HumidCity

Syndicated from the mass email by Loki, HumidCity Founder

A collaboration has been formed between Beacon, LCIA and Episcopal Diocese. We have started a fundraising campaign for the flood victims of Iowa. We will buy gift cards to give to displaced residents that can be used for clothing, food, water or building materials. On-line donations can be made through our website: www.lakewoodbeacon.org using PayPal or Just Give. Please make checks payable to Beacon of Hope and write Iowa in the memo. Checks can be dropped off or mailed to: 6268 Vicksburg Street, NOLA 70124 or 145 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Ste. 210, NOLA 70124. All donations are tax deductible as we are a qualified 501(c)3. Donations received will not be spent on our travel expenses.

Connie Uddo, Al Petrie and me, Denise Thornton, are going to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 13 through 17^th. The Episcopal Diocese and Vineyard Church have already set up a distribution centers and camps in Quincy and Cedar Rapids. There are approximately 5,000 displaced residents in Cedar Rapids. We’re taking Chef Mark Uddo to do a community dinner, New Orleans style. The distribution center will get flyers out in advance of our arrival. We will hold workshops like contractor fraud & mold remediation. We will hand out the gift cards at the dinner in exchange for their contact information and we’ll start a database and try to identify a Beacon Administrator and a Volunteer Coordinator. We’re taking the Beacon Procedure Manual. We will make contact with government leaders. I have obtained letters of support from our city council and police department which will give us instant creditability in that arena. Connie’s 18 year old daughter is going with us and she’ll try to start a Youth Recovery Program which will involve the high school(s). We have learned so much about our own recovery that will be helpful to them long after we’re gone. If any of you have any thoughts or ideas on how we can make this trip more productive, please let me know.

Time for our resident engineer to share some news with us again. Ladies and gentlemen, humidcity is proud to once more present the epistles of Matt McBride:

Dear New Orleanians,

This afternoon, FEMA posted the press release announcing the changes in the Relocation Assistance program. You can find it here:

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=41323

This is the program that pays up to $4000 for moves and other relocation expenses for Katrina and Rita victims who have been displaced.

When the program was first announced on August 27th, FEMA only paid for moves between February 1, 2006 and Feb. 29, 2008. The reason for this was purely bureaucratic.

After a nearly instant outcry from many individuals that FEMA was penalizing early returners, the process for revising the program guidance began. Now, the opening dates have been moved back to the dates of the storms (8/29/05 for Katrina and 9/24/05 for Rita). This means that anyone who moved back after the storms may now be eligible.

The new press release does not make mention of the fact that this is a revision of the program, probably to prevent bringing up their error. That’s okay. What’s important is they made the program fair to all.

Also not mentioned in the release are the following points:

1) Acceptance of the relocation assistance means the ending of rental assistance. I suppose this could be controversial.
2) On the hotel room reimbursements (they pay for hotel rooms during a move), if the household has more than four persons or the hotel has occupancy restrictions, they will pay for additional rooms. Also, for each additional 400 miles travelled, they will pay for another night of hotel stays.
3) It’s not clear exactly what they are referring to when they say they will reimburse for “mileage,” in addition to gas & taxes.
4) They mention the cap on Individual & Households Program assistance, but do not provide the amount. It is $26,200.

As of today, the (800) 621-FEMA hotline now has a recorded message about this program. The recording mostly covers the stuff in the press release. As always, you should call the 800 number to register for the program and to get all the official information. Ask to be transferred to a Relocation Assistance specialist. FEMA has specifically trained personnel to process this paperwork and answer aid recipients’ questions.

Matt

ADDENDUM (2 hours later):

FEMA just placed another webpage about the Relocation Assistance program up:

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=41326

They refer to this one as a Fact Sheet. It rejiggers the information in the earlier press release to make it more readable.

Matt