the bathroom, flooring, paneling and ceiling tiles in one bedroom, flooring and tile in the kitchen. This group worked for a total of 175 hours on this project for an in kind donation of $3500.00. They also sent four different individuals to work in Moore Haven and repaired drywall, tile and shower surround in one bathroom, and they also installed an exterior door. The group worked for 66 hours for an in kind donation of $1320.00.

We also had 2 gentlemen from Orlando come and volunteer to do some assessments and some repairs. They worked on assessments for 15 hours for an in kind donation of $300.00. They also worked in Montura repairing an entire bathroom, coolsealing the roof and some minor repairs to the windows, they worked for 158.5 hours for an in kind donation of $3170. They also brought a donation of $505.00 for CREW.

We have been donated a space for storing all of our equipment by Sharon Harris in Moore Haven. This donation was started in January and the total in kind donation equals $1,050.00. Volunteers donated 861.5 hours this months for a total In Kind donations: $17,230.00. The total in kind donated from the churches for meals and housing and meeting room and storage this month was $480.00 and we also received donations by volunteers of $755.00.

We had our bi-monthly LTRO meeting in July at the Hendry Regional Medical Center Conference room for an in kind donation of $92.00. We had 3 volunteers donate 4.5 hours for an in kind donation of $84.38.

We currently have 804 total cases. 772 of these have been closed.

For Hurricane Wilma we have 18 open cases. As of the 31st of 18 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans. There are 5 cases assigned to case managers that are pending documentation before they are officially opened. One case was closed this month due to all clients needs having been met. Two were closed due to non-compliance. Three cases were closed because the damages were not in the living space. We were able to close eight cases overall. We have referred eleven cases to Centro Campesino. We currently have nine cases fully funded waiting for volunteers to make repairs. Four of our cases are open FEMA cases we are assisting with.

For Tropical Storm Fay we have fourteen open cases in, nine have been referred to Centro Campesino. In May, June and July, 7 new applications were started in Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties. As of July 31st we have closed six cases. We have another 13 cases which are pending documentation and another 38 which have not completed their applications yet.

We currently have 2 full time case managers that are reviewing case information for Hurricane Wilma clients. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation as quickly as possible. They are also doing duties of the former construction coordinator (or finding volunteers to do this) and the duties of the volunteer coordinator.

We had an Executive meeting July just prior to our LTRO and Unmet Needs meeting at the Hendry Regional Medical Center Conference room. These meetings are held every other month. Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting has changed and is now meeting bi-monthly on the 3rd Friday of the Month. So our next meeting will be September 17th at 12:30 at HRMC. Our Board of Directors meeting will be at 12:00 just prior to LTRO meeting at the same location.

Trish attended the quarterly Florida VOAD meeting this month and is helping in planning for the National VOAD convention in Orlando in 2010.

We have created a new Facebook page, come check it out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=mf.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need volunteers who can help repair homes but also need volunteers to assist in the office. We really want local volunteers, people to invest in their own community. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

Donations can be sent to 352 W. Arcade Ave., Clewiston, Florida 33440. We are a registered non-profit and donations are tax deductible.

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

Or you can shop for Avon products and benefit by CREW by shopping through this link: and using CREW as your Charity of choice by shopping though: http://www.beautyfundraising.com/
Use GoodSearch & GoodShop for CREW! Raise money for your favorite charity (CREW) or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com. http://www.goodsearch.com/default.aspx

CREW 2009 1st half report

2009-09-01T13:27:00.000-04:00

6 month Report for 2009
Hurricane Season is upon us. Yet we are working on clients’ still needing help from Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Tropical Storm Faye in 2008. What we need most is skilled volunteers and funds for operational expenses and materials.
Hurricane Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the 22nd storm (including the subtropical storm discovered in reanalysis), 13th hurricane, 6th major hurricane, and 4th Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season. We have closed 748 cases from this storm. We have 48 cases still open.
Tropical Storm Fay was the 6th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season which hit our area August 19th. In our area (Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties), Fay caused massive flooding, two deaths in Moorehaven, lots of flooding and wind damage. Roofs were torn apart and homes flooded. We responded by finding volunteers to muck out flooded homes and tarp roofs. We also partnered with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to get flood buckets, health kits, vitamins and tarps to people who needed them. We currently have about 56 clients from Fay, 35 are pending documentation to open, 2 are open. We have mucked out 6 homes and tarped 40 homes from this storm (this was prior to the cases even being opened).
We have closed all the cases attached with Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was the costliest tropical cyclone of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. The sixth tropical storm and first hurricane of the season, Ernesto developed from a tropical wave on August 24 in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Ernesto first affected the northern Caribbean, reaching minimal hurricane status near Haiti before weakening and moving across eastern Cuba as a tropical storm. Despite initial predictions for it to track through the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a major hurricane, Ernesto moved across eastern Florida as a tropical storm and caused quite a bit of wind and flooding damage throughout our area.
We also successfully ended our Mitigation program that was funded through Volunteer Florida Foundation and provided us the funds necessary to hire licensed and screened professionals to mitigate 100 low income homes with storm shutters throughout our service area.
Since CREW began keeping records, to date we have had 102 volunteer groups and 321 individual volunteers who have donated 25,591.5 hours for a cumulative in kind donation of $480,839.38. These groups have also donated supplies and cash for a cumulative total of $7,059.00. The local churches and businesses have also donated space and meals to these volunteers for a cumulative total of $425,695. A local storage company has donated storage space to us for the year for an in kind donation of $900.00.
By the end of the first half of 2009, we have closed 789 cases due to all needs being met, or being referred to other agencies because their needs are not appropriate for CREW assistance or they were able to get their needs met with assistance from our case managers by helping them apply for assistance with partner and other agencies we referred them to.
2009 provided CREW with many volunteers. Two local volunteers and volunteers from Christian Contractors helped us assess numerous homes to discover if needs were truly hurricane related and if so, what skills and materials would be needed to make repairs. Two other local volunteers helped in the office, helped with small repairs and joined in with the other volunteers to help complete repairs.
Our first quarter also saw, eight volunteer groups from various faiths came from Florida, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Ohio traveled to our rural area and worked on numerous homes helping us to finish repairs and close more cases. They replaced two total roofs, repaired seven other roofs, replaced drywall, repaired plumbing and replaced flooring.

A church which regularly sends us volunteers, Pompano Beach Presbyterian Church came on May 30 and hung drywall, installed vinyl flooring, baseboards and installed a storm door for one of our families.

Each of the months from January to May we had groups from East Lake United Methodist Church return to work on repairing bathrooms, repairing plumbing and installing a tub and 1 client’s bathroom installing a new ceiling and painting the bedroom ceiling. This group consisted of 3 Caucasian males and 1 Asian Indian male and 3 Caucasian females. This group worked a total of 70 hours for an in kind donation of $1312.25. The group arrived late Friday night and was hosted by First United Methodist Church for an in kind donation of $140.00. This group also sent a donation in June of $1376.37.
Three couples (one from New York, one from Pennsylvania, and another from Michigan) came and built shelves for our shed, and replaced drywall, worked on electrical and plumbing issues, and helped repair roofs. These couples came in the first quarter of this year.
In June First Congregation of Plymouth from Virginia tore out old carpet, ceiling drywall and bathroom underlay and replaced the ceiling and flooring. Alive in You Camp came also, the replaced cabinets, painted ceilings, replaced doors and paneling, replaced a vanity, took up old water damaged carpet and replaced with vinyl tiles
We have been donated a space for storing all of our equipment by Sharon Harris in Moore Haven. This donation was started in January and the total in kind donation equals $600.00 to date.
CREW remains an active member of FIND and Florida VOAD. Due to funding issues, the executive director has moved to part time, but is actively involved with CREW as their executive director, and remains an officer for Florida VOAD. We are holding LTRO meetings this quarter every other month.
We still have a lot of needs to meet.
We had 67 families from Tropical Storm Fay ask for help, we have had the volunteers and funds to help 8 of them so far. We have funding for several more, and we have another 8 of these families who have completed the application process with CREW. This requires the families to prove the need, prove the damages were done by the storm (with the help of our Construction Coordinator) and provide financial proof of need. The rest of the 67 families have begun the application process but have not yet brought in all the required documentation needed for verification. Our case managers are diligently working on this. And as for Hurricane Wilma, we have 19 more cases that need volunteers and funding.
An example of those in need:

Isabella, a 54 year old woman lives with her husband Judge, 58 years old. Hurricane Wilma left them with severe damages. They had roof, flooring walls and structure damage to the home. They received $5,661.94 from their insurance company which they used to repair their roof and parts of the flooring. They still have part of the living room floor to repair and the bathroom and bedroom are also in need of new ceiling and walls. Judge’s income was the only income in the household and after the storm he was laid off by U.S Sugar Corp. due to there down sizing. Isabella receives disability and with his 401k funds they are currently paying their bills and are barely making ends meet. If Judge does not find employment soon he will run out of his 401k. If we can get volunteers, the cost of materials to fix their home will be $500.00.

Decrease in funding has resulted in a decrease in staff members and an increase in the duties of remaining staff members. In addition, lower numbers of cases and less volunteers willing to come to this area has resulted in less work load. We also have used unskilled volunteers quite a bit, resulting in the fact that the cases left need highly and specifically skilled volunteers. Our part time construction coordinator is able to assist these volunteer groups and help with assessments. We are limited in the volunteers we can take now as well, as most of the need we have left is only for highly or specifically skilled volunteers. The executive director has used he pull influence (lol) to encourage the help of a highly skilled construction worker, her husband for some of the jobs, when he is not working on other jobs. Of course the bad turn in economy and the less number of new construction projects has helped us out in this area as well.
Being able to stay in tact to help with small disasters like fires, and being able to continue to teach community to be prepared for future storms, and remain intact in order to be prepared for any future storms is our dream, but no funding is foreseen for this. Lack of funding has caused us to loose our full time director to a part time person. We are part of the Glades County Disaster Plan and work closely with them in keeping plans up to date. We have agreed to manage volunteers and donations for the county in the event of a disaster for their county.
We did receive new grants this year from UMCOR, UCC and Volunteer Florida Foundation, which is helping to pay staff and buy materials for volunteers.
Trish Adams and Renee Mergott presented at the Governor’s Hurricane Conference teaching a workshop entitled “Volunteers, Keep ‘em coming back”.
Trish and Renee also attended the FLVOAD meeting in May. Trish was re-elected to remain as part of the Executive Committee for FLVOAD, as we prepare to be the site of the 2010 National VOAD conference which will be held in Orlando.
CREW won the Governor’s Hurricane Conference Humanitarian Award in May. One of our funders, UMCOR shared in winning the Humanitarian Award with us, according to the committee, they had several nominees and narrowed it down to the two of us and decided to give us both the award. We were nominated by Glades County Emergency Services Director, whose own mobile home was destroyed in a fire this year, yet denied assistance from CREW when we offered, stating that she knew their were others that needed it more.
As of June 30, 2008 we have spent all of the funds from our organized fundraisers, as well as grants from CRWRC, the United Way/NFL grant, the United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades, Lutheran Disaster, the Rotary, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and several grants from UCC, Volunteer Florida Foundation and the Disaster Recovery Ministry of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. We currently have $4,188.49 in our general fund from private donors and small fundraising activities; $5,642.60 from the United Church of Christ Grant; $ 24,698.90 from Volunteer Florida Foundation for Tropical Storm Fay, and $137.74 from Disaster Recovery Ministry of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, however we are expecting more grant funds from them soon.
What is our dream, our plans? Continue to recruit skilled volunteers. Continue fundraising activities and grant researching and writing. Work with local agencies to help Tropical Storm Fay victims who have not applied for assistance yet get the help they need. Be available to help small disaster victims such as fire and floods, as well as be here to help in the event of another major disaster and educated our community about the need for mitigation and planning prior to a storm’s threat.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need SKILLED volunteers who can help repair homes but also need volunteers to assist in the office. We really want local volunteers, people to invest in their own community. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

You can also help CREW by simply shopping. If you like AVON, you can visit our AVON rep’s website for more information and to register: http://dbroniak.avonrepresentative.com/. We just recently received our first check from AVON for this new fundraiser.

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. We are getting regular monthly checks from iGive so I know it is working! 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.

Visit our blog site to learn more about what we are up to and to see pictures. It is not always being kept up to date but we are trying! http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/. We also have recently created a Facebook page, you can find us at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/CREW-Community-Rebuilding-Ecumenical-Workforce/156347733503?ref=ts.

Facebook | CREW Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce Info

2009-08-30T07:12:00.000-04:00

Facebook CREW Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce Info

Thank God for our Disaster Case Managers!

2009-02-09T09:19:00.008-05:00

Hilda and Renee are our sole remaining case managers. They are diligently working on verifying clients income, insurance and FEMA assistance, so that we know how we can help them. When they are not doing this they are assisting with recruiting local volunteers who know a thing of two about construction, helping find the volunteers a place to stay, often finding a church or two to feed them while they are here, making sure they have the supplies and materials necessary to do the work, helping them find all the homes they are working on, and often translating for the clients. So in addition to their case management duties, they work as office managers, receptionists, volunteer recruiters, volunteer coordinators, public relations specialists, translators, tour guides, social service referral agents (of course this is integral part of the case management), making reports to the director so that she can in turn make reports to our funders, using their own personal trucks and SUVs to pick up and deliver supplies, finding places in the community for us to store our supplies, ensuring vendors get paid, and construction coordinators (even though they have limited knowledge of construction) assisting as best they can the damages done to a home and helping the volunteers get what they need to complete the work. In order to do this they are often working after hours and weekends to meet with clients who work, and to assist volunteers who don't want to just work an 8 hour day, and often arrive late at night and on the weekends.

CREW salutes their tremendous case managers!

We also salute the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and UMCOR who have funded our case mangers since we began working after Hurricane Wilma.

Jerry and Linda continue to help Disaster Victims!

2009-02-05T14:11:00.007-05:00

Jerry and Linda Neth from Pennsylvania are still here! Bless their hearts, they are retired and love doing this kind of work. From what I can see they have shown they are quite skillled at it as well. We are trying to convince them to move here but have not had any luck yet. Of course they came here to get warm I am sure, and our freezing wheather last night probably did not help our case any!

If you want to see all of our pictures from this blog in one album, check this out: http://picasaweb.google.com/CREWsPics/CREWInc?authkey=ZC2OTnqhJsY&feat=directlink

Yearly Report

2009-02-02T10:40:00.003-05:00

Boy, I have not been posting the monthly reports, oops. I will get back to that now, however, to make up for the many I have missed I am posting our yearly report here! We did great work, check it out!

This year has been an active one, not only in responding to new storms, but old ones as well. CREW has been there throughout it all for the residents or our three rural counties.

This is a picture of the track of Fay in Florida.

According to Wikipedia, “the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season …officially started on June 1 and ended on November 30. …However, the formation of Tropical Storm Arthur caused the season to start two days early…. Although not an El Niño or La Niña year, 2008 is the third most costly season on record, behind only the 2004 and 2005 seasons, with up to $45 billion in damage (2008 USD). The season began far more actively than normal. The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth busiest year since 1944 and the only year on record in which a major hurricane existed in every month from July through November in the North Atlantic …Four storms formed before the start of August alone, and the season also had the earliest known date for three storms to be active on the same day: Hurricane Bertha, and Tropical Storms Cristobal and Dolly were all active on July 20. 2008 was also one of only nine Atlantic seasons on record to have a major hurricane form before August. This is also the first year four or more Category 4 storms have formed in a single year since 2005, which had 5, and was one of only 7 Atlantic seasons to feature a major hurricane in November.”

Luckily our area only had one storm to recover from this year: “Tropical Storm Fay, which became the first Atlantic tropical cyclone to make landfall in the same U.S. state on 4 separate occasions; Fay crossed Hispaniola, Cuba, and hit south Florida beginning late on August 18, slowly tracking northeastward across the peninsula. Significant flooding resulted in much of eastern Florida, along with some wind damage. After crossing into the Atlantic, Fay turned westward again and crossed northern Florida on August 22. As it zigzagged from water to land, it became the first storm in recorded history to make landfall in Florida four times. Fay weakened into a tropical depression along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Fay eventually weakened into a remnant low around noon on August 26 while located over Alabama, and then rapidly transitioned into an extratropical low six hours later. Fay was responsible for 36 deaths and at least $180 million in damage (2008 USD).”

Tropical Storm Fay was the 6th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season which hit our area August 19th. In our area (Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties), Fay caused massive flooding, two deaths in Moorehaven, lots of flooding and wind damage. Roofs were torn apart and homes flooded. We responded by finding volunteers to muck out flooded homes and tarp roofs. We also partnered with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to get flood buckets, health kits, vitamins and tarps to people who needed them. We currently have about 56 clients from Fay documented, although not all have requested assistance. 20 are pending documentation to open, 17 are open. We have mucked out 6 homes and tarped 40 homes from this storm (this was prior to the cases even being opened). We worked on electrical work and repaired roofs for two of these clients in November.

But we spent the year not only helping families respond and recover from this storm, but from our previous storms, from which the community is still trying to recover.

Hurricane Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the 22nd storm (including the subtropical storm discovered in reanalysis), 13th hurricane, 6th major hurricane, and 4th Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season. We have closed 729 cases from this storm. We have 41 cases still open, 9 of which are FEMA cases we are assisting with. There is another 18 that will be open pending clients bringing in requested documentation and completing our extensive application process to ensure damage is truly Hurricane related.

Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall August 30th, 2006 in southern Florida, the storm produced a storm tide of about 1 foot (0.3 m) above astronomical tide levels, though no beach erosion was reported. Winds were fairly minor across the state, reaching 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) at a station on Lake Okeechobee. Ernesto dropped heavy rainfall across southwest Florida, with a state maximum of 8.72 inches (221 mm) recorded at South Golden Gate. The rainfall caused the Fisheating Creek to overflow, and some flooding also occurred in portions of Collier County. Floodwaters entered at least 13 homes in Palmdale. We successfully closed our 7 cases with flood damage.

Volunteers are the back bone of CREW. This year we have been blessed with 349 volunteers from all over the country. We have had 38 different groups come and help with repairing our community. These groups consisted of 3 Lutheran groups; 1 Catholic group; 3 Multi-Denominational groups; 4 CRWRC groups; 30 Methodist groups; 3 Presbyterian individuals; 2 Baptist individuals; 5 Pentecostal individuals and 52 Individuals not affiliated with a church group. These groups worked on 101 homes, one of which was built from the ground up and the others they worked on making repairs to walls, ceiling, floors, roofs, cabinets, siding, skirting, installing windows, building handicap ramps, demolition, and debris cleanup and tarping roofs.

In 2008 we had a total of 308 volunteers that we have documentation for. These volunteers worked on several projects while they were here. They contributed a total of 8104.5 volunteer hours with an in kind value of $151,959.38.

We received cash donations in 2008 totaling $1100.00 from 2 volunteer groups and 1 business in town. Community Presbyterian Church provided housing for 1 group for a total in kind donation of $56.00. First United Methodist Church of Clewiston provided housing for 16 groups for a total in kind donation of $2782.00.Calvary Baptist Church provided housing for 2 individuals for an in kind donation of $40.00. First Baptist Church of Clewiston provided housing for 1 group for an in kind donation of $140.00. Meals provided by churches or Hendry Regional Medical Center total an in kind donation of $2090.00. Overall, $16,865.81, received from several different groups, and businesses.

We also did tremendous work in the area of case management, thanks to The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and UMCOR who funded this project. From our original 794 clients, we had 35 open cases when 2008 ended.

We have closed 81 cases this year. Of these 81, 25 were closed thanks to CREW meeting all of their needs. The others, after providing case management, 19 were referred to other agencies, 22 were closed due to clients refusing services by not completing required paperwork or following up with application process, 3 cases were closed due the damages not being in the living area of the home (i.e. shed or garage), and 2 more cases were closed because the families were able to meet their own needs and make all repairs. Of the cases we have closed, we had 59 females, 22 males, 36 Hispanic, 28 black, and 5 were Caucasian. Their age groups were: 7 fell between the ages of 20 and 29, 12 between 30-39, 25 between 40-49, 18 between the ages of 50-59, 13 between 60 and 69, and 6 were 70-79 years old.

At the end of the year we had 35 open cases and 16 more pending cases. Due to our waiting lists, and limited number of new disasters, we are not taking on new clients, unless they can fund the projects themselves or have very extenuating circumstances. Of our open cases, 26 are female, 9 male, 17 Hispanic, 13 black, and 5 Caucasian. One of them is 20-29, 7 age 30-39, 5 age 40-49, 11 age 50-59, 3 age 60-69, 5 age 70-79, and 3 age 80-89.

Partnerships are another great accomplishment CREW has made. We would never have been able to complete as much as we have without the help of our partners. Through our partners, grantors and donors we have been able to buy not only the supplies and materials that our volunteers use, but have also been able to hire local, licensed contractors (thus helping the local economy) to repair roofs, put on new roofs, complete electrical and plumbing work for our rebuild as well as many of our repairs. Especially with the financial troubles builders are facing in today’s economy, this has been especially helpful.

Our partnerships with faith based groups are our crowing achievement.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Disaster Recovery Center of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and United Methodist Committee on Relief have funded our staff members for 2 years. They, along with United Church of Christ Disaster Ministries and Lutheran Disaster Response have provided volunteers and funds to repair and rebuild homes and lives. While working on homes, many of these volunteers have also ministered to the souls of our hurting clients, and provided emotional and spiritual support to our clients and staff as well.

The First Baptist Church of Clewiston, Calvary Baptist Church, Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston, First United Methodist Churches of Moore haven and Clewiston, and Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal ME have all housed our volunteers as well as fed many of them and had them join in their worship services as well.

First United Methodist Churches of Clewiston and Moorehaven as well as Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston have also funded some of our projects. In addition both the First Untied Methodist Church of Clewiston and Moorehaven gave CREW office Space when we first needed it.

Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston also donated us the use of their shed to store our tools, donated furniture, appliance and materials.

Pastors and lay leaders from Community Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church of Clewiston and Moorehaven, Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal ME, First Baptist Church of Clewiston, Calvary Baptist Church have served on our board or our unmet needs committee and always volunteered whenever we asked.

Calvary Presbyterian Church in Coconut Beach, Florida sends money to us each month to help defray the cost of our cell phones.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response and other faith based organizations send us volunteers on a regular basis.

Catholic Charities has also provided immeasurable assistance to our clients as well, and their staff members are part of our unmet needs committee. In addition, they paid CREW over $4000 for our executive director’s participation in the National Pilot Project which gave direct assistance to several of our clients. Their staff members have served on our LTRO and Unmet needs committees.

Church World Service provided us with start up funds. United Church of Christ has given us funding for dozens of projects.

Volunteers often donate money while they are here, and several churches and other agencies and individuals read about us or hear about us and donate money or volunteer.

We have partnered with many community agencies as well.

Such as The Empowerment Alliance of Southwest Florida, shared staff with them, and given office space to one of their employees who provided credit counseling and helps low income families finance new homes responsibly. They have also funded projects for many of our clients. They also have provided credit counseling and workshops for first time home buyers to clients we have identified have that need.

We also work with the United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades. They have paid 50% of the salary/ benefit package for our Executive Director this year. In addition they have funded a small amount of direct assistance to clients. They have also given us use of our current office space, and through their 211 referral sources we have been able to goods and services to our clients.

Our partnership with Volunteer Florida Foundation has funded our FEMA Close out Project, our Mitigation Program, and provided direct assistance to those in FEMA housing. It has also provided invaluable training to several of our staff members.

We also assist the Homeless Coalition of Hendry and Glades, Family Services Network and the Emergency Services Committee by attending and participating in their meetings to help improve the life of our clients through out our two rural communities.

American Red Cross (local and national) have helped our clients immeasurably, giving donated supplies after Tropical Storm Ernesto, serving on our unmet needs committee, and providing funding to clients through their Means to Recovery program.

Centro Campesino has made repairs that were storm related and non-storm related for several of our clients which we referred to them. This year they did $16,647.00 worth of home repairs for our clients!

We also have partnered with government agencies as well.

The City of Clewiston staff assisted us in many ways, teaching us building codes, assisting with uncooperative clients, and more.

Hendry and Glades County SHIP program, USDA Rural Development, Emergency Management of Hendry County and Emergency Management of Glades County are also partners. Two of our staff are CERT trained and will assist Hendry County in the event of a disaster. Our Executive Director serves on the Glades County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. The local workforce development board through their NEG grants funded case managers for part of the year as well.

Financially, CREW has done wonders.

For 2008, CREW brought in $429,982.44 in cash through grants and donations and $191.908.46 in in-kind donations. We spent $463,926.84. This amount includes $161,988.08 in wages, tips and other compensation, payroll tax expenses were $9,825.92. $254283.44 was spent on contractors, materials and other direct assistance to clients. $20105.15 was spent on mileage for our staff members in order to cover our three-county area.

In addition we have received in kind funds, in the amount of $191,908.46 for the year.

One of our greatest accomplishments has been our ability to keep our administrative costs at 5% of our total budget.
In-kind donations 2008 $208,555.46

In comparison here’s our previous years income
2007 $576,005.54
2006 $66,310.68

In-kind donations 2007 $379,819.50

We have been blessed to be able to help so many and find so many wonderful people and agencies willing to give their money and time to make our community better. We still have a lot to go. Here is an outline of what we have ahead of us.

Remaining Needs
As of the end of the year we have quite a few remaining needs, from 2005-2008 storms.

1. We have recently agreed and received funding to assess the needs that were left unmet by the LTRO in Okeechobee from those affected by 2005 storms.

2. Client needs

a. Need funding and volunteers for the following cases:
1) Baseboard and vinyl flooring, bathtub plumbing
2) Roof repair, ceiling repair
3) Roof, windows, flooring underlay, paneling
4) Floor tile, windows ceiling
5) Roof, flooring underlay, ceiling
6) Electrical repairs, roof, ceiling, flooring underlay, screen
7) Roof, windows, bathroom ceiling, flooring and walls
8) Roof, windows, flooring underlay
9) Roof, ceiling, and flooring
10) 4 windows, electrical and floor
11) 6 windows
12) Interior priming, painting and replacing floor tiles
13) Skirting repair,2 doors, 2 windows, ceiling, floor, roof
14) Move, set and up and skirting of FEMA purchased home
15) Baseboard and vinyl flooring, plumbing
16) Moving and placing FEMA purchased home
17) Roof repair, ceiling repair
18) Roof, windows, flooring underlay, paneling
19) Floor tile, 2 windows, ceiling
20) Roof, flooring underlay, ceiling
21) Electrical repairs
22) Roof, windows, bathroom, ceiling, flooring and walls
23) Roof, windows, flooring underlay

b. Have funding but need volunteers for:

1) Drywall repairs in 2 bedrooms and a bathroom
2) Finishing touches on two roofs started by other volunteers
3) Drywall, door skirting
4) Roof repair
5) Shingle roof, front door, skirting, level mobile home
6) Reroof, windows, drywall, entire kitchen, flooring, AC unit
7) Drywall
8) Roof and doors
9) Drywall repairs
10) Doors, drywall, windows, skirting, roof repair
11) Drywall repairs, cabinets replaced
12) Demolish and remove mobile home
13) Skirting, demolition f damaged mobile home
14) 2 windows
15) Minor roof repair
16) Ceiling repair
17) Fix leak
18) Roof repairs, drywall, skirting
19) Minor drywall repair
20) Replace doors and skirting
21) Inside electrical repairs, skirting, drywall, roof repair
22) Plumbing
23) Paint, replace doors
24) Insulation under mobile homes, skirting, drywall

In addition, funding for administrative costs, such as phone bills, internet service, mileage, office supplies, accounting, insurance, and fax is needed. Our administrative costs are very low, as we pay no rent or only $75.00 in utilities thanks to the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades and Child Care of Southwest Florida. Calvary Presbyterian Church helps off set these costs by sending us $75.00 or more a month to offset the cost of our cellular phones.

It would be also wonderful if one day we maid enough to provide health insurance to our employees. We need to stay intact after all Disaster victims are helped with a skeleton crew (2) to continue to provide Hurricane Awareness and Prevention as well as to provide assistance to small scale disasters such as flooding and house fires. Furthermore, we want to be ready to respond should another major disaster affect our area.

Disaster recovery still continuing!

2009-02-02T10:16:00.010-05:00

Sorry I have not been keeping the blog posting up, we have been scrambling looking for funds to help our our disaster victims, still recovering from Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Fay. I hope to really try to keep the post up to date. I like to use it to show off the wonderful volunteers that we keep having, especially those that come from a long way from home, but it is neat to show off the ones we have from here at home as well.

We just had a great group here from St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, TN! They were wonderful, and did lots of great work for us. Paul, their fearless leader, looks a lot more professional on their churches website (you can check out their churches link by clicking it above), and he has been all over the place doing mission work, but has traveled here to our great state several times, and we were blessed each time, however, this is the first time he darkened the door of our great town. While here, he and his gang (Bill, William and Jeff) did work in Montura and Moorehaven, helping us finish some minor details on one job, repaired three roofs, completly replaced one roof before moving on to replacing ceilings. Jeff also helped with comic releif for not just the group, but this gal too!

You think that is enough goodness pouring out of these 4 men for one week, but no wait, there is more! While here they participated in our local United Methodist Women's Cake Acution to benefit the women's favorite missions, and payed bocho money for a choclate cake that they then offered to share with me, what incredible guys (have I blow enough smoke yet?) LOL! Anyway, they were a fun group with a great sense of humor.

At the same time they were here, we also had the nicest couple here (for their third week) from Jerry and Linda Neth's from Pennsylvania. They are retired and love doing this kind of work, and have shown they are quite skillled at it as well. Jerry and Linda are still here, we are trying to convince them to move here but have not had any luck yet. They were joined by yet another couple Hilda and Elton Johnson's. Hilda an Elton came for their third time (Hilda helped us in the office) from Virginia. They worked on skirting, dry wall, built shelves for us in our new storage shed and installed windows.However, a great note about Hilda, is that she is not only a terrific volunteer, but according to this writer, who got to pick her brain quite a bit, she has some right on political views. They left with a promise to come back very soon!

Stayed tuned for more news because Jerry and Linda are still here and we have more volunteers scheduled to come not only in this month but in March as well.

May Monthly Report

2008-06-06T13:35:00.001-04:00

Hurricane season has begun! May flowers bloomed, just as CREW has this month!

We continue to help the clients still struggling in FEMA trailers. We did attend public meeting with City, trailer park owners and residents living in FEMA trailers (most who do not have applications with CREW) and encouraged those residents to apply with us. Only 3 of these 21 families have come in to apply. The City has agreed to fund the three clients we had been discussing with them, paying the contractor directly. We are just waiting for this process to be completed.

Volunteers continue to be our greatest resource. On May 3, 2008, Eastlake United Methodist Church from Palm Harbor, Florida came and worked on tearing out some damaged vinyl flooring and replacing it. This group also repaired some drywall in the bathroom. The group consisted of 6 men and 1 woman. The group arrived on Friday night and stayed at the First United Methodist Church of Clewiston. They worked all day on Saturday and were able to complete the entire drywall repair and half of the flooring. The group ranged in age from 56 to 84. All were Caucasian except one male who is Indian. The group donated a total of 48 hours.

On May 21, 2008 we had two ladies from Largo, Florida come and help with finishing some of the drywall at Pamela Hopper’s home. These two ladies worked all day on Thursday and managed to get a lot of the finishing completed and another coat of compound spread on the drywall. These two ladies were both in their 50’s and were Caucasian. They were housed at the Calvary Baptist Church Parrish and were fed Wednesday night by the First United Methodist Church. These two ladies donated a total of 16 hours.

On May 22, 2008 CREW had its monthly Long Term Recovery Meeting and had 6 volunteers consisting of 3 men and 3 women attend. These volunteers gave an hour each of their time. They ranged in age from 24 to 62. The group was fed a meal by the Hendry Regional Medical Center. The group donated 6 total hours.
We had individual volunteer do 6 assessments for CREW he donated 3 hours on May 28, 2008 and 3 hours on May 29, 2008, for a total of 6 hours.

Total hours donated: 76 Total In Kind donations: $1425.00
Total in kind donated from the churches for meals and housing and meeting room: $256.00

As of May 31st, we have 72 cases that have been assigned to case mangers who have updated recovery plans, 61 of these are in Hendry County, 11 in Glades. 22 cases are assigned a case manager and are pending documentation from the client before they can be officially opened, 19 of these are in Hendry County, 2 in Glades.

We were able to successfully close 4 cases in Hendry County with all of the clients’ needs being met. There are no unassigned cases in either county. We have referred 13 cases to Centro Campesino this month, 10 from Hendry and 3 from Glades.

Total overall open cases: 72 Total pending documentation: 19

As for the Mitigation program, 78 homes have been mitigated. There are 14 clients in progress with our current contractor Alufab. Only 3 more clients are awaiting inspection reports from the state. A total of $208,894.40 has been spent in our effort to complete 100 homes in the Hendry and Glades County areas. There have been several instances where progress was stagnated and problems occurred. VFF will no longer coordinate the mitigation program, which results in a deadline of June 30, 2008 for all homes to be completed. The Department of Financial Services will be assuming all duties of the Mitigation Program therefore CREW does not know what new changes will come into affect. CREW will continue in its effort to mitigate 100 or more homes in the Hendry and Glades Counties.

Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting is on the 4th Thursdays of the month. There were no new cases to present. We reviewed 35 cases, most of which we are either awaiting volunteers, funding or both. 4 cases were closed at this meeting.

Our Board of Directors meeting is on the Monday of the prior week. We did not meet this month, as we did not have quorum.

Grants were submitted to CVS and the Shell Foundation; one should not expect good results, but hope for them. Both of these agencies will usually only fund Global charities.

We also lost our web site this month. This happens as we don’t pay for it. Trish will look about this month and see about creating one on another free site, perhaps My Space, there is a great area for non-profits there.

Trish was re-elected to serve as an officer of Florida VOAD at the Governor’s Conference. All of the staff rolled up their sleeves and re-organized and inventoried the shed this month. Trish and Renee attended the 16th annual VOAD conference in Little Rock, Arkansas where they received training on a variety of issues related to our LTRO, as well as meeting contacts from which we can get more volunteers and possible sources of funding. They also attended the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Ft. Lauderdale the following week. Trish participated in the Untied Way’s Allocation process for Hendry and Glades Counties this month as well.

Our beginning balance this month was $55,880.07. We brought in $63,301.12 and spent $50,608.32. it should be noted however that these amounts have yet to be reconciled by accountant.

Balances for various accounts as of April 30th are as follows:

$4,113.06 2nd annual fundraiser (all monies in, we can not revert to general)
-$2,756.57 CRWRC (this needs to be zeroed out using general funds)
$5,759.79 general funds
$24,376.71 mitigation
-$412.80 PDA Administrative funds (waiting on check)
$1,719.80 PDA Volunteer Coordinator funds
$51,921.25 UMCOR Clewiston
$4,699.56 UMCOR Moorehaven

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 backload 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

Glades County Firefighter Rocks!

2008-05-28T09:42:00.000-04:00

Local Forestry Firefighter Wins National Award

Glades County Senior Ranger Danny Callahan has been honored for his distinguished service in wildland fire prevention. Callahan took home the 2007 Robert E. Browning Award, which is given by the US Forest Service Southern Region and is the only national award of its kind. The award is named for the late Robert E. Browning, who gave his life on Storm King Mountain in Colorado. Browning was one of 14 firefighters, and the only Southerner, killed during a blowup of the fire on July 6, 1994. This fire is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting.

The Browning Award is given annually to the person who has done an outstanding job with prevention activities during the course of the year. Danny is most deserving of this honor, says Jim Rath, Okeechobee District Manager. Danny shows exemplary leadership in promoting and developing community relationships. He also is a great leader in forging partnerships with other agencies to accomplish fire prevention efforts.

Danny Callahan said, I was shocked when I found out that I was nominated. Im most grateful for this recognition, and Id like to thank everyone for their support because this award belongs to the residents of Glades County. I really believe that fire prevention can save lives and homes. Danny Callahan received a statue and a certificate in recognition of his achievement.

Picture: from Right to Left: Ira Jolly- Chief of Forest Protection, Danny Callahan- Glades County Senior Ranger, Jim Rath- Okeechobee District Manager & Tim Elder- Highlands/Glades Forest Area Supervisor

Anyone needing additional information may contact the local Division of Forestry at 772-260-0053
(St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee Counties) 863-655-6407 (Highlands and Glades Counties).
Please visit our website at www.fl-dof.com

April Monthly Report

2008-05-23T11:36:00.000-04:00

April showers brought new opportunities and the promise of a wonderful Spring and Summer.

Although we are no longer funded to help with the FEMA close out project, we have continued to help these clients. 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. Board Members are following through with this with the City, and Trish is following up with FEMA.

On April 6, 2008, Amelia Charge United Methodist Church came from Amelia, Virginia to work on the rebuild for P. Hopper. This group hung all of the drywall in the house and donated $800.00 to pay someone to do the finish work on the drywall. This group also worked on repairing some ceiling drywall for B. Jarmillo, they replaced the trim throughout the living room, bedroom and hallway. This group also worked at B. West’s home laying carpet in her granddaughter’s room and trim work throughout the house. They also painted the ceilings and installed flooring in the bathroom. This group consisted of 23 adults ranging in age from 45 to 84. The group also had a volunteer who donated over 100 gallons of paint to CREW to use for two of these clients as well as any other clients who need the paint.

On April 19, 2008 we had 12 volunteers from VAMO United Methodist Church come from Sarasota, Florida, to work for R. Vega and finish up the ceiling repair that was needed. The group sent 4 volunteers to hang drywall for Mr. Vega and his family. Three other members of this group worked on tearing up damaged flooring and installing new flooring for B. Jarmillo. Four other members worked with CREW employees at the Sugar Festival Booth, helping to promote raffle tickets and hand out information. This group consisted of volunteers ranging in age from 52 to 78 years of age.

Also, on April 19, 2008 we had 3 local volunteers come and help with the Sugar Festival Booth. They worked all day helping to promote raffle tickets and hand out information. These volunteers ranged in age from 17 to 49.

On April 24, 2008 CREW had its 2nd Annual Fundraiser and had 6 local volunteers come and help with cooking, serving and clean up. These volunteers worked all day and were a great help in making the fundraiser the success that it was. This group ranged in age from 36 to 61 years of age.

Total hours donated: 1102 Total In Kind donations: $20,662.50
Total in kind donated from the churches for meals and housing and meeting room: $361.00

As of April 30th, 57 cases have been assigned to case managers. In Hendry County 47 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in all of these cases. There are 17 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 7 of these have updated recovery plans completed. There are 3 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened. We had no new cases this month, but expect new ones next month from Fairgrounds Mobile Home Park.

In April 11 cases were closed. Two were because all repairs were made. Two were because of failure of client to agree to complete plan. One was at the client’s request. One was due to damages not being disaster related. Another was referred to SHIP.

To date we have referred 8 of the open cases in Hendry County and 2 in Glades to Centro Campesino.

We currently has 2 full-time and 1 half-time case manager that are reviewing case information. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation as quickly as possible.

We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential.

Total overall open cases: 67 Total pending documentation: 20

Reporting for the month of April there are a total of 102 clients entered into the Hurricane Relief Database. Of those 102 clients 66 are complete. There are 21clients in progress with our current contractor Alufab. Only 13 more clients are awaiting inspection reports. A total of $208,894.40 has been spent in our effort to complete 100 homes in the Hendry and Glades County areas. There have been several instances where progress was stagnated and problems occurred. VFF will no longer coordinate the mitigation program, which results in a deadline of June 30, 2008 for all homes to be completed. The Department of Financial Services will be assuming all duties of the Mitigation Program therefore CREW does not know what new changes will come into affect. CREW will continue in its effort to mitigate 100 or more homes in the Hendry and Glades Counties.

Now that the program will be ending soon there has not been much advertisement, but applications are still being accepted and clients are being made aware of changes in the program. All applications received will be placed in a pending file until further instruction is given about the Mitigation Program.

Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting is on the 4th Thursdays of the month. We presented three new cases. We reviewed 33 cases, most of which we are either awaiting volunteers, funding or both. 11 cases were closed at this meeting.

Our Board of Directors meeting is on the Monday of the prior week. Both meetings are held at Hendry Regional Medical Center. This month we met and set prices for the tickets for the fundraiser.

Grants were submitted to Home Depot and Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church Storm Recovery Center. We heard back that we did not receive the Home Depot Grant or the grant from CRWRC, but we did receive the UMC grant which will fund a case manager through the end of the year, as well as fund the materials needed to complete three homes.

Trish did presentations about CREW to the United Methodist Women from the First United Methodist Church of Moorehaven this month, from which we received donations. She also attended planning sessions with The United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades and a “Keys to Success” Seminar. Our staff worked a booth at the Sugar Festival, raising funds for the big fundraiser we held this month with donated items from Wal-Mart ($1000.00). Both Anthony and Trish participated in Conference Calls with Volunteer Florida Foundation regarding changes in the administration of the My Safe Florida Home Grant Funds. Trish also began negotiations with them regarding expanding this into the future year and possibly into Lee County. Trish also participated in conference call as part of the executive team of the Florida VOAD this month and will be running for office again for in May at the Governor’s Conference.

CREW held their yearly fundraiser this month, a bar-b-que and silent auction. We raised $4,113.06 (this is after costs of the fundraiser were taken out). We had several in kind donations such as 13 desserts for $130.00 and several silent auction items valued at $1,500.00. A to Z Discount Beverage donated $100.00 worth of sodas and water for the event. In addition, volunteers cooked and prepared the food for the event, helped with set up and clean up, and The First United Methodist Church of Clewiston donated space and facilities to pull off the event.

Our beginning balance this month was $79,318.87. We brought in $60,418.47 and spent $83,857.27. Our balance at the end of the month was $66,303.69. We have $10,423.62 in outstanding checks, leaving us with a balance of $55,880.07.

Balances for various accounts as of April 30th are as follows:
ü $124.06 2nd annual fundraiser (checks had not yet been deposited)
ü -$2,756.57 CRWRC (this needs to be zeroed out using general funds)
ü $5,510.45 general funds
ü $917.34 mitigation
ü $458.36 PDA Administrative funds
ü $1,894.01 PDA Volunteer Coordinator funds
ü $58,512.23 UMCOR Clewiston
ü $9,142.46 UMCOR Moorehaven

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 backload 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

Quarterly Report for CREW

2008-04-14T14:46:00.001-04:00

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

CREW's March monthly report

2008-04-01T21:56:00.002-04:00

MARCH MONTHLY REPORT

CREW volunteers and staff sprang into action this month. Volunteers worked all month and staff began planning for the upcoming fundraising dinner. With spring in the air we attacked the remaining Hurricane Wilma damaged and destroyed homes with new energy.

We also said farewell to two employees whose grants ended March 31st. Our Mitigation Coordinator, whom we expected to loose as well, will stay part time for at least another 30 days.

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. We still have had no answer to phone calls, letters or emails to the City of Clewiston of FEMA. Board Members have agreed to follow through with this with the City, and Trish is following up with FEMA.

On March 1, 2008 St. Luke Lutheran Church (http://www.stlukesfedway.org/#) in Federal Way, Washington sent a group of 8 highly skilled male volunteers who worked on the house we are building for Pamela. 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 the Lutheran Laymen’s League (http://www.ndlll.org/mission_work.php) returned 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 W’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 Rafael. The group sent a couple of the group to tie up some loose ends for Leopold to help get a final inspection to pass, and then went to work at Brenda 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. In addition, the donated plumbing parts for one family valued at $50.00. 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.

