Hurricane Ike Information and Resources
FCO Brad Harris: Neighbors Helping Neighbors is Vital to Long-Term Recovery
(May 04, 2009)
Last week I discussed efforts by leaders in some areas hit by Hurricane Ike to develop long-term rebuilding plans that aim to make their communities safer, stronger and more functional in the future. There is another side of long-term recovery: Texans joining together to help their neighbors address unmet storm-related needs.
In the Ike disaster, programs administered by FEMA and other federal and state agencies are contributing to the recovery process, but some Texans affected by the hurricane have long-term needs that go beyond the scope of government assistance. As FEMA does in every major disaster, we brought in a team of specialists to help communities form long-term recovery committees (LTRCs). These are groups that combine and coordinate the resources of area volunteer and faith-based organizations in order to best serve those Texans who still require assistance.
FEMA's specialists, the Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs), have traveled throughout the disaster area to help assess Ike's victims ongoing needs, meet with local groups and organizations to promote the creation of recovery committees, forge connections among organizations, and provide guidance to get local LTRCs off the ground. The VALs' message is that participating in an LTRC expands each local organization's opportunities to assist Texans affected by the disaster, and that by coordinating their efforts and sharing information the organizations make the best use of each member's services and resources, and avoid duplicating benefits.
The VALs also have helped develop county-specific Disaster Recovery Assistance guides, which list resources applicants can turn to for help when they are not eligible for government assistance or when this assistance ends. Guides have been created for Brazoria, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Chambers and Montgomery counties, and one for Jefferson County is in development.
In the Ike disaster, I am pleased to say that long-term recovery committees have been or are being developed in 15 counties affected by Ike, including hard-hit Galveston, Chambers, Jefferson, Orange and Harris. Some of these groups have committed thousands of hours of volunteer labor to their neighbors in need.
Working through the LTRCs, local volunteers have helped their neighbors with direct monetary assistance and with tasks such as moving their belongings into safer, sanitary housing; providing transportation and running errands; replacing destroyed clothing and household items; cleaning up debris from homes and lawns; tearing down mold-infected walls and installing sheetrock and roofs; and many, many other things.
For example, in the southern Orange County town of Bridge City, volunteers working through the local long-term recovery organization provided all the labor to rebuild an elderly woman's home following the storm. When the repairs were complete, the woman, who had been living temporarily in a FEMA-provided manufactured home, asked us to "come get the trailer so that other people in need will have a home."
In Port Arthur, a local organization provided funds to help pay the electricity bill of a single mother raising a 15-year-old son who has a disability. The mother and son, whose home was destroyed in Ike's storm surge, are residing in a FEMA-supplied manufactured home while volunteers repair their home.
Several different groups worked to help an 83-year-old WWII veteran, a man who cares for his adult daughter who suffered a brain injury as a child. The volunteers collected and disposed of piles of debris, and gutted the moldy interior and rebuilt his storm-ravaged home on Galveston Island.
Galveston County's long-term recovery group has rebuilt 51 homes in Galveston, Bacliff, San Leon and Bayou Vista. It also has provided monetary assistance to 38 families. The group, which includes more than 10,600 volunteers, gives priority to low-income families, especially the elderly, disabled and those headed by single parents.
It takes many agencies, government and private, as well as many individuals, to help communities and their citizens recover from a disaster. Texans have demonstrated from day one that they are ready to do whatever it takes to help one another not only survive the Ike disaster but to thrive over the long run. Texas' long-term recovery committees are vital to that effort.
You don't have to live in a disaster-declared county to reach out to Texans affected by Ike. All of these groups are in need of donations and/or volunteers. I urge you to contact your favorite volunteer or faith-based group for information on the long-term recovery committees in one of the affected counties. Your help could make a difference in the lives of those Texans who are still in need as a result of Hurricane Ike.
Related Press Releases
- FEMA Obligates $18.1 Million for Debris Clean-up on Public Beaches and Waterways - May 1
- FEMA Obligates $4.9 Million for Debris Removal Work in Hardin County - Apr 21
- FEMA Obligates $3.3 Million to Sam Houston Electric Cooperative to Repair Power Lines - Apr 21
- FEMA Awards $9.8 Million for Galveston City and County Debris Work - Apr 21
- FEMA Obligates $2 Million to City of Alvin for Debris Operations - Apr 20
- Port Arthur Awarded $2.8 Million FEMA Grant for Debris Operations - Apr 20
- Chambers County Awarded $9 Million in FEMA GRANTS for Debris Operations - Apr 20
- Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District Awarded $4.3 Million for Levee Repairs - Apr 20
- Texas Receives More Than $2 Billion in Disaster Assistance Since Hurricane Ike - Apr 17
- FEMA for Seniors Reaches Out to Texans at High Risk in Disasters - Apr 13
- Last Disaster Recovery Center In Texas Serving Ike Victims Is Closing - Apr 8
- FEMA Awards $4 Million To The State Of Texas For Debris Removal In Leauge City - Apr 8
- FEMA Awards $1 Million To The State Of Texas To Monitor Debris Removal In Galveston - Apr 8
- More Press Releases | Ike Media Resources | Ike Multimedia
Related Information
- Hurricane Ike Impact Report (PDF 1.12MB)
- Flooding Information and Resources
- Have you been displaced by Hurricane Ike?
- Ready.Gov - Prepare. Plan. Stay informed
- National Hurricane Center
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Fast Facts
Over the past half year, the people and communities of the hard-hit upper Gulf Coast have worked relentlessly to recover from the storm and rebuild their lives.
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