The Floods of 2006
The Community Foundation Helps Pave the Road to Recovery
The images are engraved on our minds.
Brown water everywhere. Whole neighborhoods submerged. A lifetime of work and memories piled on the curb.
And volunteers. Hundreds, thousands of volunteers, helping friends, neighbors, strangers. With their help, and the work of dedicated staff at FEMA, SEMO and countless regional and national nonprofits, great strides toward recovery have been made. But at this writing, in spring '07, there's still a lot to be done, and the Community Foundation is part of the effort.
In November 2006 a $270,000 grant was awarded to United Way of Broome County from the Harriet Ford Dickenson Fund of the Community Foundation to assist with the recovery effort being coordinated by BAND (Broome Area Networking in Disaster). A coalition of many of the county's nonprofit human service organizations, BAND continues to use a case management process to assess the remaining unmet needs of victims, helping about two hundred Broome families to form recovery plans. Resources being brought to bear include mental health counseling, volunteer assistance with clean-up and reconstruction, vouchers for appliances, furniture, building supplies and more.
The most rewarding aspect of the work, says Kevin Page, Project Director of BAND, is "being able to provide resources to help families get back on their feet again." Community Foundation funds are helping to support the administrative infrastructure that makes the coordinated recovery effort possible. They're also providing direct assistance to victims and their families.
Catholic Charities of Chenango County received a grant of $16,500 from the Dick and Marion Meltzer Fund of the Community Foundation to provide direct assistance; furniture, appliances and building materials to Chenango County victims of the flooding. And in Tioga County, Tioga Opportunities was awarded $9,000 from the Meltzer Fund to provide staff support needed to facilitate proper coordination of flood recovery efforts in that county.
In late 2006 and early '07 Delaware County agencies received grants from the Lillian Briggs Fund of the Community Foundation, for a total of $30,000 to help victims there. Delaware Support and Services, an area nonprofit, received $20,000 for direct assistance for flood victims throughout the county. And Habitat for Humanity of Delaware County received $10,000: $5,000 to provide direct assistance to victims in Sidney, and $5,000 toward costs for a preconstructed "house in a box" for a displaced flood family.
"We have helped fifty-two families right around here," says Jacqlene Rose, past-president of Habitat. "I think the most meaningful thing has been how, although the flood was a bad thing, it really brought everybody in the community together. Everybody just stepped up and helped out."
