Pompano Beach Presbyterians are Great.

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

Check out opportunites to volunteer with CREW on MySpace!

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

Grace Ministries United Methodist Church

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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?

Check out this blog about Hurricanes and their track!

The United Way and CREW!

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.

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

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!

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 Floridians 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.

August Monthly Report

August has been a busy month! We had 25 volunteers come and work 557 hours for a total in kind donation of $10,304.50. Our volunteers included males (1 age 20-25, 14 age 26-60, and 7 over the age 61) and females (2 age 16-60, 1 over 61). We also had two of our churches donate meals for the groups in August. First United Methodist Church of Clewiston donated 18 meals @ $10.00 per meal that is an In Kind donation of $180.00; Community Presbyterian Church of Clewiston donated 18 meals @ $10.00 per meal that is an In Kind donation of $180.00.

Grace Lutheran (Indiana) Church came again, they were here last year and did our first rebuild! This group consists of 5 white men (a contractor, a preacher, his nephew and another church member) and 1 white woman(contractor's wife). They worked the week of 8/5 thru 8/11. They worked 150 hours for an in kind donation of $2775.00. Our local Community Presbyterian Church put them up for the week at their church and the fed them one night. First Untied Methodist Church also hosted them at their Wednesday night dinner for food and fellowship and had them share their story of their mission with their church family as well. They had such a good time this year and last year. While here they did some touch up and general carpentry work on the home they built last year and had fellowship dinner with the family in Clewiston for whom they built they home, this is a retired Mexican couple, the man is disabled but before retiring with disability he gave over 30 years of service here in our town at a local citrus plant. This family lived on social security and disability and had not enough insurance to buy a new home after Hurricane Wilma destroyed their trailer. They completed work on a single uninsured low income Mom with two children's roof in Clewiston. In addition, they completed flooring, ceiling, roof and walls for an elderly diabetic disabled man with heart problems who lives with his wife and two granddaughters in Montura, a very remote rural area whose home was underinsured living in a mobile home. The family lives on SSI and the help from FEMA and insurance after Hurricane Wilma damaged their home, was not enough to cover all work. They also removed fence for a working black woman who lives alone. She received assistance from insurance which was not enough to complete all repairs. She is low income, living alone in a the rural area of Harlem, outside of Clewiston.

We had another return group from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church from Miami Shores come and work the weekend of 8/10 thru 8/12. This group also donated $2000.00 to be divided three ways between the Presbyterian Church, CREW and one of the family they did work for. They sent a group of 6 white male volunteers who worked 120 hours for an in kind donation of $2220.00. This group consisted of 4 adults and 8 youth. The Community Presbyterian Church also put this group up, and fed them one evening. This group removed and replaced floors for a young white couple of low income with three very young children living in a trailer park on the outskirts of Clewiston. The male head of household is suffering from severe cancer and has weekly chemo treatments. Their home was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma.

We had a new group come and join us from Orlando, FL. This group of 12 worked 283 hours for an in kind donation $5235.50. the group consisted of 10 white male volunteers and 2 white female volunteers. The group was from Conway United Methodist Church. They came for the week of 8/13 thru 8/18 and stayed at the United Methodist Church who also hosted them for dinner one night. The local Community Presbyterian Church also hosted then for dinner one night. They worked also for the young white couple of low income with three very young children living in a trailer park on the outskirts of Clewiston replacing floors. In addition they traveled to the remote Glades County town area of Lakeport and worked for a disabled 43 year old white man. This man has multiple medical problems including a history of strokes, diabetes, emphysema and high blood pressure. He lives on his disability check and did not receive enough help from FEMA to repair his home. His only companion is his little Chihuahua Marty. He worries about him falling through the floor and it is a great cause of stress for him. Our volunteers replaced the floors for him. This group also donated $200.00 to one of our families. One of the volunteers also purchased some material in the amount of $89.50 and donated that as well.

