Saturday, February 05, 2011
Bobby's Blog: First Blog
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..."
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
CREW greive's the loss of Marcus Hepburn
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.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
CREW's September Report
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
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
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Augut Monthly Report
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
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
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
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
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
CREW 2009 1st half report
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.
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.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Thank God for our Disaster Case Managers!
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, volunte
er 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.
er 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.
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