Homes damaged in April floods still waiting for help

On Friday, Feb. 6, Mollye Barrows of Pensacola Today, WUWF News Director Sandra Everhart and I toured Shantytown, Attucks Court, Tanyard, Warrington and Brownsville with Bob Lupton, author of “Toxic Charity: How Nonprofits Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It),” and leaders of several community outreach agencies. We saw where drug dealers congregate and shootings occur, as well as the abandoned schools and closed businesses.

Brunie Emmanuel, who works for Pathways for Change, pointed out how difficult it has been helping families repair their homes damage by the April 2014 flooding.

“We have a real need for Disaster Case Managers,” he told Lupton. “We have volunteers and supplies to repair the homes but don’t have case managers.”

He said that they applied for a FEMA grant to hire disaster case managers, were denied, re-applied, were denied again, applied a third time and were finally given a grant. Unfortunately those funds won’t be available until April.

Lupton said, “So those families have had to wait an entire year?”

Emmanuel nodded his head “yes.”