WEBSITE Live to Accept Donations to help NWFL Recover
We have established a disaster fund that will be utilized to help citizens across Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties. The fund will be divided using the level of impact determined by FEMA’s assessment of loss/impact. The funds will be disbursed to the local communities by the United Way that covers those geographic regions. Please help us gather funds and support that can be responsibly distributed to meet the immediate and long-term needs in our community. If you will direct donors to the website, they can make a secure donation online at www.helpNWFLrecover.org.
PROVIDERS: WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SERVE THE CITIZENS CALLING IN TO 2-1-1:
Minimal information needed to share your resource and service out to callers- All we need is a description of service provided and a contact (either address of signup or phone number). We have a list of residents needing assistance and desperately need service providers to sign release so that these residents can receive help. You can send me the basics on an iPhone, email or call me and we will take the information down. Calls will continue to be answered 24/7 at our center in Pensacola and overnight and on Sunday through a contract with Big Bend in Tallahassee.
The only flood resources we have been given are below:
Description of Service
1. Southern Baptist Association ESC Disaster Recovery: SBA will assist residents with: removal of furniture and debris from the home remove the damaged drywall, floor covering and sanitize the exposed area for mold and mildew, with bleach or shockwave • make temporary roof repairs (blue tarp) if needed
2. Operation Blessings International ESC Home Repairs: Volunteer efforts are used to provide free help to residents with recovery of personal items, debris removal and installing tarps on damaged homes. Operation Blessing has 15-20 teams on the ground that are currently helping residents at Bristol Park, Kitty Hawk, Lake Charlene, Bunker Hill, Silverado Court, Lillian Highway and Muldoon Circle.
3. Red Cross ESC Disaster Shelter Red Cross provides shelter to those displaced by the flooding. From communication with Red Cross yesterday we understand there is one EVR at Forrest Creek that is only for the residents in that apartment complex. ERVs are on site at Marcus Point Church in Pensacola and Immanuel Church in Pace. A truck and ERV (snacks/water) are en route to the Bristol Creek area for mobile distribution. A trailer and ERV (snacks/water) is in the final loading stage to be sent to Gulf Breeze for mobile distribution. The Red Cross is providing food, snacks, and water to the residents of Forest Creek Apartments and the shelter at the Fricker Community Center.
4. Farm Share ESC Food Distribution – Farm Share is providing one time free food distribution on: May 5th from 10:00am – 1:00pm 3100 West DeSoto Street Pensacola, FL May 6th from 10:00am – 1:00pm 3355 Gulf Breeze Parkway Gulf Breeze, FL Distribution provides an assortment of fresh produce, canned and dried food, water, juice, paper products, and other essentials.
5. Catholic Charities ESC SRO Emergency Assistance-Catholic Charities is providing emergency assistance for those in need of: medication replacement gift cards for food assistance finding housing
6. Gadsden Street United Methodist Church ESC Home Repair Supplies
7. Salvation Army ESC Disaster Shelter
8. Salvation Army is providing emergency assistance for those in need of: clothing and furniture Vouchers can be used in Salvation Army Thrift Store. We also understand from EOC that Salvation Army has six canteen teams Canteens Vans are located at: Crescent lake, IU Market Townhouses, Cypress Ridge – Fairview, Roving at the Piedment, Roving at Gulf Breeze for dinner only.
Known Resources for Flood Relief (Contact Information can be provided to victims in a call to 2-1-1):
Below are resources 2-1-1 can direct you to (with contact information and times) of organizations and services that can help you with flood impacts and needs you or your clients are experiencing. Please call 2-1-1 directly to obtain the contact information-so that we can capture your needs in the database we are rolling up and sending to the Emergency Operations Center (to help fortify the need picture presented to FEMA). This will also allow us to share your information with groups like Operation Blessing and others here to help! It also allows us to capture client data based on geo-codes to report up the impact to FEMA.
· ECAT bus service free today
· Good Works Partnership reports that they have various tools and equipment to lend for cleanup.
· Salvation Army and American Red Cross Shelter at the Fricker Center are the only 2 available shelters in the Escambia County area. Salvation Army has opened the gym as an emergency shelter for flood victims and are taking men, women, and children.
