Long-Term Recovery Committee MINUTES

10/26/06

    The Long-Term Recovery Committee of Southwestern Indiana met at 9:30 am at the American Red Cross Building on Wednesday, October 26, 2006. Present were : 

Shane O'Neill – Chairman, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

James Collins – Treasurer/Catholic Charities

Joyce Cosby – American Red Cross

Donna Carr – Catholic Charities

Mary Blanc – Task Force

Harry Kellogg – FEMA

Jim Morgan – Thrivent for Lutherans

Kathy Boyd – St. Vincent dePaul

Don & Carolyn Barrett – American Red Cross volunteers

Stephanie Norrick – Communications/United Way

Paul Farmer – United Church of Christ

Randy Anderson – UMCOR

Matt Bertram – American Red Cross

    Joyce Cosby opened the meeting by reporting that the Red Cross has opened 41 cases following the 9/15/06 flood, and that around 600 houses had been affected. There are lots of outstanding needs. Additionally, Catholic Charities has been opening up cases.

    Harry Kellogg (FEMA) reported that as of 10/20, 591 applications for assistance had been received; 32 families had needs that could not be addressed by FEMA & have been referred to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for loans. The total unmet needs for this group 

is over $250,000 of which, hopefully, SBA will meet most of them. As of this date, 9 families have already failed the income test & will not be eligible for SBA loans; their unmet needs total $55,321; those will be our initial priority. This number will only increase as families apply to the SBA & are found ineligible. Potentially, there are 120 families with unmet needs; many of these families will need help with clean-up. With that in mind, he passed out information on mold & mildew clean-up. Also, in order to get the names & addresses of those with unmet needs who have contacted FEMA, a "Privacy Act Request" must be made to FEMA; Shane will take care of that. FEMA will FAX the names & addresses to Joyce at the Red Cross.

    Following discussion regarding the need for the LTRC to get involved fully in this disaster and possible alternatives, it was agreed that we needed to reconstitute ourselves for the purpose of 

receiving funds. Therefore, a motion was made by Jim Collins, seconded by Jim Morgan, that the LTRC reconvene to meet the unmet needs of the flooding and reopen a bank account through Catholic Charities. Motion approved unanimously.

    Following discussion, we decided to keep the effort low-key, at least temporarily, with the LTRC meeting as a whole to distribute clients to case managers, primarily through ARC & Catholic Charities. ARC & SWIRCA will serve as a clearing house for volunteers.

    Questions that should be addressed at the next meeting: 

Ÿ         Parameters for what we will help with

Ÿ         How do we help with clean-up of mold & mildew

Ÿ         What are we going to cover and what will not be covered

    Our next meeting is scheduled for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2:00 PM, 

at the American Red Cross.

Announcements:

NOTICE 1: FEMA has updated the numbers. As of 10/27/06, 713 families have registered for assistance from Vanderburgh County. 12 families are identified as having unmet needs for a total amount of $60,823 in repairs. Another 18 families who may qualify for SBA loans have not submitted their applications yet. The total possible unmet need is $271,768. Hopefully most of those families will be helped by the SBA.

NOTICE 2: A SEMINAR will be held on Monday, NOVEMBER 8, 2006, at the 4-H Center (Exposition Hall) at 7:00 pm regarding MOLD & MILDEW CLEAN-UP. Members of the LTRC, along with flood victims, are encouraged to attend.

                      Respectfully submitted,

                      Shane O'Neill, Chairman