Barry Shade, CWS Associate Director for U.S. Disaster Response, described the agency’s Superstorm Sandy recovery work at a February 21 meeting with more than two dozen disaster case managers for the American Red Cross New York Chapter. Pictured: Shade with ARC-NY Disaster Case Manager Tymera Jackson. Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo/CWS
To date, CWS has supplied $1,224,874 in material goods donated by its member communions and their congregations including CWS Blankets, Cleanup Buckets and other CWS Kits for Sandy survivors up and down the East Coast. It has approved grants for 18 long-term recovery groups; conducted more two dozen “Recovery Tools and Training,” safety and other workshops, and is providing ongoing consultation and support for recovery groups, especially in hard-hit New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
CWS Associate Director for U.S. Disaster Response Barry Shade said CWS emphasizes attention to underserved disaster survivors, such as public housing residents and people whose first language is not English, including undocumented immigrants who aren’t eligible for U.S. government-funded programs. He said one of CWS’s priorities is to help disaster case managers and long-term recovery groups to understand each others’ roles and, as a result, to work well together.
“Once all the big government programs run their course, Superstorm Sandy survivors will still have unmet needs,” Shade said. “The help of community-based long-term recovery groups will be the key to their full recovery.”
CWS has raised just over $900,000 in funding for this multi-state work, including a $305,395 grant from the National American Red Cross.
The February 21 meeting was the second at ARC-NY in as many weeks. On February 12, Shade and CWS Emergency Response Specialists Sandra Kennedy-Owes and Joann Hale were there for an update on Superstorm Sandy recovery work. On March 13, CWS will be represented at a Superstorm Sandy Resource Fair, also at ARC-NY.