We have also helped CRWRC (http://www.crcna.org/pages/crwrc_drscurrent.cfm) keep some volunteers busy who are working in Palm Beach County this month. We had a group of 4 volunteers 3 men and 1 woman, come and worked at B. West’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 Eunice’s installing some new screens on the windows, for Cynthia’s repairing a leaking roof and repairing some interior drywall. They also completed the ceiling drywall repair and painting for Ana, they relocated some insulation for Robbie in the attic and repaired and painted some drywall for Debra. 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).

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 Brenda 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 (http://www.jesusatcovenant.org/) 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 Brenda 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.

We had a total of 32 volunteers from 4 groups this month work 1895 volunteers hours for an in kind donation valued at $35,531.25. The meals the churches provided to theses groups adds up to a total in kind donation of $308.00.

As of March 31st in Hendry County 62 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in all of these cases. There are 15 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened.

In Glades County, 9 cases have been assigned to case managers and 7 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 March 18 cases have been closed in Hendry County, with all clients’ needs being met or client’s refusal of services. 1 case in Glades County has been closed. To date there are 0 unassigned cases in Hendry and 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. We have 71 total open cases and 18 more not currently opened because they are pending documentation.

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 more of them in March. We have been unable to close 22 of 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 10 homes. He supervised and assisted in getting needed materials and having jobs lined up for the volunteers mentioned above. The work they did included drywall, electrical repair, flooring, plumbing, framing, windows, and door installation, porch repair, siding, siding repair, installing cabinets, painting, trim carpentry and roof repair. The total cost of the projects done by volunteers was $8,039.44.

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.

Clewiston Families that received FEMA trailers held an appreciation dinner at the La Hacienda Restaurant in Clewiston. It was hosted by Reverend Benjamin Escorcia of Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal church. They presented a certificate of appreciation to CREW. FEMA also received a certificate of appreciation, one of their staff members, Elamaris Fernandez was moved to tears related that in all their years of service she could not recall any other community thanking FEMA for their service before.

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 fliers 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 Conference’s money, as well as FUMC 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.

CRWRC has been here non stop since the beginning of February, sending volunteers 5 days a week every week, however, we had to say farewell to them at the end of this month. 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. We also presented them with a certificate of appreciation this month as well.

As far as our mitigation program, in the month of March we had a total of 21 new applicants for mitigation. There are 100 clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database and this completes the contract amount. CREW has received 6 more inspection reports, and 5 have been given to Cat 5 to complete. CREW is now awaiting only 14 more inspection reports to complete the contracted amount. There are now 68 homes complete and 18 are in progress. CREW will continue in its effort to mitigate 100 or more homes in the Hendry and Glades Counties.

We currently have $48,360.69 in the bank. We deposited $33,284.45 this month. Our expenses this month were $90,502.79. In-kind donations this month as described above total $36,806.25. We have $50 in the 2nd annual fundraiser account, -$2156.57 in the CRWRC account, $0 in the FEMA, GALA, Lutheran, NFL, Rotary and VFF3 accounts, $3,968.63 in general, -$49,041.55 in the Mitigation account, $5,726.34 in the PDA account, and $64,698.31 in the UMCOR account.

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 received a piece of handmade stained glass (valued at $50), $500 gift certificate for services at Hendry Regional, and several other businesses and individuals have made commitments to donate items for the silent auction. We have received payment for two individuals and one corporate table. We need addresses, personal contacts and organizations that we should send invitations too. By the end of March we had sent out 357 invitations, 169 by email, 175 by regular mail, and 20 were hand delivered personally by Trish.

We receive word that PDA will not be funding an administrative position as we had hoped. However, they are funding some of our administrative expenses.

Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting is on the 4th Thursdays of the month. This month we presented eight new cases and tabled them until funding can be found. We also reviewed 25 open cases and closed 10 cases. One case scheduled to be closed we agreed to keep open and provide case management and advocacy for as she applies for housing assistance through other local agencies.

Our Board of Directors meeting is on the Monday of the prior week. Both meetings are held at Hendry Regional Medical Center. This month we met and set prices for the tickets for the fundraiser.

One issue we have been unable to resolve, due to the failure of the City Manger and FEMA to return our phone calls, emails and letters is the FEMA trailers in Clewiston. I felt it important to include how much work has been done by CREW and their partners to help resolve this. 5 full time case managers were hired for 6 months in addition to our regular staff to work on these cases, gather information, assist families in completing application for agencies offering to help, finding funding partners, volunteers and contractors to work on these cases, as well as jumping through the hoops, meetings and other requirements that FEMA placed on us, such as daily phone meetings and weekly unmet needs meetings. This funding ended in December, yet our dedication and commitment to the clients has not as we have continued to advocate for our clients, even referring them to legal assistance when they were threatened legally.

Since March of 2007, 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 (through our advocacy) 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 solutions.
Hendry and Glades County total amount spent $325,705.7734
v Red Cross Means to Recovery Program $156,492.58
v CRWRC $64,715.22
v United Church of Christ $6,231.50
v Volunteer Florida Foundation $49,155.39
v Rotary $9,233.86
v Catholic Charities $6262.55
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

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

2008-03-24T16:05:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-03-24T10:22:00.002-04:00

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

2008-03-21T13:19:00.002-04:00

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

Testimonial from Hurricane Wilma Survivor

2008-03-18T13:31:00.010-04:00

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

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

2008-03-17T09:41:00.007-04:00

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.

United Way Rocks!

2008-03-13T08:53:00.000-04:00

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.

CREW's Februrary Monthly Report

2008-03-12T16:01:00.003-04:00

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

Help The American Red Cross in Glades County!

2008-03-06T10:46:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-03-06T08:24:00.006-05:00

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.

http://www.ucc.org/oghs/stories/a-family-vacation-in-florida.html

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.

2008-03-03T21:42:00.004-05:00

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

2008-02-29T09:41:00.002-05:00

CREW is featured at picture.com, please use this link to vote for our picture of Grace United Methodist Church tarping a roof destroyed home for CREW shortly after Hurricane Wilma in rural Hendry County Florida!

http://click.picture-email.com/?ju=fe4c1c7670660d7b7d13&ls=fe191d717d6d0d7e721676&m=fef9107276600d&l=fec51770726c067b&s=fe2c157470650d78761477&jb=ffcf14&t=

Volunteers repair Wilma damaged roof.

2008-02-28T09:24:00.003-05:00

CREW's wonderful volunteer group from Manassas St Thomas Virgina, (you can read more about in yesterday's post) is actually the combination of two churches, with relatives in each church. The other church is Creekside United Methodist Church in Cummings Georgia. In addition to working on the rebuild, they sent some of their 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.

2008-02-27T15:45:00.003-05:00

St. Thomas Manassas United Methodist Church is here this week, beginning to rebuild Pam's home. 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 are still raising funds to rebuild this home. The concrete slab was poured last week. Volunteers began working on it from the St. Thomas group this week. How blessed we are to have them helping Pamela. Stay tuned, we hope to put trusses up tomorrow!

2008-02-27T14:29:00.004-05:00

CRWRC has been here, different CREW's each week, all month. They have been done an incredible amount of work. For Debra, a 46 year old who has lived in Clewiston for the past 33 years, they replaced her ceiling which was covered in mold as a result of Hurricane Wilma. Debra works for the school board and has for the past 17 years at Clewiston High School. Her income does not cover her monthly expenses. In April she suffered and heart attack, and often has problems with high blood pressure. Wilma destroyed her roof, ceiling and two windows. Her insurance covered nothing as the total of damages was less than her deductible. She applied to FEMA who gave her $340.00. CREW has raised the money from the United Church of Christ and found these volunteer, thanks to CRWRC to repair her home.

CRWRC also helped Bernadette, a 36 year old single Mom raising her three kids. She has lived in Clewiston her entire life. Hurricane Wilma destroyed her roof, windows, doors, skirting, drywall, Alum siding corner, counter top, and sink. In addition the shelves in her kitchen were really bad and moldly. She is disabled and has no income outside of her disability check. She had no insurance when Wilma hit, but did receive $1300 from FEMA which she used to make some repairs. The CRWRC volunteers used funds donated by CRWRC to repair the roof, replaced drywall and skirting and repaired the sink and shelves in the kitchen.

Eunice is a 68 year old retired woman living on social security. She lives alone and when Wilma hit her home, she used her insurance to make most of the repairs needed on her home, but it was not enough to repair her windows. CREW raised the money from Catholic Charities to replace her windows used our CRWRC volunteers to do the work. God Bless CRWRC!
78 year old Iris has lived in Clewiston the past 28 years. She is disabled and lives alone. Hurricane Wilma destroyed her roof, as well as her flooring, two front windows and back door. She used her insurance money to repair her roof, windows and door. We used funds from CRWRC (a little over $700) and volunteers from CRWRC to repair her flooring, and to paint.

CREW's Grace!

2008-02-26T16:21:00.003-05:00

This picture, entitled "CREW's Grace" of Grace United Methodist Church's (from Cape Coral Florida) volunteers working for CREW shortly after Hurricane Wilma was featured in Tomorrow's Dreams, published by The International Library of Photography, ISBN 0-7951-5310-4. Grace United Methodist church has been here over a dozen times to help out our area. In the baseball cap is Will, this man has led most of the volunteers here and is a very skilled volunteer that has done an incredible amount of work for us over the past two years.

January brought a local volunteer!

2008-02-26T15:52:00.002-05:00

One 12 year old youth from New Harvest Church here in Clewiston volunteered this month. Nick, helped us out on some of his days off from school. He is in 7th grade. He helped repair skirting and some electrical work that his Dad taught him to do. He hopes to be a contractor when he grows up and is interested in sports as well. He volunteered 8.5 hours for an in-kind donation of $159.37. We also had three local volunteers at our unmet needs meeting for in-kind donation of $56.25.

Christmas Time brought more Volunteers!

2008-02-26T15:16:00.004-05:00

On December 2, 2007 Unity Hill United Church of Christ from the frozen north (Connecticut) came to sunny Florida for 7 days, sending 2 gentlemen to work on 3 projects. They did a roof repair for Jacqueline, repaired sub floor for Eris and wired an electric stove for Minerva. The two stayed at Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston. The two gentlemen came all the way from Connecticut to help with these repairs. They contributed 80 hours of work that equals to $1500.00 of in kind dollars. The First United Methodist Church fed them on Wednesday night, and The Community Presbyterian Church fed them Thursday night, the Executive Director had them for dinner with her family at her home one night as well.

On December 15, 2007 a group of 7 volunteers from Memorial Methodist Church in Lake Placid came and worked cleaning up debris at Edith and Penny’s homes. This group consisted of 2 women and 5 men; they contributed 24.5 hours of work that equals to $459.38 of in kind dollars. This group is planning another trip with some of the youth at their church. They want to come and pressure clean and paint Edith's home. They will be supplying the pressure washer and the paint. We received a donation from Lifestyles Shutter Systems (They are one the contractors we use for our Mitigation program) for one of our clients that we are rebuilding a home for, with an in kind value of $2500.00. We also had our LTRO meeting on December 19, 2007 where we had 2 of our members who are volunteers donate an hour of their time.

Total volunteer hours donated in December was: 106.5 Total In Kind donations: $1996.88

November Volunteers!

2008-02-26T15:03:00.004-05:00

We have continued to be blessed with volunteers. On November 11, 2007 we were blessed with one of our returning groups from Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church (http://www.mstumc.org/missions/mission%20trips.html). This group consisted of 2 volunteers who worked on 3 in depth projects while they were here. This group split into 2 groups, The A team (for the ants they had to avoid) and the B team (for the honey bee hive under the home for their project).The A team worked on replacing a fence for Linda whose neighbors have pit bull dogs and she does not feel safe in her own backyard. The A team also worked on tearing off and replacing plywood, and shingles on the roof at Edith's home. The B Team was occupied with tearing off siding, replacing backboard with plywood and installing vinyl siding on a double wide mobile home for Penny's. This group also had to replace some rotten wood on the framing prior to replacing the siding, they also replaced some damaged drywall inside the house. This group worked for the entire week and CREW hosted a BBQ luncheon for them to show our appreciation on Friday, November 16. One of the volunteers from this group stayed until Wednesday, November 21st to assist with another client who was in need of having damaged cabinets removed and replaced. When the damaged cabinets were removed we discovered that the flooring underneath needed to be replaced as well. The volunteer worked at Minnerva's Saturday the 17th through Tuesday the 20th replacing the flooring and cabinets. He then returned to Penny's home to complete the drywall repairs inside her home.

We received a donation from United Way/211 of an electric stove to replace the broken one at Minerva's home for an In-Kind value of $150.00. We also received a cash donation of $80.00 and an In- kind donation of some fencing material in the amount of $148.00 from Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church. We also had our LTRO meeting on November 14, 2007 where we had 3 of our members who are volunteers donate an hour of their time. Total volunteer hours donated: 938, Total In Kind donations: $17587.50

October Volunteers!

2008-02-26T14:48:00.004-05:00

In October, we have had 26 volunteers. A group of 9 from Winter Haven Florida, Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church (http://www.beymermemorialumc.org/) that worked on laying flooring for Mr. Leopold during the week of 10/09/07 through 10/13/07. This group also presented CREW with a donation of $500.00. Another group of 7 from The First Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach (http://www.pinkpres.com/) have been here several times before and worked on Leopold’s house returned again (they are fond of him and worked on his home before) and worked on the flooring at Leopold’s and installing some plywood and painting at for E.S. They were here on October 20, 2007. The third group of 7 came from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church (http://mspc.net/) and worked on completing the flooring at Leopold’s on October 27, 2007. We had three local volunteers at our monthly LTRO meeting that worked 425 hours for a total in kind donation of $7912.50.

CREW is one of the agencies United Way supports!

2008-02-22T10:08:00.003-05:00

LOVE ROCKS FOR THE UNITED WAY

LABELLE, FL (February 21, 2008) – The United Way of Hendry and Glades Counties held their annual Valentine’s celebration and fundraiser at the Barron House in LaBelle on Saturday. The “Love Rocks!” event featured food, music and a silent auction. Phil Pelletier was the master of ceremonies and introduced the LaBelle Middle School and High School ensembles who entertained the crowd of over 200 people.

“Love Rocks” raised approximately $17,500 for the local United Way, its partner agencies and initiatives. The goal for the United Way of Hendry & Glades campaign is $180,000. The campaign has raised $164,000 thus far which is 91% of the goal. The campaign officially wraps up on February 29th.

“Because of the economic slow-down, there is an even greater need in our community than in previous years for United Way Services. It is extremely important that we reach 100% of our goal so that the United Way’s network of agencies and initiatives can assist more people in our community who need our help,” said Cliff Smith, President of the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades.

Event Chair, Julie Osterhout-Boardman said she was extremely pleased with the turnout and thanked the many sponsors of the event including: Alico Inc., Julie & Thomas Boardman, Florida Community Bank, Joe Marlin Hilliard, Climate Control, Church of the Good Shepard, LaBelle Rotary Club, Pavese Law Firm, Burson Weathers Real Estate, Current Electric Services, Family Eye Center, Goodlad State Farm, First Bank of Clewiston’s LaBelle and Clewiston branches.

Michael Talaga, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Information Technology for Alico, Inc., is serving as this year’s volunteer Campaign Chair for the United Way of Hendry and Glades Counties.

A local network of thirty-four agencies and programs will receive funds from the 2007-2008 United Way of Hendry & Glades fundraising campaign. These agencies include: The Salvation Army, the Children’s Advocacy Center, Child Care of Southwest Florida, Healthy Families and many others. This network serves a diverse range of needs 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. The network of United Way agencies helped over 21,000 people in Hendry and Glades Counties last year.

Extensive volunteer involvement allows the United Way to keep fundraising costs extremely low, and community volunteers evaluate agency performance and thoroughly study agency budgets and programs to make sure United Way dollars are spent efficiently and with impact. All money raised through the United Way of Hendry and Glades Counties campaign remains in the Hendry and Glades area aiding members of the community who really need the help.

In addition to raising funds for human service organizations in our community, the United Way promotes partnerships and collaborations among agencies, helping them to work together focusing on issues and solutions that continue to improve lives.

This year is the organization’s 50th anniversary. The United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties 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 House in LaBelle at (863) 675-8383 or visit http://www.unitedwaylee.org/.

Pictured are: Julie Osterhout-Boardman, event chair; Jennylyn Mitchell United Way staff and Kate English.

CREW is featured in UMCOR's brightspots!

2008-02-21T20:18:00.003-05:00

Here is just a quote from the article, click on the link to read more about CREW and our neighbors at C.R.O.S. working in western Palm Beach County.

"Over two years after the LTRO began its work, Executive Director Trish Adams can point to a number of accomplishments. “Since our inception, we have hosted 515 volunteers, who have logged over 15,000 hours of work making repairs to walls, ceilings, floors, roofs, cabinets, siding, skirting, and windows, and doing demolition and debris cleanup,” she said. Local churches have hosted groups with housing and meals.
“In all, we have assisted over 765 families in the two counties,” Adams continued. “Our case managers have done a remarkable job to reach and assist homeowners.”
The “house made out of miracles”
C.R.E.W. has completed one rebuild for Mr. Joachin and Miss Rachel. The homeowners and staff are eager to relate story after story to prove that the new home is a “house made out of miracles.”
The very day that the case manager interviewed the couple, who were an unexpected addition to the contact list, a volunteer group from Indiana called to say they wanted to come and build a house.
“The deadline was impossible,” said Mr. Joachin, “but the Lord’s hand was in it! The day we poured the concrete, it rained all around us, everywhere but at our house!”
After the initial blitz, volunteers from Maine, Michigan, Washington, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland helped. “I used to make fun of snowbirds,” Mr. Joachin laughed. “I don’t anymore!”

CREW teams with CRWRC to do great things!

2008-02-14T14:00:00.004-05:00

We currently have CRWRC volunteers (more commonly know as the "Green Shirts") working, and they have been all week. They have done some wonderful things! If you want to find out more about this great organization you can check out their website by clicking this link!http://www.crcna.org/pages/crwrc.cfm

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is the relief and development arm of the Christian Reformed Church. It reaches out in God's name to people, both in North America and around the world, who are struggling with poverty, hunger, disaster, and injustice to help them find lasting ways to improve their lives.

Since they have been here they have completed a lot of work. The six volunteers have completed an entire roof repair with shingles and plywood, painting, replaced drywall, replaced flooring, and replaced ceilings for 3 different families here in Clewiston, all the result of damage from Hurricane Wilma. They have a larger group (22 total) here working as well with our neighbors in Western Palm Beach County who are really suffering and have even more needs than us still remaining from Hurricane Wilma. This great organization sent 22 volunteers here, they arrived a few weeks ago, and will remain in Belle Glade until early April. A local church is housing them and First United Methodist Church of Clewiston hosted them for dinner one night, their first week in town.

Below is our latest CRWRC report for the $50,000 they have given to support our work:
CRWRC specific accomplishments:

From August 1st till January 31st we have spent $15,579.58. As of the end of January, we have spent $22,028.54 of the first installment of $25,000.00. Our second installment of $25,000 we are planning to use on our rebuild which begins this month, in February. We have helped the following families.

T.F. is a black single Mom of five ranging in ages from seven to three, including a set of twins. She lost her home in Hurricane Wilma. She and her family moved about from friends to family while without a home for almost a year. She did not qualify for government assistance through SHIP and other programs as the trailer that was destroyed was in her father’s name. He is not in contact with his family. She was able to find a mobile home to purchase that she could afford, but she could not afford the demolishing of her trailer or the removal of the debris. CREW found volunteer youth group from Zion Lutheran Church in Colorado to complete the demolishing. We used CRWRC funds to pay $318.12 in dumping fees and to buy supplies. (We had used $650.01 previously of CRWRC funds as seen on first report on this home as well.) We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

L.M. is a Hispanic married man who lives with his wheel chair bound wife and their two teen age daughters and teen aged nephew. Their trailer was destroyed in Hurricane Wilma. We assisted them in applying for a direct sale of a FEMA mobile home for $500.00 which the family’s church paid for. However, they needed a wheel chair ramp installed and did not have funds for that. We found volunteers from a United Church of Christ church, First Parish of Westwood Massachusetts, who came and built a ramp for the family. We used CRWRC to pay for $1085.93 (and another $1095.02 from previous CRWRC report) in supplies to build the ramp and set up the trailer. We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

M.R. is a retired Mexican woman who lives with her retired husband in a trailer. They live off their social security and have limited funds. They had roof, interior and skirting damage to their home. The husband tried to fix what he could but was unable to fix most of it. We found volunteers from Miami Presbyterian and funding from United Church of Christ to repair the roof. CREW found volunteers a youth group from Zion Lutheran Church in Colorado to complete the skirting and do some interior repairs, materials were paid for by funds from Catholic Charities, as well as $400 from CRWRC. We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

F.R. is a Spanish speaking married elderly man, with multiple heath problems including diabetes, who lives with his wife, and they are raising their two granddaughters and live in an unsafe area, Montura Ranch Estates. They received $9,000 in insurance funds which they used to repair their roof and fence. However they still needed insulation replaced, and interior wall damage which volunteers from Zion Lutheran Church in Colorado, First Parish Westwood of Massachusetts, and New Harvest Church in Clewiston. We used $699.15 in funds from CRWRC to pay for the materials (This is in addition to $557.38 spent on materials from CRWRC also in last report.) We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

J.M. is a 41 year old married man who lives with his wife and their three young children aged 11, 4 and 16 months. They were hit by storms in 2004 and by Wilma in 2005. Also in 2005, he was diagnosed with terminal Cancer. They have struggled to get the repairs done. He did some of them himself before he became too sick to do them anymore. Volunteers from Grace Ministries in Cape Coral, FL, Conway United Methodist Church in Orlando, Miami Shores Presbyterian, New Harvest Church in Clewiston, Grace Lutheran Church in Indiana, Boca Raton Christian School from Florida, University of South Carolina, Conway United Methodist Church in Orlando, and First United Methodist Church from Port St. Lucie came, over a number of months repairing drywall, installing plywood on flooring in master bathroom. The NFL/United Way Partnership paid for $3,000 of these supplies. We used $607.91 in CRWRC funds for materials for what the above noted $3,000 did not cover. (This is in addition to the $1095.02 we spent on them in our last report). We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

L.P. is an elderly retired Jamaican Man whose trailer in Harlem was half way destroyed and unlivable, he has been living with friends for two years. He used $15000.00 in insurance money to make many repairs himself. Half of his home had to be completely repaired, the other half had interior and roof damage. In addition he needed electrical and plumbing work to be done to repair damage done to both systems by Hurricane Wilma. Volunteers from Grace United Methodist Church, Holy Cross Lutheran from Colorado; King of Glory Lutheran Church in Williamsburg VA, the “Pink Church” a Presbyterian Church in Pompano Beach, Florida, a Lutheran Church in Michigan, and All Saints Lutheran Church from Plantation Florida. The NFL/United Way Partnership paid $7075.98 for materials and Grace United Methodist Church donated $200.00. We used $487.30 of CRWRC funds in materials on this home as well as $197.20 of CWRC funds for permitting fees for his home as well. We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

L.W. is a single black woman who lives in Harlem. She was uninsured at the time of Hurricane Wilma. Luckily her home did not get too damaged. She used money from FEMA to repair some minor damages including furniture. She works, but is very low income. The area she lives in is high crime and Wilma blew down her fence. We found volunteers from St. Thomas United Methodist Church in Manassas, VA to repair her fence. We used $360.51 in materials to complete work, and $500 to pay for the boundary survey required from CRWRC. We used local churches to house and feed the volunteers.

