Contributions continue to come in through www.helpNWFLrecover.org
NEW: United Way of Okaloosa/Walton dropped off the money they collected in last Friday’s all day radio/tele-thon. New totals with the disaster fund are currently at $47,376. We are grateful for the support from the community and look forward to seeing how fundraisers at Buffalo Wild Wings, multiple Blue Wahoos games, Chico’s of Pensacola and Kia Autosport of Pensacola help raise additional funds.
You can contribute your secure donation online at www.helpNWFLrecover.org. There have been questions about whether we United Way of Escambia will take a share of the fund for administration of the fund. Please know that the United Way of Escambia Board of Directors have directed that United Way will only recover the actual costs incurred in processing donations for the recent flooding (credit card fees, bank charges, etc). ALL money stays Local!
FLOOD VICTIM CALLS DOCUMENTED BY UNITED WAY 2-1-1 through Thursday at 5pm
44 more calls today that were flood related, 42 from Escambia and 2 from Okaloosa. Total received to date: 1,468
We have added 23 new names to our Escambia County Victim List and 2 new name from Okaloosa County.
United Way 2-1-1 (Disaster Recovery Center) Report:
2-1-1 Case Managers helped 15 survivors at the DRC today. The total helped since they have opened now stands at 57. To give you an idea of the clients being served, there is a brief excerpt of one client story below:
One survivor seen is age 6 and a Veteran. He has diabetes and had both of his legs/feet were removed below the knee in April 2013 at the Naval Hospital. In April 2014 he was fitted with prostheses and on his third attempt in rehab walked. He does not wear them at this time because is still going to rehab at the VA Clinic – traveling there by bus. This survivor was upset that he was unable to do the repairs himself or for that matter anything. The case manager told him Tuesday night that they couldn’t get them any food that day, but that food would e provided on Wednesday (he had reported only having one jar of peanut butter to the case manager). He also stated he lost all of his clothing and could use some shorts (size 32) and t-shirts (M). As of Wednesday the case manager was able to get him food donated by a local pantry, clothes and sheets for his bed. He said he covered his bed with plastic to protect it, but didn’t have any linens. He sleeps in his recliner.
The DRC is essential for service of survivors like this and we are grateful from the support of FEMA and others who have traveled to our community to help serve victims of this disaster.