Conference Call Minutes September 9, 2008

[ktho...@uccfla.org]

FLORIDA VOAD CONFERENCE CALL
September 9, 2008

PRESENT:
Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, Florida Conference United Church of
Christ/FLVOAD
Karen Hagen, American Red Cross/FLVOAD
Tara Duval-Good, FIND/FLVOAD
Ellen Wallace, VIND
Maryann Luther, VIND
Laurie Hardin, VIND
Mary O’Geary, Tampa Bay American Red Cross
Jim Stencel, Second Harvest Food Bank
Alix Stayton, Operation HOPE
Jody Hill, FIND
Kathy Broyard, Florida Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Network
Danielle Kearney, Lutheran Services Florida
Jan Martini, Charlie’s Angels/Fresh Start for Pasco
Joyce Jacobs, Harry Chapin Food Bank
Pam Garrison, Florida Conference United Methodist Church
Renee Mergott, CREW
Deb Coleman, FEMA
Susan Zuber, FEMA
Cicero Hartsfield, ESF-15/Volunteer Florida
Hugh Jacobs, Florida State Corporation for National and Community
Service
Scott Lewis, Eagles Wings Foundation
Merrilee White, ESF-15/Volunteer Florida
Ken Skalitzky, FEMA
Doug Douglass, PHP COAD

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson welcomed all to the conference call at
11:07 a.m.

ESF-15
Cicero Hartsfield said he spoke with Disaster Housing person want to
make sure they have a good feel for housing needs. 10 counties
receiving IA and there have been requests for several other counties
with the potential for 4-5 others added. Some areas are inaccessible
which prevented initial assessments from being completed. He sat in
on Conference call with the Community Relations teams, if there are
people who want to help with volunteers contact Team Leaders. There
is conversation about working with the Boy Scouts, because there is a
need to get the word out to those impacted so they can tele-register
or go to the DRCs. The current DRC list was sent out by Cicero.
Wakulla County DRC is pending.

The State EOC is at Level2 monitoring Ike. 376 individuals are at
currently sheltered at FIU. Monroe County only received an Emergency
Declaration for Ike. SEOC is monitoring in a demobilization mode from
having prepared for response to Ike.

FEMA
Deb Coleman sent out an assistance summary report. Send contact
information to Debbra....@dhs.gov if you need a copy of the report
and want to be added to receive copies of future reports.
10,641 registrants
$7,456,904 approved in housing with $936,819 in other types of
assistance
4,027 applications sent out only a few returned for SBA. Applicants
need to be reminded to send the application back, even if they are
rejecting the loan. SBA approved $327,000 for loans.

Susan Zuber said the shelter numbers overnight were 369 in the Lee
County shelter, this is increased from the previous day. She
continues to work with Lee County LTRO. She has been in conversation
with Marcus regarding short and long term housing needs and getting
eligible individuals to apply for FEMA.

Deb is also putting together a resource directory for the LTROs. If
you have information to be included, please send to Deb at the email
address above.

Susan will continue to contact the LTROs in impacted counties to see
how they can work together.

Ken Skalitzky currently deployed under ESF-6 to the SEOC for Ike. He
is being released today. The state of FL will accept only self-
evacuees. They will only support shelters if hotels are full.
Regarding Fay response, there are no FEMA trailers available so this
is not a solution to the housing issue. There is litigation regarding
formaldehyde in the FEMA. This should not be a part of the housing
solution.

American Red Cross
Karen Hagen said the American Red Cross will open shelters for Ike if
they are needed. She introduced Mary O’Geary who is working on
Tropical Storm Fay cases.

Mary O’Geary is contacting chapters regarding cases and trying to get
them closed as soon as possible. These cases will be coordinated with
the LTROs in impacted areas.

Renee said things are the same as yesterday for CREW.

Tara said there was nothing to report from FIND.

Scott Lewis said there is a request for the Bahamas, Haiti, and Cuba
for assistance following Ike. If there are organizations that can
help, contact Scott at sc...@eagleswingsfoundation.org

Next conference call is Wednesday September 10, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.
Call in number 800-320-4330 - Pin 897612#

Meeting adjourned at 11:26 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson
Florida VOAD Secretary

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson
Minister for Disaster Response and Recovery
Florida Conference United Church of Christ
6001 NW 8th Ave
Miami, FL 33127
305-758-4845 (office)
786-374-5542 (cell)
ktho...@uccfla.org