P.B. is a single mom raising her two teen aged daughters. She received $4713.57 from her insurance company. She used most of this to repair her roof on main house, the remainder she used to buy shingles and siding for her shed that a group of volunteers from Grace Lutheran Church installed. We used money from the Rotary to hire contractors to replace her windows. $487.14 in materials from CRWRC funds were used to pay for the materials which two groups of volunteers (Memorial Methodist in Lake Placid Florida, and St. Thomas Methodist Church in Manassas, Virginia) used to remove debris, paint and replace drywall and replace siding on her home.

J.G. is a single black mother of two teenage boys and a younger daughter. They live in a home owned by the family for sometime, several of her aunts and uncles share ownership of the home but have allowed her to live their. For this reason, she had difficulty getting any kind of government assistance to repair the home as it was not in her name. Volunteers from CREW early in our history provided and installed a blue tarp for her destroyed roof, which had to be replaced again a year later as funding to replace roof was still not found. We could not use volunteers for this particular roof, because of permitting issues related to flat roofs. We found funding from The Empowerment Alliance to hire Bryant Roofing to repair her roof; they covered all but $733.00 of it, for which we used CWRC funds to pay off the balance.

R.C. is a 43 year old disabled man whose medical problems include multiple strokes, diabetes, emphysema and high blood pressure. He lives on his disability and has no other source of income. Hurricane Wilma destroyed his roof, two windows, front door, flooring, skirting, and half of his screen porch. His main concern was his constant companion, Marty, his Chihuahua. He was worried to death that his dog would fall through the holes in the floor. The Rotary has contributed $700 towards his case. Conway United Methodist Church from Orlando sent volunteers to work on his home. We spent $288.55 from CRWRC funds on dumping fees on his home and $445.00 on materials from CRWRC which the volunteers used to make the repairs.

M.G. is a single Hispanic mom of two teenage boys, who works as a nurse (mostly at night) and sleeps during the day. Her AC, roof, windows and doors were all destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. She received help from FEMA which she used to repair all but her air conditioning and windows. The Rotary paid for the materials used to replace windows. We used $2,600.00 of CRWRC funds to pay Robert S. Hunton & Company, Inc. to replace the air conditioners, as we could not find qualified volunteers to do this.

B.G. is a single disabled black mom of her young son and daughter who lives with them and an elderly disabled friend. Hurricane Wilma did damage to her roof, bedroom ceiling, skirting and kitchen. Her insurance covered about $6000 worth of the damages which she used to repair the roof; we used $1701.09 of CRWRC funds to cover the remaining bill from R & R Roofing. Her skirting and ceiling were repaired by Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church from Winter Haven for which we used $356.00 of CRWRC funds to buy materials.

E.B. is a widowed white disabled elderly woman who lives alone and has difficulty walking. She and her husband are members of the local VFW, and they provide her with a lot of emotional support to this day. We used CRWRC funds of $2234.30 to buy materials for a group of Volunteers from St. Thomas United Methodist Church in Manassas, VA to repair her roof. We are still looking for more volunteers to complete interior work. We are also using Volunteer Florida Foundation grant funds to pay for hurricane shutters to be installed on her home.

G.C. is a Spanish only speaking Hispanic severely disabled single mom with heart problems who lives with her teenaged son in Montura, a remote high crime area outside of Clewiston. We spent $600.39 of CRWRC funds in materials for volunteers to repair her skirting, roof and siding who will be coming in February.

P.A. is a single black low income working mother with a severely disabled autistic handicapped adult son who receives a disability check. While awaiting the sale and set up of a FEMA trailer, CREW used grant funds from Volunteer Florida Foundation ($1600) to pay the first two months of her rent, she went into default for the second two months before we were finally able to get her home permitted. She has yet to pay the landlord, who is a friend of CREW’s. The home was moved and set up using Red Cross Means to Recovery Funds ($8,500). However, the funds did not pay for the shell rock needed in order for the trailer to pass inspection, and thus the family was not allowed to move in. We used $200 of CRWRC money to complete this, and the family has since moved in.

E.W. is a black working low income single mom of three teenage boys who live in Harlem. Hurricane Wilma tore off the shingles on her roof, and left interior damage. Her children all attend Harlem Academy where she works. She fixed the majority of the interior work her self. Volunteers from Southwest VIM team in Baltimore, MD came in February and the NFL/United Way partnership paid their expenses and most of the materials needed for their repairs (at the cost of $3000.00). We used $78.28 of CRWRC funds to pay the remaining costs. This group tore off shingles and replaced felt paper and shingles on the roof. Under this same NFL/United Way partnership grant (at the cost of $2989.07), volunteers from St. Thomas United Methodist Church in Manassas, Virginia came in March and did some repairs to the interior of the home.

P.H. is a 53 year old Caucasian working woman who lives alone in a very rural high crime area called Montura. She has worked for Southern Gardens for many years, and also does some office cleaning on the side for extra money. In addition to working her two jobs, she often volunteers for local non-profits. Hurricane Wilma picked up her trailer and twisted it. She was inside the home at the time and began screwing the walls back together as they were ripping apart. She was told to leave her home as it was condemned, but she refused fearing her belongings would be stolen if she did. Her insurance company cancelled her insurance a few days prior to the storm because she did not have hand rails on her porch. She received $2600.00 from FEMA which she used to repair her water system and sit her mobile home back on its blocks. She has moved into the living room, the only livable room left. She applied but was denied assistance from USDA rural development and SHIP. We are currently working on building her wood frame house, and have volunteers to do the work and are working on raising the money for this rebuild. We have used $75.00 of CRWRC funds to pay for demolition permit fee on this home and $956.13 of UMCOR funds on this home to pay for boundary surveys, portable restrooms and pods for the volunteers coming later this month. We will need approximately $50,000 to rebuild this home, UMCOR has committed $5,000 and we are planning most of the remaining CRWRC funds towards this home. We already have three skilled volunteer groups scheduled to work on this home in the next two months.

We also used $1124.71 of the money from CRWRC for administrative costs as follows: $11.98 for office supplies in September,
$13.87 for mileage for in October,
$13.06 for office supplies and tools in November,
$39.98 for office supplies in November,
$24.69 in August, $177.61 in October, $1.31 in January for postage,
$192.82 in October, $93.53 in November, $55.97 in January, towards our telephone bill, $193.92 in October, $55.97 in January for our cell phone
$250.00 in December for our monthly accounting bill

Also, please note that on our previous report, I had reported $11,000 in hauling and dumping fees when it was actually $1,100.00 for M.S. thus, we had reported previously spending $16,348.96, when in actuality we had spent only $6448.96.

About $3000 of the remaining money has been earmarked in our unmet needs meeting for jobs that we have not had volunteers to complete yet, or are awaiting permits. In addition, we are hoping to save the remainder of these funds for our rebuild which begins with a volunteer group that is coming at the end of February.

2007 Yearly report

2008-02-07T16:35:00.000-05:00

CREW had a very productive year, which saw a lot of successes in different areas. Our greatest accomplishment was our ability to work with others, and bring together people of all faiths and all walks of life to work for a common cause. This all grew out of the dream of some dedicated pastors at the Clewiston Ministerial Association who vowed to work together, across denominational lines and help out the community here in CREW.

One of the first groups to help us, even before we had paid staff were the “green shirts” who are know all over the world for their remarkable response and assistance in times of disasters. These members of the CRWRC (http://www.crwrc.org/relief/na/) canvassed our two rural areas, going door to door in both Hendry and Glades Counties. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is a relief, development, and educational ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. In addition to this initial assistance, they have provided our paid staff with lots of resources to find volunteers and learn about disaster recovery, and have given us $50,000 in cash to provide direct assistance to disaster victims.

Volunteers are the back bone of CREW. This year we were blessed with 416 volunteers from all over the country. We have had 22 different groups come and help with repairing our community. These groups consisted of 12 Lutheran groups and 1 Lutheran Individual; 14 Methodist groups and 6 Methodist Individuals; 7 Presbyterian groups; 3 United Church of Christ groups; 1 Baptist group and 2 Pentecostal Individuals. We also had two more individuals’ work that were not connected to any church but heard about us over the internet. These groups worked on 33 homes making repairs to walls, ceiling, floors, roofs, cabinets, siding, skirting, installing windows, building handicap ramps, demolition, and debris cleanup. In 2007 we had a total of 416 volunteers come and help with several projects. They contributed 12,390 volunteer hours with an in kind value of $232,312.50. Theses volunteers also gave cash donations in 2007 totaling $14,265.81 from several different volunteer groups.

In 2007, the assistance we received from local churches is immeasurable. Community Presbyterian Church provided housing for 4 different groups of various faiths and provided 196 meals for all of our groups for a total of in kind donations of $1470.00. In addition, First United Methodist Church of Clewiston provided housing for 9 groups and provided 185 meals for all of our groups for a total of in kind donations of $1387.50. In addition, they have often hosted our UMCOR Storm Recovery liaison for dinner when she is in town helping CREW. First United Methodist Church of Moore Haven provided meals for 2 of our groups with a total of 43 meals for a total in kind donation of $322.50. They also housed two groups of volunteers. First Baptist Church of Clewiston provided housing for 5 groups and provided 99 meals for a total in kind donation of $742.50. Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal Church provided housing for 2 groups in 2007.

If we combine this with our 2006 numbers, it is staggering. In 2006 we had 99 volunteers (not counting the ones before March when we did not have paid staff and were not keeping track) who worked a total of 2840 volunteer hours with an in kind value of $52,540.00. Community Presbyterian Church provided housing for 3 groups and provided 74 meals for all of the groups in 2006 for a total in kind donation of $555.00. First United Methodist Church of Clewiston provided housing for 3 groups and provided 68 meals for all of the groups in 2006 for a total in kind donation of $510.00. Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church provided housing for 1group in 2006. We received cash donations in 2006 totaling $1,500.00 from two different volunteer groups.

So, since inception until the end of 2007 we have had over (as no records exist for the earliest volunteers) 515 volunteers, 31 groups and 11 individuals. Most of our volunteers came from out of state and elsewhere in Florida. Often they slept on cots or in sleeping bags in our local churches, some stayed in motor homes they drove here in, few rented motel rooms while they were here. Most often they answered a call for help that came from their church, others read about us on the internet. All came selflessly and willingly to help out their fellow man. They are the heart and soul of our organization.

However, the volunteers would have nothing to do if not for all the casework we do. Including all cases, we have assisted over 765 families or individuals (681 in Hendry County), (not including over 60 we tired to assist who were in FEMA trailers but declined assistance). We have 107 cases remaining in Hendry County and 12 in Glades. We started the year with 5 case managers, and are ending the year with only 3 and ½. During the last few months of the year we had 6 case managers in order to help out the FEMA Close-Out Program.

During 2007 our volunteers completed a lot of work. For our families our volunteers installed insulation for five families, installed paneling for 3 families, installed drywall and ceiling for 29 families, and finished 24 drywall and ceilings, installed floor covering for 5 families, re-roofed 17 roofs, and made roof repairs on 6 roofs. Our volunteers also installed windows for 32 families and doors for 12 families. They installed tile for 4 families, base boards for 1 family, repaired trims for 4, replaced light fixtures in one home, and installed a hot water heater for another family. Sub flooring was removed and replaced for 15 families. Volunteers removed blown down trees for 4 families, and completed interior painting for 24 families and exterior painting for 2 families. Plywood ceilings and trims repaired in 2 homes, removing old windows in 1 home, demolishing damaged and replacing new fencing for one family, and removing and replacing rotten studs for 6 families was also completed by volunteers. Volunteers repaired and replaced siding for 7 families, skirting for 9 families living in mobile homes, replaced sophist in one home, built a set of steps in another, replaced and fixed electric plugs, switches, junctions, boxes and ran wire for appliances for 3 families. They also cleaned up debris for three families, installed closet systems in one home, install tubs in two homes, repaired screened porches for 3 families, and built handicapped ramps for two families. Finally our volunteers also replaced mobile home siding for 2 families and repaired mobile home duct work for 1 family. The total cost of all these jobs were about $45,161.97. In materials, appliances and furniture and other we received donated items with an in-kind donation of $6242.50.

Through our partnership with Volunteer Florida Foundation’s Florida Disaster Recovery Program (http://www.flahurricanefund.org/), we have two programs, the FEMA Close out and our Mitigation Program though My Safe Florida Home (http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/FreeHomeInspectionsPrint.htm) program.

We have a total 89 applicants in our Mitigation program, 15 are completed, and 45 are in progress. We are awaiting inspection reports on 29 more and need to submit 11 more families to the mitigation program to have it completed. The total cost for completing these homes was $30,327.80. At the end of this quarter the mitigation account has a total of $15,768.55. The total balance that is left from the mitigation grant is $204,342.38. As of December 20, 2007 CREW received an extension until March 31, 2008 to complete 100 homes in the Hendry and Glades County areas. CREW will continue in its effort to mitigate 100 or more homes in Hendry and Glades Counties. There will be a continued effort to reach clients by advertisement by flyers as well as going from door to door in the communities of Hendry and Glades Counties. S.H.I.P. Coordinator Aida Barnhart of Hendry County has continued in her effort to gain clients for Mitigation.

One program, our FEMA Close-Out Program, has had extraordinary success. The final report on this program is as follows. Since March, 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, 2007. 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.

Hendry County is unique in that it is small, rural and has few conforming mobile home lots. Over 90% of the mobile home lots available in Hendry County are located on a flood plan. FEMA will not set up a mobile home on a flood plan. Therefore, the majority of the families who participated in the FEMA modified sales program had to find money to pay for the set up, tie down, permit fees, skirting, stairs and connection of all utilities in order to make their mobile home livable. Furthermore, for permitting issues, families were required various surveys depending on the lot to which the mobile was going. Because of lack of competition among licensed contractors and Clewiston’s location, the fees for the above mentioned services are higher than in other areas, costing on average $9000 to set up the mobile home. To add to complications, Hendry County has a lack of industry that could help support the financial needs of community members. Thus, for C.R.E.W. the FEMA close out project has been very unique and expensive as compared to other counties in the state.

When helping a family reach final recovery and independence, the first step was to search for funding. Throughout the course of the project, C.R.E.W. was leveraged funding in excess of $250,000 from the Volunteer Florida Foundation, The American Red Cross’s Means to Recovery Program (http://www.redcross.org/general/0,1082,0_294_,00.htm) land other local funders in our community. This money was used specifically for direct services provided to our clients. Once funding had been attained, C.R.E.W. ran into another obstacle, permitting. At the beginning of this project, a new code inspector began employment with Hendry County. This led to delays in the permitting system. Then half way through the project, the individual resigned, and for a while Hendry County had no inspector. However, the county was able to make arrangements with Glades county to have permits issued. Currently, it takes approximately one to two weeks to receive a permit in Hendry County. This is a great improvement over the three months that it took for the first permits applied for to be issued.

Finally, there have been issues with the FEMA contractor’s schedules. Once the permits have been issued, C.R.E.W. families are at the mercy of the schedule of the FEMA contractors as all trailers have to be moved by FEMA contractors. For as many trailers that have been delivered as scheduled, we have the same amount that were not. However, most trailers are being delivered in a timely manner currently. Once trailers are delivered, it takes the contractors who are working with C.R.E.W. about one week to set up the trailer. Depending on the schedule of the county inspectors issuing the Certificate of Occupancy, families are waiting approximately one week to a week and a half to move into their mobile homes if no issues arise.

Of our clients, two cases were closed because of the families’ failure to comply with their service plan. For the other families, C.R.E.W. was able to find a funding plan that would cover the cost of fully setting the mobile home to county code – with the exception of three families. For the three families who did not have a funding plan, C.R.E.W. had planned on using money from the City of Clewiston; however, the funding has not come through. C.R.E.W. is committed to continuing to work with these families to find alternate funding for this family. C.R.E.W. was also able to work with a local contactor who was willing to begin the permitting process so that the client would not be dropped from the FEMA modified sales program.

It was the hope of FEMA to have all trailers set and families in their new mobile homes by Christmas. However, due to amount of time involved in the entire set up process, the lack of contractors that can set up the mobile homes and the schedules of the FEMA contractors, this was logistically not possible. However, all of the mobiles were delivered by Christmas. C.R.E.W. is following our families into the New Year as our contractors continue to work diligently to set up these mobile homes as quickly as possible. At this point, it is realistic to believe that all FEMA mobile homes will be set up and families will be in their mobile homes by the end of January 2008.

Partnerships are another great accomplishment CREW has made. We would never have been able to complete as much as we have without the help of our partners. Through our partners, grantors and donors we have been able to buy not only the supplies and materials that our volunteers use, but have also been able to hire local, licensed contractors (thus helping the local economy) to repair roofs, put on new roofs, complete electrical and plumbing work for our rebuild as well as many of our repairs. Especially with the financial troubles builders are facing in today’s economy, this has been especially helpful.

Our partnerships with faith based groups are our crowing achievement. The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and United Methodist Committee on Relief have funded our staff members for 2 years. They, along with United Church of Christ Disaster Ministries and Lutheran Disaster Response have provided volunteers and funds to repair and rebuild homes and lives. While working on homes, many of these volunteers have also ministered to the souls of our hurting clients, and provided emotional and spiritual support to our staff as well.

The First Baptist Church of Clewiston, Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston, First United Methodist Churches of Moore haven and Clewiston, and Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal ME have all housed our volunteers as well as fed many of them and had them join in their worship services as well.

First United Methodist Churches of Clewiston and Moorehaven as well as Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston have also funded some of our projects. In addition both the First Untied Methodist Church of Clewiston and Moorehaven gave CREW office Space when we first needed it.

Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston also donated us the use of their shed to store our tools, donated furniture, appliance and materials.

Pastors and lay leaders from Community Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church of Clewiston and Moorehaven, Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal ME, First Baptist Church of Clewiston, Calvary Baptist Church have served on our board or our unmet needs committee and always volunteered whenever we asked.

Calvary Presbyterian Church sends money to us each month to help defray the cost of our cell phones. Volunteers often donate money while they are here, and several churches and other agencies and individuals read about us or hear about us and donate money or volunteer.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response and other faith based organizations send us volunteers on a regular basis.

Catholic Charities has also provided immeasurable assistance to our clients as well, and their staff members are part of our unmet needs committee. Church World Service provided us with start up funds.

We have partnered with many community agencies as well, such as The Empowerment Alliance of Southwest Florida, shared staff with them, and given office space to one of their employees who provided credit counseling and helps low income families finance new homes responsibly. They have also funded projects for many of our clients.

We also work with the United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades. They have paid the salary/ benefit package for our Executive Director for two years. In addition they have funded a small amount of direct assistance as you can see in our financial section of the report. They have also given us use of our current office space, and through their 211 referral sources we have been able to get donated water heaters, stoves, clothes and other items to our clients.

Our partnership with Volunteer Florida Foundation has funded our FEMA Close out Project, our Mitigation Program, and provided direct assistance to those in FEMA housing. It has also provided invaluable training to several of our staff members.

We also assist the Homeless Coalition of Hendry and Glades, Family Services Network and the Emergency Services Committee by attending and participating in their meetings to help improve the life of our clients through out our two rural communities.

American Red Cross (local and national) have helped our clients immeasurably, giving donated supplies after Tropical Storm Ernesto, serving on our unmet needs committee, and providing funding to clients through their Means to Recovery program.

We also have partnered with government agencies as well. The City of Clewiston gave CREW office space for an entire year. In addition many of their staff assisted us in many ways, teaching us building codes, assisting with uncooperative clients, and more. The City also gave us one of their old retired work trucks which has allowed us to haul materials to job sites. We also returned the favor, playing an active part in their City wide Clean up day when our staff volunteered time and helped pick up trash throughout the city.

Hendry and Glades County SHIP program, USDA Rural Development, Emergency Management of Hendry County and Emergency Management of Glades County are also partners. Two of our staff are CERT trained and will assist Hendry County in the event of a disaster.

