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July 3, 2008

Group hopes to pick up where FEMA leaves off

Organizations team up to tackle long-term flood relief when FEMA finishes its work

When federal assistance ends in August, many in the Wabash Valley affected by June floods could take as long as two years to recover, officials say.

Now, a newly formed committee is hoping to fill in that gap through the coordination of volunteers, churches and response agencies. About 40 people, representing agencies such as Catholic Charities, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, Terre Haute Family Y and Indiana State University, along with Parke and Sullivan county officials, met Thursday at the Girls Scouts office on the banks of the Wabash River next to Fairbanks Park.

Susan Jensen, volunteer agency liaison for Federal Emergency Management Agency, said federal assistance, both FEMA and Small Business Administration, will end Aug. 11, the last day to apply for assistance.

The maximum FEMA aid given for damaged property from the flood is $28,800. There were 21 families in Vigo County that received that maximum, Jensen said. Vigo County has received more than $7.28 million from FEMA, with the largest amount about $6.2 million, for housing assistance.

Applications also have been made for SBA loans, which have a maximum of $200,000 for property and $40,000 for personal property, Jensen said. In a five-county area, more than 3,300 applications have been made for assistance to FEMA from the floods. Vigo had 2,757, Clay 284, Vermillion 169, Sullivan 104 and Parke 77.

“There are people who have been identified as having needs that cannot be met by federal resources,” Jensen said. “They may have received the $28,800 or less than that, and generally don’t qualify for SBA loans, and so we look at the difference between what they received from the federal government and the FEMA-inspected damage and the difference between those two is what we call the unmet need.

“We depend on voluntary agencies, faith groups, community-based organizations, the private sector, to help address those identified, verified, unmet disaster-caused needs. That is the critical piece this committee can play in this,” Jensen said.

The group selected Beth Tevlin, executive director of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, as interim chairwoman and Troy Fears, executive director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley, as interim co-chairman of the new committee that will serve Vigo, Clay, Vermillion, Sullivan and Parke counties.

They must establish a name for the committee, mission statement and adopt bylaws. Then committees are to be formed for case management; finance; volunteer coordination; construction; housing; spiritual and emotional care; donations; and communications.

Tevlin said she hopes to organize within six weeks, with committees up and functioning. “We need to be able to respond and assist, because people are looking for [long-term assistance] for which we don’t have answers for right now,” she said.

“This will allow everyone to focus on the fact that, OK, the water has subsided, we don’t see the trash sitting in front of people’s homes anymore, but they are still undergoing recovery,” she said.

Kevin Cox is state president of Indiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, a collaboration of 37 state agencies for disaster relief. He is also founder and chief executive officer of Hope Crisis Response Network in Elkhart. Cox helped the group reach a consensus on the area to be served and the interim chairmen Thursday.

Cox said the committee will need three things to succeed — money, materials and manpower.

“We are moving into recovery. This is where the federal government — FEMA — partners with the volunteer agencies so that we can move forward with recovery. The volunteer agencies typically will provide about 70 percent of all the resources after the federal government is gone,” Cox said.

“We can’t count on the federal government or the state to make [impacted] families whole, it is partnering together to maximize resources … to make sure we have what is needed to put these families home,” he said.

The United Way of the Wabash Valley may be the uniting organization in the new committee. The Lilly Endowment Inc. in June designated $45 million to the Indiana Association of United Ways, as well as $2.5 million each to American Red Cross and The Salvation Army, for storm relief and recovery efforts.

Troy Fears, executive director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley, said the Wabash Valley organization is eligible for up to $100,000 per county, which can be used in planning and facilitating efforts related to prioritizing a county’s needs for support.

Then, the United Way can apply for additional Lilly funds to meet that need, Fears said.

“I am hoping that this is a way to organize all of us, so we don’t duplicate efforts, that we can all communicate well and be on the same page to help friends and neighbors in the Wabash Valley,” Fears said. “This is for the long-term recovery of the Wabash Valley.”

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

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