Financial help still available for tornado victims

Walk-in centers in Vilonia and Mayflower set up in conjunction with World Renew to help provide financial assistance to residents affected by the deadly April tornado will be open one more week, Monday through Friday.

World Renew, a worldwide natural-disaster response agency, sent about a dozen volunteers to Faulkner County to meet individually with people at the centers, as well as canvass neighborhoods to explain resources available to residents.

The volunteers are known as Green Shirts, because of the color of the T-shirts they wear.

The walk-in center in Vilonia is at 1122 Main St., Suite 9, which is the office of the Vilonia Disaster Recovery Alliance. In Mayflower, the walkin center is at the Mayflower United Methodist Church, Arkansas 89 and Grove Street. The center is in conjunction with the Interfaith and Partners Disaster Recovery Alliance in Mayflower, which has an office at a Baptist church across the street.

Sandy Towles, case coordinator for the Vilonia alliance, said the visiting volunteers were surprised by what they saw.

“They thought they were coming in for a first-needs assessment. They found out quickly that when they got here, they were thinking of doing what we did in May. We said, ‘We’re past that,’” Towles said.

She asked the World Renew volunteers to call about 300 people, who were initially called after the tornado tore through the county, killing 16 people and decimating hundreds of homes and businesses.

Towles said the World Renew volunteers said, “This is not what we normally do, but we’re going to do what you need.”

She said that when tornado victims are contacted, they say, “We’re in a rental, and we’re OK.” However, Towles said, the people were asked if they would like housing assistance, if it were available, and many said yes.

“We’re hoping to build 50 houses with Habitat [for Humanity of Faulkner County] and other Christian agencies that are coming in — Christian Apostolic, NOMADS and the Mennonites,” she said.

Towles said some of the homes will be started in two weeks, and groups of 50 volunteers each week are coming to work in January, February and March.

“We are purchasing some land,” she said. Towles said she has been talking to politicians, “every person I can think I can drum up some support just to do a foundation. It’s $6,000 to get in. Our push is to get the foundations in October and November, up to 20, to have these people come in January.

“We’re going to get the foundations; we just know we are. We’re going on faith,” she said.

Janice Mann, recovery coordinator for the Interfaith and Partners Disaster Recovery Alliance, said the walkin center is running well in Mayflower and that the Green Shirts canvassed neighborhoods last week.

“The main thing that the Green Shirts are out there doing is making sure that everybody’s been touched and that everybody is aware that resources are available, everything from immediate needs — food, clothes — all the way up to if there’s a need for a rebuild that they don’t have resources for.”

That information is reported to the long-term-recovery centers, she said.

Mann said people who plan to come into the center should bring “some kind of proof of pre-disaster address and where they are now, and we’ll be asking questions about their resources … as well as their personal stuff. If they have a FEMA number, that’s the first thing we want to know.

“As far as the process itself, I think some people don’t understand when we get them into the system, they’ll be assigned a disaster case manager who will help them with a recovery plan, a personal plan. They’ll also help them with any immediate needs, as well as work toward meeting those unmet, long-term needs.”

Habitat for Humanity of Faulkner County “is right in the middle of all this,” Mann said, ” as well as about 20 other agencies.”

Towles said people who believe they might qualify for a Habitat for Humanity home should come to the walk-in center, too.

“Anybody that was affected by the tornado is to come in, if they want to see if they can possibly qualify to own a house. … Then someone else that lives in this area that may want to qualify for a Habitat house, we’re also taking their financial information.

“After we meet the needs of No. 1, disabled, handicapped elderly and single parents and disaster victims, then, just somebody who lives in the town, … if they’re low income, they come in and register, too. We may be able to help them.”

The walk-in centers are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

After the volunteers leave, Towles said, people can continue to seek help at the alliance offices.

More information is available in Vilonia by calling (501) 428-9228 or emailing vdracares@gmail.com. In Mayflower, call Janice Mann at (501) 205-6873.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 3270370 or tkeith@arkansas online.com.