November is truly the month for Thanksgiving, here are some of the things CREW and volunteers have helped accomplish!
Three local individuals, Daniel Luna, Danny Luna, Gregorio Garcia worked to repair an elderly man, Calvin's trailer. Calvin is an 82 year old resident of the
Clewiston area for 33 years. He supported his family by working at Shawnee farms. These local volunteers stepped up and helped install a new door, trim and molding that were destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. A grant from the NFL helped pay for the supplies and any costs the volunteers incurred. This same group went to Katleen's home. Kathleen is a 72 year old female who lives with her daughter and six grandchildren. Her home's roof, ceiling and back door were damaged by Hurricane Wilma. Between insurance and her own savings she was able to get the money after a year's time to fix the roof with help of friends. She was also able to buy a door, but had no way to install or the any money to pay anyone to install it. She shared the following with us "CREW has helped me tremendously. I didn't have finances and they helped by putting in a back door for me. Also they kept in touch with me. The door fits great so there is no hot or cold air coming in. There is also no spiders or animals coming in from outside." A grant through the NFL also helped with costs incurred by volunteers in this home as well.
A talented and spirited group of 20 volunteers from St. Thomas
United Methodist Church in Manassas, Virgina came to repair roofs. They slept on cots in a local church and worked from sun up to sun down (sometimes past sun down). The first home they worked on was William's in
Clewiston. William had massive damage to his home from Hurricane Wilma. A year after the storm he still had a "blue roof" and damaged windows. With the help of funding from the NFL for materials and volunteer costs, this group was able to completely replace the roof (including rotted plywood).
While here the group also worked on Luis's home in
Moorehaven. Luis is a 50 year old disabled man living in a low income rented home. The roof was damaged and the house leaks under the door, there was a huge whole in the kitchen ceiling from water damage, the floor is spongy throughout the house and the sink needs to be replaced. CREW initially
tarped the home to provide him with temporary relief. The owner shared that he did not have the funds to fix the home and rented to Luis at a low rate as he had been there a long time. He signed an agreement to not raise the rent or displace Luis for 3 years if CREW was able to help make some repairs. Our Virgina volunteers were able to replace his roof, plywood and all. The NFL helped cover the costs for this home as well.
This incredible group while here also worked on
Altovise's home.
Altovoise is a single mother of 3 daughters who has lived in
Hendry county 3 years. She suffers from Lupus as well. In June we
tarped her home to provide temporary relief. She had insurance however her deductible was almost %50. She used her insurance money and then United Church of Christ Disaster Assistance pitched in the remainder of the funds needed. The
Virgina volunteers replaced some plywood and all of the roofing.
The final roof this wonderful group from Virgina worked on was Blanca's. She is a disabled adult who lives alone with limited functioning. She received funding from
FEMA but used the funds to purchase clothing, food and other daily necessities. Her roof needs to be repaired, however she is unable to effectively advocate for herself, she has a guardian who provides assistance as well, but they were unable to get roof repaired. The United Church of Christ Disaster assistance also paid for these materials as well. The
UCC group also sent a film CREW out to document our volunteers work on the homes!
The last home they worked on (yes that's 4 complete roofs and then some in 4 1/2 days) was for Gail in
Moorehaven. Gail lives with her son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. Her home was damaged in Hurricane Wilma's but her son's home was destroyed, so the family moved in with her. She received assistance from
FEMA and purchased supplies, her son worked to do the repairs himself, but had a full time job and a year later much of the work was still needing to be done. They hung and finished drywall and laid flooring for her in three rooms. This is the same home that East Lake and Grace United Methodist worked at the end of last month (see previous posts).
You'd think this blessed group from Virgina had done enough in a weeks time, sleeping on cots and eating food donated and prepared by local churches and the owners of the homes they repaired. Yet they saw our limited tool supplies and donated over $2000 (estimated) of
Dewalt and other high quality tools, ladders, and equipment.
But there are more involved in helping us! The NFL draft grant has (in combined pledges and already paid expenses) given in excess of $20,000.
PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) and the local Presbyterian church has adopted our cell phone expenses, paid for materials to finish our rebuild, and to fund some flooring and drywall jobs, and first month's rent for an individual displaced from apartment that has still not been fixed and has extensive mold. In
addition, Community Presbyterian Church of
Clewiston contributed $1,000 towards a $1300 computer allowing us to run video and
photographs and to replace an older defective computer. They also
assisted with $3000 to close the case on
CREW's first rebuild.
UMCOR,
PDA and the United Way of Lee County continue to support our staff expenses.
