Greetings from the Director of Recovery!
I had an overwhelming response to the case management training. It was suggested by UMCOR that we have about 30 people. We expanded that to 40 and are completely full! Thank you to Wesley UMC and Pastor Karen for helping to coordinate and host this training. Watch for possible announcement of another case management training class!
I continue to meet with Long Term Recovery Committees/Coalitions in several counties. It occurred to me that many of you may not have a clear understanding of what LTRC's function is within the community - (as I did not when I started this job!) LTRC's are groups of social service agencies, pastors, concerned citizens, that form a committee within a county to address all aspects of the recovery process in the event of a disaster. Some counties have active committees and some do not.
One area that the LTRC addresses is the "unmet needs" of individual/families who have exhausted all funds in their recovery process, such as FEMA, insurance, savings account, etc. They don't have monies for items such as appliances, bedding, water heaters, etc. Items essential to daily life! Their unmet needs are assessed through a case manager and brought to the LTRC for consideration. LTRC's are funded through private donations, grants, fund raisers, faith based groups and so on. The Conference Steering Committee voted last month to support LTRC's with a discretionary fund of $5,000 (as you read last email). $5,000 is a good start, but the "unmet needs" are in the millions.
I wanted to focus on LTRC's this week because I want to share with everyone the incredible dedication the folks in these committees have to making their communities whole again. What a blessing I have received to meet such awesome people! Please consider sending a donation for disaster relief to the Iowa Annual Conference, 2301 Rittenhouse St., Des Moines, IA 50321.
