April Monthly Report

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

Although we are no longer funded to help with the FEMA close out project, we have continued to help these clients. We are still trying to find funding for three clients we had hoped to get from the City but have been unable to do so. Board Members are following through with this with the City, and Trish is following up with FEMA.

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

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

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

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

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

As of April 30th, 57 cases have been assigned to case managers. In Hendry County 47 cases have been assigned to case managers who have updated recovery plans in all of these cases. There are 17 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened. In Glades County, 10 cases have been assigned to case managers and 7 of these have updated recovery plans completed. There are 3 cases assigned to a case manager that are pending documentation before they are officially opened. We had no new cases this month, but expect new ones next month from Fairgrounds Mobile Home Park.

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

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

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

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

Total overall open cases: 67 Total pending documentation: 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDS!!!!
We need volunteers who can help repair homes, but also need volunteers to assist in the office, as well to help work booths at the upcoming fairs and festivals throughout Hendry and Glades Counties. We are currently in need of a shredder that can handle the amount of shredding necessary to keep our clients information confidential. We desperately need a shredder and a volunteer to help shred the backload of paperwork, since our shredder died.
You can also help by simply shopping through the iGive portal and registering CREW as your charity of choice. Simply visit the link below to do so. http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=324218&causeid=35958

Donations can be sent to 352 W. Arcade Ave., Clewiston, Florida 33440. We are a registered non-profit and donations are tax deductible. Call Renee to volunteer at (863) 983-2390.

Visit our blog site to learn more about what we are up to and to see pictures. http://huricanerecovery.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to check out our calendar of events to see when volunteers are coming and find out what our staff members are up to! http://calendar.msn.com/trishadamslcsw@hotmail.com