Our long term white male Lutheran volunteer from a Lutheran Church in Michigan worked 4 hours this month for an in kind donation of $74.00. He worked on 2 projects. He made some repairs to the roofs of two families. The first is an elderly white woman who lives alone in remote area of Montura and has high blood pressure. She is low income living off SSI. The other is a retired couple M. Stanley and B. Key. The wife is disabled due to blood clots. They are a low income couple who is uninsured. The man has a part time job that helps pay some of the bills.
We continue to house and share an employee with the Empowerment Alliance of South West Florida, who provides clients with credit counseling and budget planning. We have worked in conjunction with SHIP to help those buying a new house through them as well as with down payment. We have met with builders and attend the Housing Coalition as well. Our staff representative is working on attending core curriculum classes to get certified through the Florida Housing Coalition.

The current caseload to include open, closed, assigned, unassigned, and Palm Beach referrals are 655 cases. 273 are assigned to case managers which they are reviewing and updating any changes, 55 of these have updated Recovery Plans this month. 38 cases have been closed this month. To date there are 0 unassigned cases. We have 4 full time case managers and two half time case managers. 3.5 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. 1 case manger is entering all progress notes and keeping DRD case management files up to date. The other .5 case manager is assigning and reviewing cases, providing supervision, and providing on site service to families as needed.
Members of CREW serve on The Homeless Coalition, Family Services Network, and Florida VOAD (of which we hold office of State LTRO representative and serve on the Case Management and Spiritual Care Committees). We participated in United Way presentations to increase community participation in donations to further those agencies in our counties that are United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Partners. We are part of Glades County Emergency Management Plan and have volunteered to coordinate volunteers and donations to the County should an emergency take place. We also participate in Hendry County and Glades County EOC meetings.

The partnership between Means to Recovery (Red Cross) has been a slow process. C.R.E.W. has three applications that have been submitted to the American Red Cross that are still awaiting approval. All other cases (15) have been approved as per an email received from American Red Cross. Families whose applications are on hold (5) have not been submitted to nationals. The hold status was placed by our local American Red Cross Representative who reviews cases, and makes suggestions prior to turning applications into the American Red Cross. The reason applications are placed on hold prior to presenting to the National American Red Cross is because if denied by the National American Red Cross applicants are not allowed to reapply. However, if placed on hold locally application can still move forward once problems are resolved.
One of our USDA referral clients is close to receiving her mobile home after a year of work with USDA and CREW, still waiting.

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 third Tuesday of each month and the Moore Haven office, every Tuesday from the hours of 9-12.

We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle to amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. A prepaid card (that we could reimburse) or credit card for office depot would be helpful so that we can order supplies without relying on the Methodist Church's account.

For the FEMA Close out project:

All families 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. A list of families who have already reached permanent housing solutions, but are not in CAN was supplied in June’s report. Services provided to families this month required licensed contractors. Therefore, no volunteer services were used. It is anticipated that more volunteers will be used in the month of September.

C.R.E.W. receives funding from the Volunteer Florida Foundation; 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 August, C.R.E.W. received funding in the amount of $18625 to cover the cost of fully connecting client’s mobile homes. (This brings total funding received from American Red Cross to $56,556.98). 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 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 $37,809.50.

Finally, once the need presents itself, the City of Clewiston has agreed to provide funding to help families relocate from non conforming lots inside the city limits to conforming lots in Hendry County. A press release regarding the assistance given to one of our local families was in the paper on Thursday, August 16, 2007. Links to the Volunteer Florida Foundation are posted on both our blog site: http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/ and our website: http://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 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 this month, two families have reached a permanent housing solution. Eleven families have received approval for funding through the Means to Recovery Program with the American Red Cross. Additionally four families have received funding from another 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. Due to a high influx of applications to the American Red Cross, this application process is extremely time consuming. However, to date C.R.E.W. has not received any denials of applications and it is anticipated that all families involved in this application process will received full approval of funding needed. Once funding has been approved, it will take approximately two to four weeks to receive permits and an additional one to two weeks to move and fully set up trailers.