Financially, CREW has done wonders. For 2007, CREW paid $203,502.01 in wages, tips and other compensation, withheld $16021.75 in federal income taxes, $12617.11 in social security taxes, and $2950.78 in Medicare taxes. It also does not include the $18,963.41 we have paid Empowerment Alliance towards our half time case manager shared employee.

In addition we have received in kind funds, such as the money that United Way paid for our Executive Director’s salary and benefit package ($65,171). Also, donation of volunteer hours valued at $232,312.50 and in kind donation of meals for our volunteers valued at $3922.50. We also received donated furniture, materials, tools, and other supplies valued at $6242.50. In addition The Empowerment Alliance paid over $7000 to contractors at our request for CREW clients. The United Way of Lee Hendry and Glades paid $65,171 for the Directors Salary and Benefits.

One of our greatest accomplishments has been our ability to keep our administrative costs at 4.8% of our total budget.

In-kind donations for 2007: $379,819.50. Total revenue in 2007 was $576,005.54 of which we spent $495,671.21, leaving a balance of $80,334.33.

Gala Fundraiser raised $9,028.99 at a cost of $3,670.86 leaving us with $5,358.13 profit.
CRWRC donated $50,000.00 of which we have spent $19,106.86 leaving us $30,893.14.
VFF Grants provided $230,668.13 of which we have spent $244,829.61 leaving us -$14,161.48.
NFL/UW raised $60,000.00 of which we have spent all of it.
Lutheran Grant raised $10,000.00 of which we have spent all of it.
PDA Grant raised $22,916.60 of which we have spent $19,094.95 leaving us $3,821.65.
UMCOR grant raised $167,224.00 of which we have spent $95,256.11 leaving us $71,967.90.
General Funds had $37,996.82 deposited of which we have spent $33,858.69, leaving us $4,138.13.
Rotary grant raised $12,000.00 of which we have raised $9,205, leaving us $2,795.00.

We received the following donation throughout the year: United Way of LHG $150.00,
iGive.com $73.15, Client contributions $700.00, From Volunteers $4,265.81, Cash Contributions $887.50, Individual Donors $1,840.00, Clewiston First United Methoidst Church $2,740.77, Community Presbyterian $6,014.75, Calvary Presbyterian $750.00, Moorehaven First United Methodist Church $24.00, Peace Valley Lutheran Church WG $25.00, Presbytery of Tropical FL $75.00, Lykes Brothers $500.00, LWM L Dorcas Society $25.00, Sunniland Corporation $79.60

Expenses for 2007 were as follows: Accounting $3,750.00, Advertising $238.05, Contractors $84,221.08, Dues $30.00, Training $36.52, Fund raisers $397.00, Gas $438.94, Insurance $8878.00, License and taxes $617.50, Mileage $1,2346.71, Office Supplies $9,367.67, Bonus $35,000.00, Payroll $203,502.01, Payroll Taxes $19,706.36, Postage $1,772.14, Telephone $4,888.03, Truck Expenses $5.00, Utilities $420.00, and Work Team Expenses $43,298.22.

This is quite a comparison when we look at our total income in 2006 which was $66,310.68. This income came from the following sources: 2006 Ministerial Association $6,000.00, Community Presbyterian $4,000.00, First United Methodist Church $4,125.00, Church World Service $5,000.00, Lutheran Services $25,000.00, Rotary $7,500.00, United Church of Christ $2556.82, NFL Grant reimbursements $6477.40, Donations $2,088.95, Special Needs Gifts $5,62.51, and Client Contribution $3,000.00.

We have been blessed to be able to help so many and find so many wonderful people and agencies willing to give their money and time to make our community better. We still have a lot to go. Here is an outline of what we have ahead of us.

Remaining Needs

As of the end of the year we have quite a few remaining needs, mostly Wilma victims.

We still have funds for 9 more Mitigation clients we have yet to find. We have completed 23 to date. 50 have been given to the contractors to complete. We are waiting on inspection reports for 18 before we can give to the inspectors.

We have 13 clients still needing help in Glades County. We have several clients, with funding approved awaiting volunteers or contractors to complete work. Several more need to bring in documentation to complete their intake assessments, before we can determine eligibility.

Three of our clients, we were hoping to get funding from the city on; we may need to look elsewhere for the $19,959.50. We have been unsuccessful in getting the funds we expected from the City of Clewiston.

We need an additional to cover the costs of currently assessed needs, plus more for the jobs where costs have not been estimated. We have 18 jobs, including a rebuild which we already assessed; money funded and simply need volunteers. We have another 17 cases that need to be assessed by our construction coordinator. 50 more clients need to complete their applications so that eligibility can be determined and needs assessed. If they are eligible for existing programs such as USDA rural assistance, or SHIP then we would make a referral to these agencies and assist the client through the application process. If they are not eligible we would present to our unmet needs committee. All but 4 of these are Hurricane Wilma related.

To close out our 13 open cases in Glades County we need:

$5700.00 and volunteers to replace drywall, roofing and two doors.
$3500.00 and volunteers to complete roof and ceiling repairs
$1310.00 and volunteers for repairs for roof, skirting, door and plumbing repair.
we are just waiting on title transfer for two
we need volunteers for four homes where money was already funded
5 more need to complete their paperwork & have construction/damage assessment

To close out our 105 cases in Hendry County we need:

We need $350.00 and volunteers to repair ceiling for one client.
We need $800.00 and volunteers to finish drywall, painting and floor for one client.
We need $20,000.00 of the $50,000 estimated cost and volunteers to complete the rebuild.
We need $3000 and volunteers to repair doors, flooring, cabinets and drywall
We need to complete assessments and funds for 9 jobs.
$19,959.50 in funding for 3 clients we thought we had funding from the City of Clewiston for.
We are awaiting: Contractor to set up FEMA unit for one client, Contractors to complete work on 5 homes, Final C.O. from county or city inspectors for 3 clients, 22 Clients to complete their paperwork verifying eligibility (1 is a fire victim (all other clients noted here are Hurricane victims), 14 title transfers, Construction coordinator to complete 16 assessments which will determine more needs, Funding to relocate 5 FEMA units (1 of which also needs a lot), 1 AC unit assessment, Funds (already approved) from local social service and faith based agencies for 5 cases waiting to be closed, Electrician to okay repairs for 1 inspection, 1 client to get her shell rock and disconnect electric so contractors can begin work, 1 client to pay first $5000 of her needs as she has funds, Volunteers to complete 11 projects already funded: Roof, cabinets, facia, and soffets; Flooring; Doors and interior damage; Ceiling, windows and repairs; Roof and interior; Roof and windows; Roof repairs; Porch repairs; Roof, floor and drywall; Roof, flooring, ceiling, door and window; and Drywall
Make referrals for 3 clients we have already helped but who have more non-disaster related needs.

In addition, funding for administrative costs, such as phone bills, internet service, mileage, office supplies, accounting, insurance, and computer equipment is always needed. Our administrative costs are very low, as we pay no rent or utilities thanks to the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades.

It would be also wonderful if one day we maid enough to provide health insurance to our employees. We need to stay intact after all Hurricane Wilma victims are helped with a skeleton crew to continue to provide Hurricane Awareness and Prevention as well as to provide assistance to small scale disasters such as flooding and house fires. Furthermore, we want to be ready to respond should another major disaster affect our area.

January's Monthly Report

2008-02-07T14:44:00.000-05:00

JANUARY MONTHLY REPORT

This New Year brought lots of changes. We have said good bye to Amanda, our part time case manger, although she stills share office space with us as 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.
Our LTRO (Long Term Recovery Organization) and Unmet Needs meeting is now 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.

Our Board of Directors has also undergone some changes. We had elections this month it is our pleasure to thank our board members who continue to give us great advise and help, and welcome our new board members. We are looking forward to doing great things with our new Board. 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. We look forward to continuing to work with him, even though he is no longer serving on our board.
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.

As of January 31st in Hendry County 82 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, 7 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. To date there are 0 unassigned cases.

This department currently has 3 full time and 1 part time case managers that are reviewing case information. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation quickly. They are also helping with contacting clients for the Mitigation Program on a weekly basis.
Although we still work with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida, and provide offer space to one of their employees, we are, as of December 31st, no longer sharing a staff member with them, as our funding has run out. The Empowerment Alliance of SW Florida is working on getting her more permanent funding.

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.
Since March, 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 have been unable to close 24 of 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 5 jobs (all in Hendry). In addition he completed 9 material cost quotes for Catholic Charities. He has also assisted in research and planning for the upcoming rebuild. He supervised one volunteer this month. He also completed a material inventory and did completed quotes for materials we had and will need of the rebuild.
The total cost of projects completed this month was $87.00.

A laser jet printer valued at $25.00 and a sectional sofa valued at $100 were donated, picked up and delivered by CREW staff members to CREW clients this month as well. Hendry Regional Medical Center donated space for our unmet needs meeting and meals for 14 of our staff, volunteers, and friends. We value this at $42.00.

We had one local youth volunteer 8.5 hours for an in-kind donation of $159.37. We also had three local volunteers at our unmet needs meeting for in-kind donation of $56.25.

Total volunteer hours donated: 11.5 Total In Kind donations: $382.62

We have a volunteer group, Manassas St. Thomas UMC, coming from Virginia on February 23, 2008 and working on the rebuild for a week. They will be hosted by FUMC of Clewiston. March 1, 2008 thru March 8, 2008 we have a Lutheran group coming from Seattle Washington to work on the rebuild; they will be staying at the Community Presbyterian Church while they are here, after they leave we have another group the Lutheran Laymen’s League from North Dakota is sending a group to help complete the rebuild, I have asked the First Baptist Church to host this group and I am waiting for verification.

This department currently has 3 full time and 1 half time case managers funded by UMCOR that are reviewing case information. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation quickly. They are also helping with contacting clients for the Mitigation Program on a weekly basis. We were sad to loose one of our half time case managers this month; Amanda who was has been with CREW longer than any of our current employees. We also said Good bye to Edie, who had run the VFF Close out Program.

In the month of January there have been 0 new applicants for mitigation. There are 90 clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database, 10 are needed to complete the contract amount. Since December, CREW had received 13 more inspection reports that have been given to our current contractors (CAT 5 & Alufab). In the month of January there were 8 more home completed by Alufab. The total cost to complete theses homes was $16,245.00. CREW has now completed a total of 23 homes. The total amount allowed for each home is $3000 thus usually costing $69,000.00. CREW completed these homes for a cost of only $43,287.80. We hope to have 73 completed by the end of the month. We are trying to get the remaining 9 clients by going door to door and advertising in the paper and on the radio. We also will be having a booth at the Hendry County Fair where we will be promoting the program this month as well.

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. 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.

Financially, we brought in $53,467.88 this month. $6,176.22 went into the general account. $350 was credited to the mitigation account. $2,291.66 was credited to the PDA account. $45,000 was credited to the UMCOR account. We spent $43,413.65 this month. We spent $565.92 on advertising, $9,595.86 to pay contractors, $111.34 on staff appreciation lunches and lunches for our funders, $38.73 on fundraising activities, $110.00 on gas, $56.10 on licenses and taxes, $300.84 on mileage, $325.19 on office supplies, $29,072.96 on payroll, $1,724.53 on payroll taxes, $68.76 on postage, $485.30 on telephones, $12.84 on the truck, and $954.28 on work team expenses including supplies.

We have $27,971.46 left in our CRWRC account, although most of this has been earmarked for upcoming jobs in February and March. We have a -$25,845.12 in the FEMA account, but are expecting a check to zero that out in February. We have $5,358.13 in the Gala account which needs to be used out the Lutheran account of -$1995.47, and the remainder put in the general account. We have $7069.72 in the general account. We have $5, 378.47 in our mitigation account. We have $14,529.35 in our NFL account which needs to be used to zero out the VFF 3 account which has -$6,163.09 and the rest placed in our general account. We have $3992.03 in our PDA account. We have $2795.00 in our Rotary account. UMCOR Clewiston account has $45,027.55 in it and UMCOR Moorehaven has $47,290.87.

Looking ahead, we are raising money to do a rebuild in February. We are also applying for grants including Hurricane awareness grants. We are planning a fundraiser in April. We are still awaiting response from grant requests to PDA and Lutherans.

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.

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.

2008-02-07T11:40:00.000-05:00

DECEMBER MONTHLY REPORT

Changes are in the air. We have said good bye to Amanda, our part time case manger, although we still allow her to share office space as 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. Our meeting our now on the 4th Thursday of the month and will likely be moving to quarterly meetings in March.
Beginning January 1st, our Executive Director will be working ½ time for CREW and ½ time for United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties. We should not need a full time director, unless another major storm were to cause major damage to our counties again, at which time we will reevaluate need.

We have demonstrated continual efforts to help FEMA (Florida Emergency Management Association) through our VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) grant (which ended at the end of year). The cases detail where the problems are, some are due to a long wait for inspections, some are due to failure to comply on the part of the families, some are awaiting titles and paperwork from FEMA, and some are due to the long process of applying for funding through the American Red Cross and others. It should be noted that our list is considerably longer than FEMA’s list, as we are working with families who purchased trailers on non-conforming lots (not though CREW), especially within the City of Clewiston. We are still awaiting payment on three cases from the City of Clewiston. One of the issues we are running into is that the client hears from us that the trailers cannot stay in the parks where they are, however the park owners are assuring them that they do not have to move. One of the greatest challenges of this grant was the shear amount of time we had to spend on conference calls and in meetings with FEMA, as well as the intense and detailed information needed for cases to be approved for funding. Clients have to prove that they truly need the money by showing income and expenses, and many are referred to Credit Counseling through our partnership with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida as a result. The paperwork related to all these processes is quite intensive.

Although we still work with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida, and offer space to one of their employees, we are, as of December 31st, no longer sharing a staff member with them, as our funding has run out.

The partnership between Means to Recovery (Red Cross) has come to a close. We have directly assisted 23 of clients for a total of $172,192.40 and we have 4 pending applications in the approval process in the amount of $36,500.00. Only one of which was not a FEMA (Florida Emergency Management Association) client. These checks come to CREW to verify that the contractors had done the work, before we could give the checks to the contractor. In addition, CREW had to do a great of work taking 5-10 hours a client on case management work in order to complete applications, submit them, and follow up on their progress, hire the contactors, get the check and deliver checks to the contractors after ensuring work was done adequately. In addition, we received $95,923.73 total from VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) for staff to manage these clients and for $69,000 direct service from the dame agency. We were offered up to $30,000 from the City of Clewiston for city residents for this program as well, and we have managed to only need and formally request $19,959.50 thanks to our case management and ability to use $769,000 VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) and over $200,000 of direct services through Means to Recovery Funds for some of the city residents.

Since March, 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.

Hendry County is unique in that it is small, rural and has few conforming mobile home lots. Over 90% of the mobile home lots available in Hendry County are located on a flood plane. FEMA will not set up a mobile home on a flood plan. Therefore, the majority of the families who participated in the FEMA modified sales program had to find money to pay for the set up, tie down, permit fees, skirting, stairs and connection of all utilities in order to make their mobile home livable. Furthermore, for permitting issues, families were required various surveys depending on the lot to which the mobile was going. Because of lack of competition among licensed contractors and Clewiston’s location, the fees for the above mentioned services are higher than in other areas, costing on average $9000 to set up the mobile home. To add to complications, Hendry County has a lack of industry that could help support the financial needs of community members. Thus, for C.R.E.W. the FEMA close out project has been very unique and expensive as compared to other counties in the state.

When helping family reach final recovery and independence, the first step was to search for funding. Throughout the course of the project, C.R.E.W. was leveraged funding in excess of $250,000 from the Volunteer Florida Foundation, The American Red Cross and other local funders in our community. This money was used specifically for direct services provided to our clients. Once funding had been attained, C.R.E.W. ran into another obstacle, permitting. At the beginning of this project, a new code inspector began employment with Hendry County. This led to delays in the permitting system. Then half way through the project, the individual resigned, and for a while Hendry County had no inspector. However, the county was able to make arrangements with Glades county to have permits issued. Currently, it takes approximately one to two weeks to receive a permit in Hendry County. This is a great improvement over the three months that it took for the first permits applied for to be issued.

Finally, there have been issues with the FEMA contractor’s schedules. Once the permits have been issued, C.R.E.W. families are at the mercy of the schedule of the FEMA contractors as all trailers have to be moved by FEMA contractors. For as many trailers that have been delivered as scheduled, we have the same amount that were not. However, most trailers are being delivered in a timely manner currently. Once trailers are delivered, it takes the contractors who are working with C.R.E.W. about one week to set up the trailer. Depending on the schedule of the county inspectors issuing the Certificate of Occupancy, families are waiting approximately one week to a week and a half to move into their mobile homes if not issues arise.

Of our clients, two cases were closed because of the families’ failure to comply with their service plan. For the other families, C.R.E.W. was able to find a funding plan that would cover the cost of fully setting the mobile home to county code – with the exception of one family. For the one family who does not have a funding plan, C.R.E.W. had planned on using money from the City of Clewiston; however, the funding fell through at the last minute. C.R.E.W. is committed to continuing to work with this family to find alternate funding for this family. C.R.E.W. was also able to work with a local contactor who was willing to begin the permitting process so that the client would not be dropped from the FEMA modified sales program.

It was the hope of FEMA to have all trailers set and families in their new mobile homes by Christmas. However, due to amount of time involved in the entire set up process, the lack of contractors that can set up the mobile homes and the schedules of the FEMA contractors, this is logistically not possible. However, all of the mobiles were delivered by Christmas. C.R.E.W. is following our families into the New Year as our contractors continue to work diligently to set up these mobile homes as quickly as possible. At this point, it is realistic to believe that all FEMA mobile homes will be set and families will be in their mobile homes by the end of January 2008.

Our construction coordinator has assessed 13 jobs (all in Hendry). He assisted two volunteer groups with getting the supplies they needed. They repaired a roof, a sub floor, replaced wiring for an electric stove (previously gas), and cleanup debris at two clients homes. One volunteer group donated a $55.00 belt sander to complete one of the jobs. The total cost of the projects was $805.00.

This report reflects the volunteers from December 1, 2007 thru December 31, 2007.
On December 2, 2007 thru December 7, 2007 Unity Hill United Church of Christ sent 2 gentlemen to work on 3 projects. They did a roof repair for J. F., repaired sub floor for I. F. and wired an electric stove for M. H. The two stayed at Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston. The two gentlemen came all the way from Connecticut to help with these repairs. They contributed 80 hours of work that equals to $1500.00 of in kind dollars. The First United Methodist Church fed them on Wednesday night, and The Community Presbyterian Church fed them Thursday night, the Executive Director had them for dinner with her family at her home one night as well. On December 15, 2007 a group of 7 volunteers from Memorial Methodist Church in Lake Placid came and worked cleaning up debris at e. Brewer and P. Barton’s homes. This group consisted of 2 women and 5 men; they contributed 24.5 hours of work that equals to $459.38 of in kind dollars. This group is planning another trip with some of the youth at their church. They want to come and pressure clean and paint Ms. Brewer’s home. They will be supplying the pressure washer and the paint. We received a donation from Lifestyles Shutter Systems (They are one the contractors we use for our Mitigation program) for one of our clients, with an in kind value of $2500.00. We also had our LTRO meeting on December 19, 2007 where we had 2 of our members who are volunteers donate an hour of their time. All of our volunteers this month were Caucasian, 1 female age 20-25, 1 male and 3 females age 26-60, and 6 males over the age of 61.

Total volunteer hours donated: 106.5 Total In Kind donations: $1996.88

There is a group from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church from Gaithersburg, MD returning soon. They are in the process of finalizing their plans and will contact me when they have the dates. We are getting things together for the rebuild for Ms. Hopper. As of today we have 2 groups committed to helping with the process. One group from Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church in Virginia will be here February 24, 2007 thru February 29, 2007.
The other group committed to coming is St. Lukes Lutheran Church returning from Washington State. We are still trying to recruit groups to help get this completed by the end of March, as well as find funders for it.

As of December 31st in Hendry County 107 cases have been assigned to case managers and 98 of these have an updated recovery plan completed, 7 of these cases are pending documentation for completion of recovery plans. In Glades County, 12 cases have been assigned to case managers and 7 of these have updated recovery plans completed, 5 of these cases are pending documentation for completion of recovery plans. In December 14 cases have been closed in Hendry County. With all clients needs being met or clients refusal of services. In December 0 cases in Glades County have been closed. There are no unassigned cases.

This department currently has 3 full time and 1 half time case managers funded by UMCOR that are reviewing case information. Case managers are contacting clients to get needed documentation quickly. They are also helping with contacting clients for the Mitigation Program on a weekly basis. We were sad to loose one of our half time case managers this month; Amanda who was has been with CREW longer than any of our current employees. We also said Good bye to Edie, who had run the VFF Close out Program.

In the month of December there has been a total 6 new applicants for mitigation. Only 3 have been entered into the Hurricane Relief Database and 3 are awaiting completion of paperwork. There are 87 clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database and 13 are needed to complete the contract amount. For the months of October and November a total of 47 inspection reports have been received. The 47 clients that have received inspection report have been divided between two contractors, Alufab Hurricane Shutters and CAT 5 Hurricane Products. Mitigation for the clients given to these contractors is expected to be completed January 31, 2008. 30 clients are still awaiting inspection reports. CREW’s contract with VFF expires on December 31, 2007. As of December 20, 2007 CREW received an extension until March 31, 2008 to complete 100 homes in the Hendry and Glades County areas. CREW will continue in its effort to mitigate 100 or more homes. There will be a continued effort to reach clients by advertisement by flyers as well as going from door to door in the communities of Hendry and Glades Counties. S.H.I.P. Coordinator Aida Barnhart of Hendry County has continued in her effort to gain clients for Mitigation. Our Mitigation program will not be extended after March. We can reapply for a new grant in March which would then not begin till July.

