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 f
amilies with open cases are currently in the CAN system. Assistance through this grant wil
l 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.
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