The remainder of families listed on this grant have been non responsive to C.R.E.W. or have not brought in the needed paperwork (income verification, expense verification ect.) to complete the case. Of the clients working with C.R.E.W., six are on target for completing their recovery plan. The remaining twenty-six are at various stages in the Means to Recovery Application Process. Applications for the Means to Recovery Program through the American Red Cross are still taking at least six to eight weeks for approval once submitted to the National Headquarters. Furthermore, Hendry County has a new Director of Building and Zoning. The change in the administration has caused the amount of time needed to process a trailer permit to be expanded to one month or more. Families who purchased FEMA trailers and live in non conforming trailer parks are caught in a legal battle between local trailer parks and the City of Clewiston. Because of this, they are having a difficult time discerning what information to believe. Although the City of Clewiston and C.R.E.W. have advised that they need to move the trailer to a conforming lot as quickly as possible, the families are also being told by park owners (their landlords) to not worry because they (the park owners) are fighting the city and they will be able to remain as is. The majority of these families are low income, low educational levels and have a distrust to anything said by any governmental group or agency associated with the government, and they do not know who to believe. Because of this confusion, and lack of available conforming lots in the area, many families feel that the city will do nothing in regards to trailers on non conforming lots at the end of twelve months. For this reason, many families are reluctant to work with C.R.E.W. or look for a conforming lot. It is the fear of C.R.E.W. that these families may be lost in the shuffle and be displaced again in twelve months due to the legal controversy between trailer parks and the city. The day of this report, C.R.E.W. received notification from the American Red Cross that funding for the Means to Recovery program is starting to run low. Therefore, the American Red Cross has advised their caseworkers and all agencies working with the ARC to no longer offer the Means to Recovery program as an option for new clients. On average this program subsidizes $7500 per client. For clients who later chose to work with C.R.E.W. will not be able to access these funds, and may be caught in a bind at the end of the twelve month grace period given to them by the City of Clewiston to move trailers to conforming lots.
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. 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. 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. 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 these families are residing in a non conforming trailer park in the City of Clewiston. Therefore, the anticipated funding from the city can be used to assist these clients. C.R.E.W. has three applications that have been submitted to the American Red Cross that are still awaiting approval. All other cases (15) have been approved as per an email received from American Red Cross. Families whose applications are on hold (5) have not been submitted to nationals. The hold status was placed by our local American Red Cross Representative who reviews cases, and makes suggestions prior to turning applications into the American Red Cross. The reason applications are placed on hold prior to presenting to the National American Red Cross is because if denied by the National American Red Cross applicants are not allowed to reapply. However, if placed on hold locally application can still move forward once problems are resolved.

Hendry County has a new Director of Building and Zoning. The change in the administration has caused the amount of time needed to process a trailer permit to be expanded to one month or more.

On the date of this report, FEMA representative, Paul Thompson, met with county officials about speeding up the permitting process. It is the plan of FEMA to close all staging areas on before October 31, 2007.

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 August mitigation has seen some growth in clients and progress. CREW received 20 new applications this mitigation and 10 are entered into the Hurricane relief Database and 10 are on hold for completion of paperwork. A total of 9 inspections reports have been received and 1 is marked ineligible for income reasons. 17 clients are certified to receive mitigation. 8 homes are currently in process with Lifestyle Shutters. 9 homes are on hold for the contractor. The completion date for 5 of those is September 7. 45 clients in total are entered into database, 10 are on hold awaiting completion of client's paperwork. We have advertised on the radio and newspaper and put flyers about towns. We will be advertising on Spanish radio next month. CREW is also planning meeting with SHIP about possibly mitigating their homes. We are able to offer this program through our partnership and funding from Volunteer Florida Foundation's My Safe Florida Home Program. Check them out at: http://www.volunteerfloridafoundation.org/my_safe_florida_home.php

CRWRC came on August 7th to see how we are managing their funds, and were pleased, they made some suggestions of creating a reimbursement form similar to our mileage form for when staff are reimbursed for expenses, and related they would have more suggestions in writing in the summary of their report. We used a good deal of CRWRC funds to buy materials for the clients mentioned above where volunteers did the labor.

Our UMCOR representative came out on August 17th and completed training with case mangers and assisted them in identifying areas where they need improvement.
One grant was turned in to VFF for extension of the Mitigation Grant. We are currently writing grants for American Red Cross due in September and researching new grants.