Our bank account balance as of 12/31/07 was $137,027.30. In the month of December, we received $17,236.60 in grants and donations. We spent $850 in Accounting, $10,480 on Contractors, $269.80 on licenses, $589.00 on mileage, $38.51 on office supplies, $18,425 on payroll, $1409.57 on payroll expenses, $27.15 on postage, $278.72 on telephone, and $549.61 on work team expenses. We spent $19, 323.25 in CRWRC and have $30,676.75 remaining. The VFF, FEMA account shows a negative $25,845.12, balance which we are awaiting a reimbursement check for. Our Gala account show a balance of $5,358.13 which needs to be moved over to the general account. We have $1132.83 in the general fund. The Lutherans account has a -$1995.47. This needs to be zeroed out with NFL account which has $14,529.35 and closed. The Mitigation program has $14,590.63. Our PDA account has $3,821.65. The Rotary account has -$2,795.00, we are expecting a check for $6,000 to replenish this account. Our UMCOR account has $24,319.68 left in the Clewiston account, $36,035.26 in the Moorehaven account.

Looking ahead, we are raising money to do a rebuild in February. We are also applying for grants including Hurricane awareness grants. We are planning a fundraiser in April. We are still awaiting response from grant requests to PDA and Lutherans.
We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. A lap top would also be extremely helpful for the executive director due to the large amount of work she takes home and would allow her to not have to continue to use her personal computer for work.

November's Monthly Report for CREW

2008-02-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

NOVEMBER MONTHLY REPORT

We are getting ready to make a lot of changes, this is this last month we will have some of our current staff, and we will be losing more at the end of March. We are going to be changing some scheduling and changing our focus early next year as well, which will be a permanent change, unless another storm were to hurt our two rural counties.

Beginning January 1st, our Executive Director will be working ½ time for CREW and ½ time for United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties. We should not need a full time director, unless another major storm were to cause major damage to our counties again, at which time we will reevaluate need.

Our main focus has like last month has continues to be our continual efforts to help FEMA (Florida Emergency Management Association) through our VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) grant, which was supposed to close in October, however we have only 1 CREW case still unresolved, however there are less than 14 FEMA cases unresolved. VFF being as concerned as we are about these families, generously extended our grant through the end of the year, however it will not be extended again. The cases detail where the problems are, some are due to a long wait for inspections, some are due to failure to comply on the part of the families, some are awaiting titles and paperwork from FEMA, and some are due to the long process of applying for funding through the American Red Cross and others. It should be noted that our list is considerably longer than FEMA’s list, as we are working with families who purchased trailers on non-conforming lots (not though CREW), especially within the City of Clewiston. We received a new longer list at the beginning of November from FEMA. One of the issues we are running into is that the client hears from us that the trailers cannot stay in the parks where they are, however the park owners are assuring them that they do not have to move. The city has sent them a letter and as a result, some are beginning to come in. One of the greatest challenges of this grant is the shear amount of time we have had to spend on conference calls and in meetings with FEMA, as well as the intense and detailed information needed for cases to be approved for funding. Clients have to prove that they truly need the money by showing income and expenses, and many are referred to Credit Counseling through our partnership with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida as a result. The paperwork related to all these processes is quite intensive.
The American Red Cross Means to Recovery has been a great help to this program, helping 26 people, having paid $195.092.36. Only one of which was not a FEMA (Florida Emergency Management Association) client. In November alone we received $21,225.00 for our clients. These checks come to CREW to verify that the contractors had done the work, before we could give the checks to the contractor. In addition, CREW had to do a great of work taking 5-10 hours a client on case management work in order to complete applications, submit them, and follow up on their progress, hire the contactors, get the check and deliver checks to the contractors after ensuring work was done adequately. In addition, we received $95,923.73 total from VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) for staff to manage these clients and for $69,000 direct service from the dame agency. We were offered $30,000 from the City of Clewiston for city residents for this program as well, and we have managed to only need and formally request $21,535.84 thanks to our case management and ability to use VFF(Volunteer Florida Foundation) and Means to Recovery Funds for some of the city residents. Through the Means to Recovery program we have $30,000 still pending.
This month we received 21 titles for trailers. 5 were delivered and the cases closed. Red Cross Means to Recovery Program is no long accepting application and the VFF program has no funds left for this program and will be shutting down staff as of the end of the year. There are 7 trailers that need to be moved and delivered. We are wing for final certificate of occupancy and titles to close these cases. Three trailers purchased through FEMA’s modified sales program have been set; two have received their certificate of occupancy and are awaiting inspection. One sale was cancelled as client moved out of Hendry County. ROAD will issue a refund and the case is closed. One case was closed due to client being non-compliant with their plan. Of the CREW/ROAD clients all but two have received funding or has a funding plan. Of those two, one is a park model in Clewiston and needs clarification as to where to move it. The other has ignored all attempts of our staff to contact. In regards to the funding plans, 2 of the original clients are awaiting money from the city (letter submitted to City Manager), all others have cash in hand.
Our construction coordinator has estimated 6 jobs (5 in Hendry and 1 in Glades). He assisted one volunteer group with getting the supplies they needed. They installed a fence, a new roof, removed siding, replaced rotted studs, replaced flooring, installed insulation, plywood under laminate, siding and trim, reinstall windows, skirting and sophist, installed front steps, replaced moldy drywall, damaged electrical plugs and switches, install cabinets, and repaired structural damaged to floors and walls. He reports that we spent $10,687 in materials on these jobs. He also picked up in kind donation of fence parts valued at $148.00, and a television valued at $50.00.

We have continued to be blessed with volunteers. On November 11, 2007 we were blessed with one of our returning groups from Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church. This group consisted of 2 volunteers who worked on 3 in depth projects while they were here. This group split into 2 groups, The A team (for the ants they had to avoid) and the B team (for the honey bee hive under the home for their project).The A team worked on replacing a fence for L. W. whose neighbors have pit bull dogs and she does not feel safe in her own backyard. The A team also worked on tearing off and replacing plywood, and shingles on the roof at E. B.’s home. The B Team was occupied with tearing off siding, replacing backboard with plywood and installing vinyl siding on a double wide mobile home for P. B’s. This group also had to replace some rotten wood on the framing prior to replacing the siding, they also replaced some damaged drywall inside the house. This group worked for the entire week and CREW hosted a BBQ luncheon for them to show our appreciation on Friday, November 16. One of the volunteers from this group stayed until Wednesday, November 21st to assist with another client who was in need of having damaged cabinets removed and replaced. When the damaged cabinets were removed we discovered that the flooring underneath needed to be replaced as well. The volunteer worked at M. H.’s Saturday the 17th through Tuesday the 20th replacing the flooring and cabinets. He then returned to P. B’s home to complete the drywall repairs inside her home. We received a donation from United Way/211 of an electric stove to replace the broken one at M. H’s home for an In-Kind value of $150.00. We also received a cash donation of $80.00 and an In- kind donation of some fencing material in the amount of $148.00 from Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church. We also had our LTRO meeting on November 14, 2007 where we had 3 of our members who are volunteers donate an hour of their time. Total volunteer hours donated: 938
Total In Kind donations: $17587.50

We have a group of 3 men coming from Unity Hill United Church of Christ coming the week of December 2, 2007 thru December 8, 2007. A group of 5 volunteers from Memorial Methodist Church from Lake Placid are coming on December 15, 2007.

Our current case load as of November 30th in Hendry County is 126 cases, all o of which have been assigned case managers and have updated recovery plans. In Glades counties there are 8 remaining, all of which have updated recovery plans as well. We closed 60 cases in November, all in Hendry County. We have 3full time and 2 half time case mangers; 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 quickly. They are also helping with contacting clients for the Mitigation Program on a weekly basis. We have 1 case manager who is reviewing and completing Means to Recovery Applications, writing reports and tracking our FEMA grant funds.

We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. A lap top would also be extremely helpful for the executive director due to the large amount of work she takes home and would allow her to not have to continue to use her personal computer for work.

Our mitigation program has done a great job of biding approved contractors against each other and finding ways to spend less money per home. In the month of November there has been a total of 11 new applicants for mitigation. All have been entered into the Hurricane Relief Database. CREW has mitigated 15 homes all in the Hendry county area. A total of 17 new inspection reports have been received. There are now 44 clients certified to receive mitigation. There are 44 clients awaiting contractor estimates. There are a total of 84 Clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database. 16 more clients are needed to meet the contract total for 2007. CREW has received a reimbursement check from The Volunteer Florida Foundation in the amount of 43,592.62 for the Mitigation program. All 44 certified clients will be served by one of the 3 contractors that have given an estimate on installing shutters (Glades Roofing, Alufab Hurricane Shutters,& CAT 5 Hurricane Products). There has been advertisement by flyers as well as going from door to door in the communities of Hendry and Glades Counties. S.H.I.P. Coordinator Aida Barnhart of Hendry County has continued in her effort to gain clients for Mitigation. We will likely receive an extension on this program until our 100 homes are met. When RFPs are once again accepted we will apply for another 100.

Our bank account balance as of 11/30/07 was $201,321.40. According to our accountant, we have $31,203.33 in CRWRC funds, -$17,578.63 in FEMA funds (we are awaiting reimbursements on this), $5,358.13 in Gala that needs to be sent over to General, -$1995.47 in Lutherans, this needs to be zeroed out, perhaps by using gala funds, Mitigation has $17801.08, NFL has $14,529.35, this needs to be zeroed out and moved to general, PDA has $3357.66, Rotary has a negative amount, this needs to be zeroed out, funded by Gala funds, UMCOR Clewiston has $33,923.99, UMCOR Moore haven has $36,035.26 and VFF3 is -$2713.09. These balance do not match what we have, therefore we are working to resolve these discrepancies and should have an answer within the week. Our CREW iGive statement shows that we raised $100.45 total, $73.14 of which has been disbursed to us.

Looking ahead, we are raising money to do a rebuild in February. We are also applying for grants including Hurricane awareness grants. We are planning a fundraiser in April. We are still awaiting response from grant requests to PDA and Lutherans.

Behind the times

2008-02-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry we have not been keeping up this site, but we hope to change that for good today! Here is our October Monthly Report!

October Monthly Report

October was a very busy month we submitted grant requests, quarterly and monthly grant reports to all our funders, and contractual request changes in one grant. All of this requires a large amount of information gathering, creating forms and spreadsheets, and negotiations with various agencies.

Our main focus has been our continual efforts to help FEMA (Florida Emergency Management Association) through our VFF (Volunteer Florida Foundation) grant, which was supposed to close in October, however we have almost 80 cases still unresolved. I have attached the spreadsheet to this report, with last names and addressed omitted. VFF being as concerned as we are about these families, generously extended our grant through the end of the year. The cases detail where the problems are, some are due to a long wait for inspections, some are due to failure to comply on the part of the families, some are awaiting titles and paperwork from FEMA, and some are due to the long process of applying for funding through the American Red Cross and others. It should be noted that our list is considerably longer than FEMA’s list, as we are working with families who purchased trailers on non-conforming lots (not though CREW), especially within the City of Clewiston. One of the issues we are running into is that the client hears from us that the trailers cannot stay in the parks where they are, however the park owners are assuring them that they do not have to move. One of the greatest challenges of this grant is the shear amount of time we have had to spend on conference calls and in meetings with FEMA, as well as the intense and detailed information needed for cases to be approved for funding. Clients have to prove that they truly need the money by showing income and expenses, and many are referred to Credit Counseling through our partnership with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida as a result. The paperwork related to all these processes is quite intensive.

We have had 26 volunteers this month. A group of 9 from Winter Haven Florida, Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church that worked on laying flooring for Leopold during the week of 10/09/07 thru 10/13/07. This group also presented CREW with a donation of $500.00. Another group of 7 from The First Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach have been here several times before and worked on Leopold’s house returned again (they are fond of him and worked on his home before) and worked on the flooring at Leopold’s and installing some plywood and painting at for E.S. They were here on October 20, 2007. The third group of 7 came from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church and worked on completing the flooring at Leopold’s on October 27, 2007. We had three local volunteers at our monthly LTRO meeting that worked 425 hours for a total in kind donation of $7912.50. In November, we are thrilled to have Manassas United Methodist from Virginia return; we want to do something special for them. They are coming the week of November 11, 2007 thru November 16, 2007. They are sending 22 members to help with a number of different projects.

As of October 31st in Hendry County 193 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in 193 of these cases or are in the process of completion. In Glades County, 10 cases have been assigned to case managers and 10 of these have updated recovery plans completed or in the process of completion. In October 47 cases have been closed in Hendry County with all clients needs being met or clients refusal of services. 1 case in Glades County was closed. Currently there are no unassigned cases. This department currently has 2 full time and 2 half time case managers that are reviewing case information. Case managers are updating the needs of approximately 5 clients a day. Another full time case manager who is reviewing and completing Means to Recovery Applications, writing reports and tracking our FEMA grant funds. The partnership between Means to Recovery (Red Cross) has been a slow process and we have currently received approval of funding for 26 clients (awaiting approval on another 3) and received actual checks to pay vendors for 25 of those clients. We have 8 more that we are waiting for clients to get all verifications to us so they can be submitted. One of our USDA referral clients is close to receiving her mobile home after a year of work with USDA and CREW. For those clients that are not able to get out to our CREW office in Clewiston, we will set up in our Labelle office or Moorehaven office when needed.

One of the computers donated when CREW first started has died this month. We have not had funds to replace yet. We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. We also need separate hard drives to back up information stored on the computers.

During the month of October the Construction Coordinator, completed twelve assessments, and completed twelve invoices in Hendry County. The construction coordinator supervised the volunteer groups this month. The total construction costs of these projects were $1052.59.

In working with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida, we have provided clients with credit counseling and budget planning; conducted Home Buyer Education Workshops in Clewiston, Labelle, and Immokalee. We attended the Housing Coalition as well. Our staff representative is working on attending core curriculum classes to get certified through the Florida Housing Coalition.

For the FEMA Close out project, all families listed on FEMA close out grant with open cases are currently in the Red Cross CAN system. Most of the efforts this month have been on obtaining permits. Two trailers have been moved to conforming lots and in the process of being set up, five trailers have permits granted and we are working with FEMA and CREW contractors to move these trailers.

In the month of October the mitigation program has received a great response. There has been a total 22 new applicants for mitigation. 11 have been entered into the Hurricane Relief Database and 11 are on hold for completion of paperwork. A total of 27 new inspection reports have been received. There are now 39 clients certified to receive mitigation. There are 30 clients awaiting contractor estimates. 3 more homes have been completed by Lifestyle Shutters. 8 homes are in progress with Glades Roofing and have been since the beginning of October. The Mitigation process for the above homes has been delayed because of internal problems the County Building and Zoning are having. The completion date for the above homeowners has been reset for November 30, 2007. An initial deposit of $9201.73 has been made to Glades Roofing for 8 homes. The total cost of these projects will be $28830.46. There are a total of 73 Clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database and 11 on hold awaiting completion of client paperwork. Staff members Anthony Dukes and Renee’ Mergott attended an Orientation/Training for Volunteer Florida Foundation and My Safe Florida Home on October 22-24 2007 to benefit the success of The Mitigation Program. We have been advertising the program through the use of flyers and going from door to door in the communities of Hendry and Glades Counties. Crew has met with S.H.I.P. Coordinator Aida Barnhart of Hendry County in an effort to gain clients for Mitigation. There has also been advertisement by the local radio station (WAFC FM @ 99.5) as well as Spanish radio (Radiofiesta @ 590 AM) to reach a broader clientele. C.R.E.W. will also be meeting with S.H.I.P. of Glades counties to inquire about mitigating homes in their area.

Our Executive Director serves as a Board Member for the Florida VOAD and is on their case management committee, participating in weekly phone conferences for the case management committee. She also serves as a member on the local Homeless Coalition Board, as well as participates in the community wide Family Services Network both have meetings monthly. Our blog site and You Tube site is being regularly updated, and celebrated National First Responders Day this month. Grant writing and searching for new available grants is also a daily task for our Executive Director. Grants were submitted to 100 Best Communities and UMCOR this month. Quarterly grant reports were sent to PDA, UMCOR, and CRWRC this month as well. She also participated in the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties Campaign Kick Off at Harbor side on October 31st.

Our staff members volunteered our time running a both in Clewiston’s Fall Festival and participated in National Make A Difference Day on October 27th. We said good-bye to our case manger Hilda, who was an incredible asset to our agency, and left only because of a wonderful job offer from her former employer. We also celebrated the personal achievement of our case manger Laisa who obtained her GED this month.

At the request of some funders, we are in the process of opening a savings account so that we can earn interest on funds from grants until we need them. We should hear about UMCOR grant request on November 9th. We are still awaiting response from PDA. I am unsure when announcement on 100 best communities will be decided. We will be submitted invoice to the City of Clewiston for the FEMA close out costs they promised to pay this month. We will be asking for substantially less than what was offered due to our ability to find funding through the American Red Cross Means to Recovery Grant and other funders.

Our finances as of October 31st are as follows. There is $46,691.91 in our account, including all grant funds. This includes the following accounts.
1. CRWRC $15543.44.
2. VFF-Mitigation Grant $13,898.33.
3. VFF-FEMA Close out grant has balance of -$242.48.
4. VFF-FEMA Private funds has balance of -$2,713.09
5. UMCOR funds has balance of $16,196.51.
6. PDA funds has balance of -$3,156.66

Pompano Beach Presbyterians are Great.

2007-10-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

Volunteers returned from First Presbyterian Church in Pompano Beach today. They came to Clewiston to work on Mr. P's house. They painted his house when they were here before, and today they are here laying floor tile, hoping to get him in his house before the holidays start. He is a great man, and has been a wonderful help and motivator to us and our volunteers.

CREW Employee Spotlight!

2007-10-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

CREW is beginning a new segment of the Employee Spotlight, we are starting with one of the two employees who have worked for us the longest!

Laisa Vega was born in Fresno, California. She is a 24 year old Mexican female, who has lived in Clewiston Florida for half of her life here in Clewiston. She is the mother of one beautiful 3 year old girl, the wife of a Sugar Mill Worker, who she's been married to for 4 years. All of her wonderful and supportive family live locally here in Clewiston. Laisa is an active member of the Pentecostal Church of God in Clewiston and volunteers for church activities regularly. She speaks fluent Spanish and English. She stopped going to High School in her Senior year due to problems with summer school, but understanding the importance of education, just this week received her GED. Prior to working at CREW she worked odd temporary jobs, the most recent one she lost due to the store, Price Cutters, being destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. So how fitting she would come bless us with her skills. According to Laisa, CREW was her first "real job" and she has worked with us for 2 years since we began after Hurricane Wilma. She was one of the first employees hired under a Workforce Development Grant. Her salary is now paid for by grants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Volunteer Florida Foundation. She reports that her job at CREW has helped her a lot, it gave her self-confidence and helped teach her valuable life skills and she believes it helped her to pass her GED! We are so excited to hear she passed her test, she will be receiving her GED diploma in the mail, look for pictures of her with her diploma here!

Tornado Touchdown in Escambia County

2007-10-18T16:09:00.000-04:00

At 10:16 am cdt the National Weather Service Doppler Radar and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado. This tornado was located near downtown Pensacola moving northeast at 15 mph.
A tornado warning remains in effect until 10:45 am cdt for south central Santa Rosa and southeastern Escambia counties. Other locations in the warning include but are not limited to Brent, east Pensacola Heights, Pensacola Regional Airport, Ferry Pass, Pace, Milton and Bagdad. This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation. This storm is capable of producing strong to violent tornadoes. If you are in the path of this tornado...take cover immediately!
STATE ACTIONS
• The State Emergency Operations Center is currently at a Level 3
• Region 2 Coordinator is en route to Escambia County to support local operations
• Operations and Plans Sections staff are monitoring the current situation and providing updates as needed

September Monthly Report

2007-10-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

September was a good month. We have had one group of volunteers this month from Cape Coral. Grace Ministries UMC sent 2 volunteers to work on September 1, 2007. This group completed work on Oscar’s home. They hung paneling and finished the repairs to the ceiling. This group will be returning October 6, 2007. They have been coming about one day a month for quite some time. The total number of volunteers’ hours; 8. Total In Kind donation; $148.00.

As of September 30th in Hendry County 228 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in 85 of these cases or are in the process of completion. In Glades County, 10 cases have been assigned to case managers and 10 of these have updated recovery plans completed or in the process of completion. In September 28 cases have been closed in Hendry County. With all clients needs being met or clients refusal of services. 6 cases in Glades County are closed with all clients’ needs being met or client’s refusal of services. To date there are 0 unassigned cases. This department currently has 3 full time and 2 half time case managers that are reviewing case information. Case managers are updating the needs of approximately 5 clients a day. 1 case manager who is reviewing and completing Means to Recovery Applications, writing reports and tracking our FEMA grant funds. The partnership between Means to Recovery (Red Cross) has been a slow process and we have currently received approval of funding for 15 clients and received actual checks to pay vendors for 6 of those clients. One of our USDA referral clients is close to receiving her mobile home after a year of work with USDA and CREW. For those clients that are not able to get out to our CREW office in Clewiston, we are set up in our Labelle office, every second Tuesday of each month and the Moore Haven office, every Tuesday from the hours of 9-12.

Our new office space is meeting all of our needs and is a blessing for the added space. 2 We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential.

During the month of September the Construction Coordinator, completed four reassessments, three new assessments, and, worked on nine different invoices, two in Glades County, and the rest in Hendry Country. Volunteers were not available during this month, so we used this time to address several ongoing problems we have been having in these areas: permitting and engineering, inventory, and material logistics. In the permitting area we have started a filing system for material specification worksheets, that will be available to clients seeking permits. Building and zoning from Counties and Cities were contacted and met with to facilitate more effective procedures in these areas. Our current inventory groups, tools and materials into one inventory, this creates problems because tools are hopefully long term items and materials come in and go out much more rapidly. To simplify we are creating two separate inventories for these areas. In addressing the material logistics problem, Jim White, of 1294 Davidson Rd. has agreed to allow us to use his large three-car garage area to gather and stage materials for upcoming jobs and for storing leftover materials from jobs completed. Kristy Seiler, for John Del La Cruz, donated another donation of shell rock for a mobile home pad. The approximate value of these donations was: $450.00.