Flood Relief and Calls and information communicated to 2-1-1 as of Noon today:
ESCAMBIA COUNTY: OKALOOSA: SANTA ROSA:
32501: 35 32531: 3 32561: 16
32502: 8 32539: 4 32563: 17
32503: 40 32541: 4 32566: 2
32504: 10 32547: 10 32570: 5
32505: 78 32548: 8 32571: 13
32506: 91 32569: 1 32583: 2
32507: 32
32507: 1
32514: 14
32526: 32
32533: 15
32534: 32
(Individual Assistance Funds Available) Publix Employee Fund: available to meet needs of Publix employees
Store managers- compile a list of affected employees who you wish us to assist with the funds available- Employees- simply call 2-1-1 and they will provide you assistance as long as funds are available… your store manager must provide us with your name in order for us to provide assistance so make sure you have contact them first.
· Store Managers: Include Employee name and contact phone number or email along with short description of the need
· Store Managers: Email the list to andrea@unitedwayofescambia.org and amanda@unitedwayofescambia.org
· Store Managers: A 2-1-1 Information and referral agent will contact the employee and set up the assistance based on the funds available- when those expire, we will direct the employee to any other agencies who have available resources which match their need
Capturing Volunteer Efforts:
A simple volunteer sign-in/out record is attached for your use. It’s been requested that we use the standardized sign-in sheet for continuity, but if you are already collecting hours on another one that is fine as long as the information is captured.
Volunteer service hours may be counted toward match for federal funds, in the increasingly likely event that Escambia County receives a disaster declaration. If any county receives a Public Assistance declaration, all volunteer hours served on eligible work from day 1 of this event may be applied toward the non-Federal cost share. The ultimate interpretation of the FEMA Donated Resources Policy rests with the PA specialists processing the Project Worksheets, so it is better to submit volunteer hours you think might be eligible than to omit hours and have the county miss out on possible match.
No one needs more work in a disaster response, but a small investment in planning and time to capture the data will pay huge dividends for our community!
Update from Roy Wilkerson (standing in for Greg Strader and BRACE) as of Noon at EOC
Current aggregate numbers from the preliminary damage assessment as of 3pm today are as follows:
Major Damage – 1,252– meaning homes are not livable and require repair/rebuild before families can return home
Minor Damage – 930
300 business have been impacted locally
50 businesses have Major Damage
· Hillcrest Baptist is at Bristol Park Providing Service
· Lutheran Services/United Methodist Committee is on the ground to assist residents
· Five American Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles Crews are active in the community delivery food and clean up kits
· Six Salvation Army Canteen Teams are on the ground delivering food and clean up kits
· Christian Aid Ministries is in the community providing residents assistance removing furniture, sheetrock and flooring damaged by the flood
· Operation Blessing is in the community with 15-20 Response Teams
Update on Manna Food Pantry:
· Temporary facilities for the NALC food drive to store food gathered by the postal carriers has hopefully been secured- we will know for sure if a potential site at the fairgrounds will work.
· The postal carrier drive is May 10th and the food donated will likely be a mix of dried, canned and (perishable) food products; consequently. We are still looking for a few potential Reefer Trucks for cold storage that can be loaned to Manna for a brief period until the items can be place in the storage facility we secure.
· The city helped supply barricades earlier today to help secure unsafe parking or building access
· Dumpster for Manna: Waste Management might be able to provide the necessary dumpster (apparently you need a special one for food removal)
Arc Gateway Chapman Group Home for Women with disabilities. As you can see, Arc needs help to quickly return service to displaced clients that need help. Home Builders Association Team showed up at 8 a.m. to assist moving all salvageable items to the Arc Gateway office. We expect to receive a list of items which need replacing to distribute in Monday’s report out.
Repeat Updates from Yesterday at 5PM
United Way Board Releases Reserve Funds to Assist in Immediate Relief
United Way of Escambia County’s board of directors voted to release United Way reserve funds to assist area non-profits with their needs related to impact from flooding on April 29-30. $150,000 is available to agency partners who have increased pressure related to client needs stemming from floods, insurance deductibles (or losses that insurance will not cover), etc. Please contact Melissa Lewis at melissa@unitedwayescambia.org if you would like additional details on how your non-profit organization can access these funds.
To apply for funding agencies must complete the attached one page application. The application will be reviewed by a handful of dedicated citizens in Escambia County.
To be eligible for assistance, you must have provide all that apply below in addition to the 1 page application:
· Proof of tax exempt status regulated by the IRS- i.e. a copy of your tax determination or 501c3 letter
· Patriot Act Compliance (attached)
· Proof of loss or bill of service unable to pay
· Insurance paperwork demonstrating lack of flood insurance or deductible
· Picture of loss
· Within the six months a one page report on how funds were used.