In working with The Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida, we have provided 40 clients with credit counseling and budget planning. We conducted one Home Buyer Education Workshops in Clewiston, Labelle, and Immokalee. We worked on a fundraiser and attended the Housing Coalition as well. Our staff representative is working on attending core curriculum classes to get certified through the Florida Housing Coalition.

For the FEMA Close out project, all families listed on FEMA close out grant with open cases are currently in the CAN system. Assistance through this grant will be used to help families reach the long-term recovery goal of permanent housing solutions. In most cases, this involves the purchase, tie down, set up, permitting and connecting of mobile homes bought through FEMA’s modified and direct sales programs. Services provided to families this month required licensed contractors. Therefore, no volunteer services were used. In total C.R.E.W. has utilized 14 volunteers working a cumulative total of 70 hours during this project. In addition to the funding received from The Volunteer Florida Foundation C.R.E.W. receives funding from United Way of Lee, Hendry, and Glades Counties; UMCOR; PDA; and the Empowerment Alliance of Southwest Florida that assist with paying salaries to C.R.E.W. employees. C.R.E.W. has started to receive funding from The American Red Cross’s Means to Recovery Fund. During the month of September, C.R.E.W. received funding in the amount of $70,310.38 to assist with the cost of fully connecting client’s mobile homes. (This brings total funding received from American Red Cross to $126,867). It is important to note that funding received from American Red Cross is received as checks made directly to service providers and professional vendors and is considered in kind donations. At no time is this money deposited into C.R.E.W. accounts. Additionally, C.R.E.W. has used money received from another contract through the Volunteer Florida Foundation to assist four other families with total set up and connections of there newly purchased trailers. The amount used to help the afore mentioned families totals $69,00. Finally, the City of Clewiston has approved funding to assist residence living on non-conforming mobile home parks inside the city limits. As per the minutes of the April City Council meeting, the city has set aside $30,000 to be distributed on a case-by-case basis to these families. C.R.E.W. is in the process of writing a proposal for individual families and presenting it to the city. It is planned that this proposal will be presented by September 12, 2007. Links to the Volunteer Florida Foundation are posted on both our blog spot: huricanerecovery.blogspot.com and our website: home.earthlink.net~hurricanerecovery FEMA provided C.R.E.W. with a total of 65 clients who were in need of services. Additionally, the City of Clewiston also named over 20 families living on non-conforming lots inside the city limits that may be in need of services. The later 20 families may still be in need of services even though they are considered “closed cases” by FEMA. During the month of August, one family has been assisted with rental assistance and is waiting on the permitting process to be complete before they can move into their newly purchased mobile home. Eighteen families are in the process of obtaining permits to set up their mobile homes or certificates of occupancy for their mobile homes. However, in Hendry County it is taking over one to two months to receive a permit and approximately a week in some cases to schedule final inspection. Thus, even though funding has been secured and services have been ordered, families are still waiting on approvals through the county/city before completing their recovery plans. On family has had their trailer completely set up, but is waiting on the air conditioning contractor to complete services before they can reach a permanent housing solution. Because of the lack of and high demand of service providers in Hendry County, it has taken a while for this family to be scheduled with the service provider. Another family will be closed the middle of September; however, numerous complication arose with achieving a final Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Clewiston. These complications ranged from finding the sewer line to completing a “tie in survey” which was a new requirement that was only brought to C.R.E.W’s attention when the final inspection was called. These complications have added an additional month to the family reaching there permanent housing solution. One family’s case was closed due to non-compliance and failure to respond to a final notice. Of the clients working with C.R.E.W. nineteen are on course for the month in implementing their revised exit plan. It is anticipated that these nineteen families will be able to reach their goal of a permanent housing solution with in the next month and half given that the permitting process goes smoothly. The remaining families working with C.R.E.W. are in the process of bringing in required documentation needed to move their Means to Recovery application forward. These families have been notified and are aware of what is needed to proceed. The majority of the remaining families are residing in a non conforming trailer park in the City of Clewiston. C.R.E.W. caseworkers have contacted these families in order to notify them of the City deadline for removing trailers off of non conforming lots. Along with the request for case by case funding that C.R.E.W. is presenting with the family, C.R.E.W. is working with the City to help develop communication and other forms of assistance that may be available to these families. C.R.E.W. has two families awaiting approval from the American Red Cross Means to Recovery Program. Another six families will be presented to our local American Red Cross Representative with in the next two weeks. These families have been slow to turn in the paperwork needed to complete application. The exact date that these applications will be turned in will be dependant upon the date that the Red Cross Representative will be able to visit C.R.E.W.’s office. Hendry County’s Director of Building and Zoning who had only been working for the past few months resigned. It is unknown how the change in the administration will affect the permitting process. C.R.E.W. speaks with FEMA representative Deanna Poland on a daily basis to exchange updated information. Moreover, the FEMA field worker, Tracy, has also met with C.R.E.W. he has contact information relating to which service contractors are working with which clients. He is working closely with C.R.E.W. and contractors to arrange logistics of moving and setting up trailers. C.R.E.W. can always use money to assist with the administrative cost of running the office. C.R.E.W. has volunteers willing to rebuild a new home for clients who own their own land. Although families in need and labor have been identified for at least three rebuilds, the families are in need of building supplies. The supplies are estimated to be $50, 000 to complete one rebuild.

In the month of September the mitigation program has received a great response.
We received a total 22 new applicants for mitigation, 17 have been enter into the Hurricane Relief Database and 5 are on hold for completion of paperwork. A total of 9 inspection reports have been received and 1 of those marked ineligible for income reasons. There are now 15 clients certified to receive mitigation. There are 4 clients awaiting contractor estimates. 3 homes are in progress with Lifestyle Shutters (Norman Smith, Henderson Trammell and Joseph Mitchell). 8 homes are in progress with Glades Roofing (Shauntee Parnell, Mary Williams, Helena Reid, Wilhelmenia Cobb, Mae Francis Hill, Llewelyn Brissett, John Samples and Patricia Smalls). The completion date for the above home owners is set for October 15, 2007. An initial deposit of $3460.00 has been made to lifestyle Shutters for 3 homes and $9201.73 to Glades Roofing for the other 8 homes. The total cost of these projects will be $28830.46. There are a total of 62 Clients entered in the Hurricane Relief Database and 5 on hold awaiting completion of clients paperwork. There has been advertisement by radio (WAFC FM @ 99.5) and newspaper (Clewiston News) as well as flyers. This will help in our effort to gather more clients for mitigation. An appointment has been set to advertise on the Spanish radio station (Radiofiesta @ 590 AM) to reach a broader clientele. C.R.E.W. will also be meeting with S.H.I.P. of Hendry and Glades counties to inquire about mitigating their homes.

Our Executive Director serves as a Board Member for the Florida VOAD and is on their case management committee, participating in a quarterly meeting in St. Petersburg this month, and weekly phone conferences for the case management committee. She also met with Frank Perez from the Florida Equal Justice Center who came to our offices to see if he could assist us in any way in working with FEMA or getting those in FEMA trailers the assistance they need. She also serves as a member on the local Homeless Coalition Board and attended meetings with them this month as well. This month also saw a two-day monitoring from Volunteer Florida Foundation in which we made some paperwork changes. Our blog site is being regularly (often daily) updated, and celebrated National First Responders Day this month. Grant writing and searching for new available grants is also a daily task for our Executive Director.

Our finances as of September 30th are as follows. There is $90,122.15 in our account, including all grant funds. This includes the following accounts.

1. CRWRC spent $942.90 this month.
2. VFF-Mitigation grant spent $19,999.21 for a balance of $14,298.33.
3. VFF-FEMA Close out grant has balance of -$2,242.48.
4. VFF-FEMA Private funds has balance of -$2,713.09
5. UMCOR funds has balance of $16,196.51.
6. PDA funds has balance of -$3,156.66

Beymer Memorial Methodist Church Rocks!

2007-10-15T16:35:00.000-04:00

We received a nice note from Rev. Sharon Bates at Beymer Memorial Methoidst Church with these pictures of their trip, including a picutre when they presented CREW with a gift of $500 to help victims of Hurricane Wilma.

She writes: "Thanks for helping us have a rewarding mission trip to Clewiston October 10-13. We were very impressed with your cooperation and communication. Your cheerful and positive attitudes and enormous supply of patience with us were most appreciated by all in our group. Chuck gave us great instructions on how to do some new skills that we can now add to our list!! The First United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian churches are to be complimented> for their hospitality to us. The county showers were always clean and had plenty of warm water to help us clean up and rejuvenate! We hope we can work together again! I will try to send more pictures as we gather them from the other cameras!! In His Peace, Sharon Bates Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church Winter Haven, Florida "

This volunteer group was wonderful. In addition to all their hard labor, they gave the First United Methodist Church a monetary gift for hosting them one night for dinner and letting them sleep on the hard floors in their Sunday School rooms. They even had to drive to the local Marina to find a place to shower. They also provided Community Presbyterian Church with a monetary gift for hosting them one night for dinner as well. How blessed our community was to have them visit!

CREW Mitigates homes on You Tube

2007-10-15T01:20:00.000-04:00

CREW continues to Mitigate homes, to help low income families in Hendry and Glades Counties prepare for future storms. Workers came and will be shuttering eleven homes in the next couple weeks. More are being certified and inspected everyday.

Check out this video: CREW shutters low income homes for rural residents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBAEsMfCs4

FEMA prepares for Lake O problems

2007-10-12T01:41:00.000-04:00

FEMA Shifts, Draws Own Disaster PlansFriday,
October 12, 2007 1:11 AM EDT
The Associated PressBy SCOTT LINDLAW Associated Press Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is quietly drawing up plans for a handful of disasters: devastating earthquakes beneath San Francisco and St. Louis and catastrophic storms in South Florida and Hawaii, FEMA's chief said Thursday.

In a departure from its traditional expectation that states develop such responses, the agency is forming "base plans" for responding to specific calamities, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

FEMA officials expect to finish plans for a massive Bay Area quake by the end of the year and are at work on another response blueprint for a large quake on the New Madrid fault, which runs from southern Illinois to northeastern Arkansas and lurks beneath St. Louis, Paulison said.

FEMA also is preparing for a Category 5 hurricane in the Miami area and has nearly completed response guidelines for a failure of the 143-mile dike around Lake Okeechobee, northwest of Miami, he said. About 45,000 people live in flood-prone areas around the lake.

Also, the agency recently began assembling response plans for a catastrophic hurricane in Hawaii, Paulison said.Last year, Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer expressed dismay that the federal government did not have a plan to respond to a catastrophic earthquake in their home state of California.

In March 2006, Paulison's boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, called those concerns unwarranted and said federal officials were fulfilling their duties by meeting with state emergency management planners and reviewing their plans.

"They've got to write it," Chertoff said then of the state's primary role in a response plan. Yet by late last year, FEMA's regional offices — not Washington headquarters — were well into the writing of some of the planning documents, a process that Paulison said began before Boxer and Feinstein aired their objections.

"We recognize that we've got to do catastrophic planning," Paulison said in Thursday's interview at FEMA's regional headquarters. A spokesman for Chertoff did not immediately return an after-hours call for comment.
The federal government spent $5 million to develop the Florida plans, about $17 million for the New Madrid plan, $1.5 million for Hawaii and $1 million for northern California.

Next year, FEMA hopes to obtain additional funding to write another plan for an earthquake catastrophe in Southern California, said Nancy Ward, the administrator for the FEMA region that includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Guam, Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

FEMA has adopted a more aggressive stance toward disasters since Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the Southeast in 2005. Paulison called it a "culture change" at FEMA. Paulison did not mention a base plan for the New Orleans area, but FEMA officials said the agency worked closely with state and local authorities to complete a New Orleans-area disaster plan. Paulison said the old model of waiting for states to plead for federal help was a recipe for "sequential failure." "We've got to go in as partners. We've got to stand side by side," he said. "We're going to move in early, we're not going to wait for the state to ask for things before we start moving them, we're going to anticipate what the needs are, and then when they ask for them, we're going to be there," he said. "The worst that can happen is they don't need them."

Methodist Volunteers Help Local Residents

2007-10-11T23:04:00.001-04:00

Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church volunteers worked all day Wednesday, returned to the local Clewiston First United Church (where they are sleeping in Sunday School rooms, and traveling to marina for showers) for dinner and fellowship, where they presented the local Church with a monetary gift for hosting them. They worked again all day Thursday, trying to help those still suffering the effects of homes destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. Thursday night, Community Presbyterian Church in Clewiston hosted them for dinner and fellowship as well.

CREW Mitigates more homes!

2007-10-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

CREW continues to Mitigate homes, to help low income families in Hendry and Glades Counties prepare for future storms. Workers came today and began work on two homes and will be shuttering eleven homes in the next couple weeks. More are being certified and inspected everyday.

Help CREW simply by Shopping

2007-10-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Tell-a-Friend about iGive.com!More Supporters Mean More Donations for CREW. Click here to tell a friend about iGive.com now! During our Surfathon, you and your friends can visit online stores through iGive.com for more chances to win a $1000 donation! Click here to learn more about the Surfathon. We'll also donate an extra $5 to your friend's favorite charity when they make their first purchase! Send them your personalized Tell-a-Friend link (included below) and CREW will be pre-selected as the cause to support! It can mean thousands for your cause. $5 bonus donation rules: Referred friends must join through your personalized Tell-a-Friend link:

http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=324218&causeid=35958

Referred friends must shop through iGive within 45 days of joining.The $5 bonus donation will appear in your friend's iGive.com account.

Volunteers from

2007-10-09T20:02:00.001-04:00

Volunteers from Beymer Memorial Church in Winter Haven, Florida arrived in Clewiston tonight. They came to volunteer at CREW repairing homes destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. They began settling in tonight in their rooms (sleeping on pallets on the floor) at the First United Methodist Church in Clewiston. Pastor John, from FUMC in Clewiston was there to greet them and make them feel welcome along with Renee Mergott, our Volunteer Coordinator. In addition to volunteering, they also presented the Executive Director of CREW with a donation check of $500.00. Praise God for such wonderful volunteers, keep posted for pictures of the work they are doing!

CREW Update

2007-10-08T22:06:00.001-04:00

CREW had it's monthly board meeting this afternoon and was excited to have guests from UMCOR, Volunteer Florida Foundation, and the Glades County Commissioners. Issues were reviewed, and plans made for our Unmet Needs meeting next month. Scaling down on employees, as our client numbers are decreasing was discussed, and new funding opportunities were also discussed, plans for continuing CREW to help with disaster preparedness, and smaller disasters such as fires were also discussed.

Friends at DNN

2007-10-07T16:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to our friends at DNN, (and former volunteer Heather!) we are getting more publicity about our need for funds for a rebuild. We also may have raised about the half the funds needed, I will know more next week! Please keep this family and our ability to raise funds in your hearts and minds!

Publix and United Way

2007-10-07T09:06:00.000-04:00

You know, I truly love Publix grocery stores, and I feel the need to tell you about my experience shopping there on my way home from a training yesterday. We unfortunately have no Publix anywhere in our county. In fact the choices for grocery shopping in Clewiston are pitiful, so on my way home from Sarasota, I stopped at the Publix store on highway 80 headed home to Clewiston.

From the moment I walked in the store I was blown away. Every single employee who passed me, looked me directly in the eye and asked me how I was doing, and offered to help me find anything I might need. This is not standard customer service in a world that is allowing customer service to fall very short. The store itself was spotless and sparkling clean, again a think unusual for Clewiston. Then, there was the freshness of the produce, unlike last week, the produce I bought in local stores went bad in a day. AND THE CHOICES!!!! The choices for food, produce, meats, etc. is limited locally, here the choices were endless. At the seafood shop I overhead a customer ask for the rare thing they did not have fresh, the assistant called every Publix Store in the vicinity, gave the customer directions to the store, and had the store hold the item till the customer got there. Meanwhile, staff continued to greet me pleasantly and offer assistance.

As I went through the store I discovered their Green Wise Market, how cool! These days, more and more people are looking for naturally delicious and environmentally friendly products. The Publix GreenWise Market items offers excellent quality and value. Organic items are raised without added growth hormones or synthetic antibiotics, steroids, pesticides, or fertilizers and are all-natural with no GMOs (genetically modified organisms). They offer, minimally processed, all-natural items with no artificial colors, flavor, preservatives or sweeteners. The earth-friendly products are produced in such a way to minimize any negative impact on the environment.

And of course, being the Good Corporate citizens they are, I can get Upromise Points by shopping there, and free oral anitbiotics from the pharmacy. Again, all with EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE.

So it is finally check out time, the check out woman was so pleasant, chatted with me, and as the bagger had left checked my groceries and bagged them, refusing to let me help. A manager witnessed this came and began bagging apologizing profusely not only to me but to the check out girl. Then the manager offered to take my groceries to the car, I told him (being the feminist I am) that it was truly not necessary. He insisted. He took the cart to my car, unloaded the groceries, making sure I put the cold stuff up front near the AC knowing I had a long drive and taking care to put eggs and bread where they could not be damaged. Again, I was shocked, so I had to bring up the fact that I worked for United Way, he proudly puffed up and told me how much the store had done, I smiled and told him I was well aware of it and mentioned that Publix funds had helped incredibly in our rural Hendry and Glades Counties and shared the wonderful work their funds had allowed us to achieve. I told him the biggest thing the company could do for us now, was to please open a store in Clewiston! He proudly again told me they are opening 30 new stores next year.

The store I went to was: The Shops at Verandah 11851 Palm Beach Blvd Fort Myers, FL 33905-5912

Cool, lets hope one is in Clewiston and God Bless Publix!

FEMA

2007-10-06T23:23:00.000-04:00

I attended a Train the Trainer Training today put on by Ken Salitsky, who is our FEMA VAL for Region 4. I met him for the first time in New Orleans at a National VOAD meeting, and was very impressed. He continues to impress me, unlike most Government employees, he truly acts from his heart and cares about people, and is in the business of making life better for people. It was cool because 12 counties from Florida had representatives there. This training is designed to demystify the process of getting help from various Government sources after a disaster.

The training was extremely helpful, but more than that, it struck a cord. You know the social worker in me can not be quiet for long. Everyone, loves to blame FEMA and the Government when their life goes bad, but it often goes bad for decisions made by those that have nothing to do with the Government. I have an urge to help others all the time and love to reach my hand out to help, it is what I believe I was called to do, however, I expect them to reach back. I will work my but off to help someone, but I expect them to do all they are able to help themselves. The Government does not owe us crap. We are supposed to take care of ourselves, and hopefully, if we are good citizens, pay our taxes and help those in need when we can, then we need help, help will be provided. It is a very basic concept, but seems foreign to many.

FEMA takes a lot of heat, and Heaven knows they have angered me on occasion, but ultimately, our country was founded on the concept that we could pull ourselves up by our boot straps and help ourselves, when someone is truly unable, others that have and can should step in. I say lets thank FEMA for what they do, being thank full we are not on our own, and if you want them to help more, join a church, their mission is to help you!

In any case as a CREW and United Way Of Lee Hendry and Glades employee I am qualified to train volunteers and others in helping disaster victims fill out the forms necessary for them to receive Government Assistance.

Money needed to rebuild home!

2007-10-04T08:33:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of our first rebuild, we want to do another!

CREW wants to rebuild a home for Pamela. Pamela is a 53 year old Florida born Caucasian woman who works for Southern Gardens and has for many years. She also cleans offices for extra money. In addition to working two jobs, she finds time to volunteer, so she can help others. After Hurricane Wilma, Pamela’s home was severely damaged. The winds were so strong that they picked up Pamela’s mobile home and twisted it. Pamela who was inside of the mobile home during the storm began to screw the walls back together as they were ripping apart. After the hurricane had passed she was told to leave but had no where to go. She was unable to go to a shelter because she feared that her belongings that were left would be stolen. Pamela had insurance a few days prior to the storm but her insurance company cancelled due to no hand rails being on her porch right before the storm. Pamela did not have sufficient time to put the hand rails on before Wilma hit. She did receive $2,600.00 from FEMA and used to repair her water system and to sit the mobile home back on the blocks. Pamela is low- income and is unable to repair the mobile home. She also has numerous medical problems and the mold in the home is increasing the severity of her breathing problems. Pamela is living in the only room in her home that is livable, the living room. Pamela was forced to move all of her belongings into that room. She also must sleep, cook, and eat in the living room due to the fact that she does not have electricity in the other rooms of the home. All in all Pamela did not receive enough funds to repair her mobile home and now is living in a severely damaged home that is unsafe and un-repairable. Pamela says “All I want is my life back how it was before Hurricane Wilma”.

It is the Mission of C.R.E.W., Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce, a caring network of Hendry and Glades counties’ civic, social services, faith-based groups, agencies, and organizations along with concerned individual and business, formed to address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the community in the restoration and rebuilding of their lives and homes in times of a natural or man-made disasters. Additionally, C.R.E.W. will provide collaborative leadership and advocacy in the discernment of the long term systemic needs for continuing to assist Pamela and her family with as much as we can, however we are extending a hand as asking for your organization’s assist regarding this project. We have found volunteers that want to build her a home, and we have found people willing to draw the plans, all we need now is the money. We believe it will cost about $50,000 to accomplish this, both in materials and to pay contractors for plumbing and electricity. We are pleading for assistance in raising these funds.

CREW on MySpace

2007-10-03T11:41:00.000-04:00

Check out opportunites to volunteer with CREW on MySpace!

http://myspace.volunteermatch.org/results/opp_detail.jsp?oppid=351699

Grace Ministries United Methodist Church

2007-10-01T11:33:00.000-04:00

Grace United Methodist Church continues to send us volunteers every month almost! You can read through the old blog entries and see lots more about them, they have been with us since we first started tarping roofs after the storm 2 years ago! Last month 2 volunteers came to work on September 1, 2007. They worked a total of 8 hours for an in kind donation of, $148.00. Note they do this on their day off, on their own time and spend time and money in gas driving to our rural area from Cape Coral in order to do this. This group work on Oscar’s home hanging paneling and finishing the repairs to the ceiling.

He and his wife Jackie and two children lived in a trailer in Hooker's Point when Hurricane Wilma hit and their roof, walls, ceilings, floors, doors, plumbing and electrical were all damaged. Oscar could not work because he was disabled after being shot in the leg and back during a robbery attempt.

More families get help!

2007-09-28T14:44:00.000-04:00

CREW closed three cases this week, one has been waiting for a driveway before she could pass inspection to move into her trailer. This one has been a FEMA client for a long time.

Our partnership with Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida resulted in three low income families being able to purchase their first homes, and received Credit Counseling in order to help them keep it!

Amanda, our case worker, and David our Vice President on the Board were on the radio this week talking about Relay for Life, CREW's programs, and our programs with The Empowerment Alliance.

The Mitigation program completed it's first audit from Volunteer Florida Foundation, which went fairly well. Tony was on the radio Thursday talking about the program and put fliers in Western Hendry County and throughout Glades County. We have 12 homes in progress, 4 have been completed, and 38 are awaiting approval from My Safe Florida Home.

How to strengthen your home for future storms

2007-09-25T09:26:00.000-04:00

CREW, Community Rebuilding Ecumenical Workforce, is a local faith inspired agency helping Hendry and Glades County residents recover from and prepare for disaster. CREW partners with the Volunteer Florida Foundation (you can check them out at their website http://www.volunteerfloridafoundation.org/ ) and the Florida Disaster Recovery Fund (http://www.flahurricanefund.org/ ) to help our community strengthen site built homes. Together we are working with is My Safe Florida Home (http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/ ) with a program designed by the state of Florida to strengthen homes against future storms. Certified inspectors will look assess seven points in the home such as improving roof deck attachments, creating a secondary water barrier to prevent water intrusion, improving the survivability of the roof covering, bracing gable-ends in the roof framing, reinforcing roof-to-wall connections, and upgrading exterior wall opening protections, and upgrading exterior doors. My Safe Florida Home is offering free wind inspections by certified hurricane wind inspectors. Inspectors will then be able to determine what is needed to make the home stronger. In order to qualify for this program you must own your site-built home and qualify as low income. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, multi family homes, apartments, and businesses do not qualify. We have already helped residents in our area; check out these pictures of our first completed homes.

If you are interested in the program, you may contact Tony or Hilda at (863) 983-2390 during normal business hours, or contact us by email at crewheadquarters@hotmail.com . You can also check us out on our website, http://home.earthlink.net/~hurricanerecovery/ our blogsite http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/ and on you tube http://www.youtube.com/user/CREWInc .

CREW Celebrates National First Responder Day!

2007-09-25T07:56:00.000-04:00

The First Response Coalition is working to get this day officially recognized, visit their website for more information by clicking on link above.

Who is the First Respnose Coalition you ask? Why let me explain, they are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization promoting the needs of America's first responders in the areas of communications interoperability and data/information preparedness. They represent the broad spectrum of first responders and their "friends and family" -- the communities and individuals served by first responders everyday. They strive to ensure that decision makers attach a high priority to public safety issues such as access to broadband and advanced communications technologies, spectrum allocation and efficient use, funding, and training. Additionally, they work to foster greater cooperation and coordination between all levels of government, industry, and public safety departments to achieve seamless interoperability and access to cutting edge information technologies. The goal of these efforts is to provide emergency personnel with the tools and resources they need to coordinate an effective response to local, regional and national emergencies. The First Response Coalition consists of tens of thousands of concerned citizens and first responders, as well as numerous advocacy groups.

A neat article on how United Methodists are helping in other areas!

2007-09-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

This article has great pictures and mentions the following as well as much more: "Volunteers from Ocoee Oaks United Methodist Church Disaster Aid Response Team help secure a Lady Lake homeowner’s roof after the home was damaged by tornadoes that hit Central Florida last February."

United Methodist's committed to Hurricane Recovery

2007-09-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

Click on the link to see how the United Methodists are helping Hurricane Katrina victims, you can read more about how they have helped us in South Florida by reading previous blog posts here, as well as keeping up with current posts as they continue to help!

Can Hurricane Paths be altered?

2007-09-18T13:01:00.000-04:00

Check out this blog about Hurricanes and their track!

The United Way and CREW!

2007-09-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

The United Way has long helped in disaster. In addition, they have been great to CREW.

The United Way and NFL partnership has helped with over $60,000 in materials used by volunteers to repair hundreds of homes in Hendry and Glades Counties.

The United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties has funded the executive director position at CREW since its inception and has pledged to continue their financial, informational and other support of CREW well into the future. In addition the Hendry and Glades United Way 211 program staff, Arlene Bettencourt especially, have served on CREW's unmet needs committee since its inception as well, and continue to assist CREW in finding resources for needing families throughout the rural Hendry and Glades Counties.

The United Way of Florida continues to provide CREW's executive director with valuable resources and information, not to mention the incredible introduction to the disaster world and its resources that Joy Duperault, Statewide Disaster Coordinator, and others have provided to CREW.

2007-09-17T14:28:00.000-04:00

Accomplishments this quarter were good! We mitigated our first four homes and entered applications for new homes to be assessed. We received extension for FEMA close out which will help us finalize plans for those still living in FEMA trailers past deadline. We received $25,000 grant from CRWRC.

Relationships with other organizations are our greatest accomplishment. We have strengthened and nurtured these relationships. As you will see below these are the greatest accomplishments and what will assist our residents the most.

Partnerships with United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades were strengthened, and plans for that relationship to continue in 2008 and 2009 were made. They have funded the executive director in full since we were incepted and will continue to fund the position part time in 2008. They also provide our agency with office space. We have been promoting the 211 program and making referrals to this program often.

By working with UMCOR and the local Methodist Churches and groups we have continued to secure funding for case managers and a construction coordinator. We also have a supply of volunteers from them; two local churches have pastors that served on our board since inception (one pastor resigned this week). Both local Methodist Churches also continually offer help to volunteers by housing, feeding, and providing spiritual and emotional support to them when they come. Both churches have also made their missions open to our clients, the Church in Clewiston opens up its food pantry and the one in Moore haven opens up its thrift shop. Two groups of 12 volunteers total from Florida worked 283 hours for an in kind donation of $5,235.50.

Also, by working with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and various Presbyterian Churches we secured most of the money needed to pay our Volunteer coordinator, part of our cell phones bills. This local Presbyterian Church also houses groups of volunteers and feed groups dinner one night a week as well as providing spiritual and emotional support in the process. We had two groups from Florida this quarter. These 10 volunteers worked a total 190 hours for an in kind donation of $3,515.00.

We have also continued our relationship with Lutheran volunteers. We have had groups from Colorado, Florida, and Indiana this quarter. One single volunteer from Michigan came as well. These 70 volunteers worked 1288 hours for an in kind donation of $17,598.00.

Our local Baptist Church provides places for our groups to stay, and offers to feed the groups as well.

Our local Pentecostal church has offered to provide a place for groups to stay. A Pentecostal church from Florida also sent 2 volunteers this quarter that worked 20 hours for an in kind donation of $370.00.

The United Church of Christ is part of our LTRO, and although they do not have a local church they provide funding for our families at times and send one group from Massachusetts this quarter. This group of 12 worked 283 hours for an in kind donation of $5,531.50.

Our relationship with the Empowerment Alliance continues and our case manager/credit counselor/community representative position is doing many things to help homeless and those with credit problems in the community. The Empowerment Alliance pays for ½ the salary and benefits.

Our relationship with local governments and agencies has grown this quarter. We continue as part of the Family Services network. We are working with the City of Clewiston to help meet the need of those in FEMA trailers within the city to prevent them from becoming homeless. We are working with SHIP program in Hendry and Glades County.

Our fourth quarterly newsletter was published. We created a website, and blog site which have been successfully kept up. The blog site allows volunteers to read about their accomplishments and to post their own stories. Our website is http://home.earthlink.net/~hurricanerecovery/ and has links to all our funders and partners, it also links to published newspaper articles and web stories about CREW as well as to our blog site: http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/.

This quarter we had 118 volunteers, work 2080 hours at for an in kind donation of $32,249.50. We had 28 male volunteers from ages 14-19, 4 male volunteers from age group 20-25, 28 male volunteers from age group 26-60 and 9 over 61, 1 was Asian and other Hispanic the rest were Caucasian. As far as female volunteers, we had 32 from ages 14-19, 3 from 20-25, 13 from 26-60 and 1 over 61, all were Caucasian.

During this quarter we served 273. 48 new cases were opened, 21 recovery plans have been created with families and 55 recovery plans were updated. 98 cases were closed this quarter, 3 were referred to another agency, 20 had all their needs met by CREW, 2 had all their needs met by other means, 73 were closed due to clients failure to complete application process or refuse services. Statistical data on the clients we served are as follows, 56 female, 32 male, 37 Hispanic, 18 Black, 33 Caucasian. 7 are between ages of 20-29, 11 between 30-39, 9 between 40-49, 21 between 50-59, 19 between 60-69, 14 between ages of 70-79 and 7 between ages of 80-89.

For Mitigation, we have a total of 55 qualified residents in both counties; this includes 40 who are awaiting inspection from MSFH, 11 that are in progress and 4 that are completed. In addition we have 5 applications in the process of being verified before entering into computer.

Our FEMA Close out project has also been successful. In this program we have been able to use volunteers to help families apply skirting to mobile homes and spread shell to prepare pads for trailers. In total C.R.E.W. used a total of 14 volunteers and 5 hours each of donated time/work during the month of July. This is a cumulative total of 70 hours.

During the Quarter, our FEMA Close out project received funding in the amount of $56,556.98 to cover the cost of fully connecting client’s mobile homes. Additionally, C.R.E.W. has received an email confirmation from the American Red Cross for funding for an additional nine families. Funding for services is expected in the next two weeks or less. It is important to note that funding received from American Red Cross is received as checks made directly to service providers and professional vendors and is considered in kind donations. At no time is this money deposited into C.R.E.W. accounts. C.R.E.W., has approximately ten other families hoping to apply for the Means to Recovery program. However, many of these applications are placed on hold due to clients needing to meet requirements and bring in documentation needed to complete the application process. Many of these families are inside the City of Clewiston. Additionally, C.R.E.W. has used money received from a contract through the Volunteer Florida Foundation to assist four other families with total set up and connections of there newly purchased trailers. The amount used to help the aforementioned families totals $37,809.50. Additionally, C.R.E.W. used $20,411.04 from this grant to help cover various incidental cost (such as skirting, surveys, permitting, deposit for set ups and demolitions) for 12 families. Finally, $409.34 was used to cover the administrative expenses of purchasing a safe and a digital camera. In total, C.R.E.W. used $58,629.58 of funding from the Volunteer Florida Foundation. FEMA provided C.R.E.W. with a total of 65 clients who were in need of services. Additionally, the City of Clewiston also named over 20 families living on non-conforming lots inside the city limits that may be in need of services. The later 20 families may still be in need of services even though they are considered “closed cases” by FEMA. Of the families receiving financial assistance or assistance with applying for financial assistance six families were White-non Hispanic, six families were Black), 13 were Hispanic, and one family was mixed white/and Hispanic. During the quarter, one family has been assisted with rental assistance and moved out of FEMA travel trailer. This family has been approved to receive Means To Recovery Funding, and are awaiting a check from American Red Cross and permits in order to complete their recovery plan. Also during the quarter, three families have reached a permanent housing solution.

Sixteen families in our FEMA Close out project have received approval for funding through the Means to Recovery Program with the American Red Cross. Additionally four families have received funding from the Volunteer Florida Foundation Contract to fully connect their mobile homes. However, in Hendry County it is taking over one to two months to receive a permit. Thus, even though funding has been secured and services have been ordered, families are still waiting on permit approvals through the county before completing their recovery plans. Of the clients working with C.R.E.W. nineteen are on course to implement their revised exit plan. It is anticipated that these nineteen families will be able to reach their goal of a permanent housing solution with in the next month and half given that the permitting process goes smoothly. One case was closed due to the client moving out of state and one case was closed due to legal issues surrounding power of attorney.

The remaining families working with C.R.E.W. in our FEMA Close out project are in the process of bringing in required documentation needed to move their Means to Recovery application forward. These families have been notified and are aware of what is needed to proceed. The majorities of these families are residing in a non conforming trailer park in the City of Clewiston and have been notified of the City deadline for removing trailers off of non conforming lots. Therefore, the anticipated funding from the city can be used to assist these clients.

During this quarter, C.R.E.W. completed 39 assessments, all but one in Hendry County. A total of 6 groups of volunteers and 4 different individual volunteers were supervised. The groups were as follows: Two of these combined and were from Our Saviors Lutheran from Greeley Colorado, and Zion Lutheran Church from Loveland Colorado. The other group was from First Parish of Westwood, Massachusetts. All of these groups were youth groups and chaperones. Grace Lutheran of New Albany, Indiana, Miami Presbyterian of Miami Shores Florida, and Conway United Methodist Church of Orlando Florida. Grace Lutheran of New Albany, Indiana, Miami Presbyterian of Miami Shores Florida, and Conway United Methodist Church of Orlando Florida. The work done by these groups was as follows: Roof and drywall repairs at J. S., installation of skirting at P. J. and M. R. homes, hanging and finishing drywall at J. M., skirting, porch repairs and ceiling treated at F. R.. The groups built a handicapped ramp for L. M. and completed demolition of a mobile home for T. F., finished drywall and replaced mobile home V. W., installed electrical wiring and outlets for the new computers. Repaired skirting at H. and C., removed and replaced floors at C. (1 Room) and M. (3 Rooms), repaired and painted ceilings at M.R., J.M. and H., removed fence at W.’s. The volunteer also did roofs. They repaired the roof at M.R., J.M. and H., and roofed a shed at B.’s, repaired drywall and painted walls, also repaired screen, and replaced and repaired A.C duct work at J.M. Representing C.R.E.W., the Construction Coordinator picked up ten gallons of donated paint from a resident at 330 W. Arcade Ave. John Mack from Maxis Screen printing donated 2 pieces of Durorock. The case managers also picked up five twin beds from United States Sugar Corporation. These were donated to three families. The total of In Kind donations for the quarter was $2,937.50. John Miller donated two sinks and the Orlando group donated and picked up $89.50 worth of lumber and accessories.

The reason we do what we do is for the following success stories.

L.T. is an elderly woman who lives at home. She is on disability due to high blood pressure. She has no family members who live hear by. Her home was damaged by Hurricane Wilma, she needed roof repairs, ceiling repairs, window and door replacement. She received some assistance from FEMA but it was not enough., insurance paid for some of the repairs as well. She is a member of True Vine Church in Clewiston. Our volunteers came and completed roof repairs for her.

M.S. is an elderly woman with congestive heart failure and severe financial problems. She received $17,000 from FEMA to repair roof, ceilings, outbuilding and plumbing but it was not enough to remove tree and yard debris. She was very fearful as the new hurricane season began and she was unable to remove the debris about her property. Two groups of volunteers collected the materials and hauled some, others we had to hire to have it hauled and paid dumping fees.

O.C. is unemployed and awaiting for his disability to be approved. He is 42 and lives with his wife and 2 children who are 14 and 5. They received $21,000 in insurance but ran out of money prior to fixing paneling, ceiling and insulation. Volunteers completed this project.

M.H. is an elderly widowed Cuban woman who lives alone in a very remote area of Montura Ranch Estates, a community just outside Clewiston in Hendry County. We referred her to Senior Services who assist her with rides to doctor's appointments. Her children live in Miami and visit occasionally. Her entire home was destroyed and many volunteers over the past year have gone to her home for various repairs. Recently CRWRC funds were used for materials used by volunteers who replaced her flooring damaged due to roof damage (previously fixed by other grant funds and volunteers).

A.G. is a Mexican man married with 4 children. Both he and his wife work but have very low income. They received some help from insurance, but not near enough to complete roof repairs and interior damage. Funds from CREW were used for materials for drywall and painting done by volunteers.

W.P. is an elderly woman suffering effects from a stroke that lived alone and due to stress of Hurricane and status of home which caused increased health problems was moved to nursing home. Meanwhile, her destroyed home was getting fined and pressured by Code Enforcement officials. Volunteers demolished the home and hauled and dumped debris.

T.F. is a single mom with five children, including twins. She applied for assistance with SHIP but because her mobile home is jointly owned by her and her father (who cannot be found) is ineligible for services. A new trailer through FEMA was bought but she did not have money to demolish old trailer so new one could be placed. Volunteers came and demolished trailer and funds and hauled and dumped debris.

R.S. is a single African American mom with three kids. She is low income and lives in Harlem Gardens. Volunteers came and replaced her ceiling and light fixture, after roof repairs had been done on her home.

M.O. is an elderly Mexican woman living on social security who is non-English speaking. She has a grown son who is also living with her and currently collecting unemployment. She did not have enough funds to repair her roof. Volunteers repaired her roof and replaced aluminum roof flashing.

L.M. is an extremely overweight married man whose wife is also very overweight, they have three children and their wheel chair ramp, which they need due to their size, was destroyed by storm. Volunteers came and built a new ramp.

R.F. is and married elderly man who lives with he wife and have no family nearby. They live on social security, and though most repairs were completed, they still needed skirting replaced. Volunteers came and replaced skirting.

Our finances as of August are as follows. There is $86,695.03 in our account, including all grant funds. This includes the following accounts.
1. CRWRC had $8651.04 remaining of the initial deposit of $25,000; we are expecting
another installment of $25,000. This grant is for direct service to clients, materials and
such, 5% of the total amount may be spent on administrative expenses. $3,116.47 was
spent in July.
2. VFF-Mitigation grant spent $9,557.50 in the month of July.
3. VFF-FEMA Close out grant received $29,510.51 in grant funds this month.
We spent, $9,692.73.
4. VFF-FEMA Private funds grants spent $8,907.68.
5. UMCOR funds received were $3,465.16 and spent were $10,893.02.
6. United Way/NFL partnership funds received were $4,002.37 spent $260.99.
7. PDA funds received were $2,291.66, spent $761.28.
8. General funds income $1,051.00, expenses $67.50

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

We continue to struggle with computers, our DRD system is eating files causing our reports to be wrong (however rest assured, we counted all files by hand for this report so all numbers are correct.

Also finances have been a struggle, especially monthly expenses. We have secured assistance with the cell phone bills from PDA, but generating income for monthly expenses has been difficult. We have grants, of which two will pay some of our administrative expenses.

Securing funding for future rebuilds is a big challenge, although a grant was submitted to assist with this, it has not yet been approved. More resources need to be looked into for this.

Time management continues to plague Volunteer Coordinator and Executive Director who are putting in well over 50 hours each week (often up to 80) in order to get all requirements met, and still occasionally are late in getting deadlines met. Due to the numerous funders and partners we have there are a number of reports and requests, some at the last minute with immediate deadlines made to us. Finding a way to address these without harming relationships is a challenge.

We are more active in the community with our combined position for Empowerment Alliance and CREW in attending more community meetings and introducing more of the public to our two agencies. We are part of several committees, have been written into EOC plans, and have volunteered in community clean ups and other fairs and festivals to get the word out and be an active part of the communities we serve.

We are working closely with Volunteer Florida Foundation on three different grants, Mitigation, FEMA Close Out and FEMA Close Out for direct assistance. We are using the CAN system and working closely with Red Cross Means to Recovery Program to gain more assistance for our clients.

The UMCOR Case Management System needs to be updated to be more relevant to the area and paperwork streamlined.

September 16, 2007 Torandoes

2007-09-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

The American Red Cross of Lee County has provided assistance to five families in Cape Coral as a result of the tornadoes of Sept. 16, 2007. Their shelter is being generously provided by Hampton Inn at this time. There are Damage Assessment teams currently in the neighborhoods affected.

A distribution pod is currently at the Cape Coral Alliance Church at 4307 Skyline Blvd. There are tarps, clean up kits, gloves and related materials to assist with recovery after the recent storms. Additional a stationary Emergency Response Vehicle is at the same site with water, snacks and meals.

A mobile Emergency Response vehicle is also in areas with significant damage providing support and refreshments.

If a family needs assistance, please call our offices at 863- 278-3401 and caseworkers will be dispatched to the area.

CREW Mitigates its first 4 homes!

2007-09-08T23:34:00.000-04:00

CREW mitigates its first four homes in Hendry County, helping residents prepare for Future Hurricanes. The My Safe Florida Home program awarded grant monies to CREW, a non-profit organization,to help homeowners strengthen their homes against natural disasters. Homeowners assisted through this grant are subject to eligibility requirements as prescribed by Florida law, including having a homestead exemption, living in a single-family, site-built home and undergoing a wind certification and hurricane mitigation inspection. Inspections are provided free of charge through the program to qualified homeowners. The program was developed by the Department of Financial Services to help homes better withstand hurricane damage and keep families safer.
The Volunteer Florida Foundation, which administers the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund, is partnered with the Department of Financial Services to distribute millions of dollowrs to non-profit organizations, including CREW, to retrofit low-income homes in eleven counties, including Broward, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Glades, Hendry, Miami-Dade, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk and St. Lucie. Through non-profit organizations participating our program, qualifying low-income Floridi ans will be eligible for a free wind inspection and financial assistance to strengthen their homes. Vist thier web site at: http://www.flahurricanefund.org/. A grant of up to $5,000 may be available to a low-income homeowner with no match required.