FEMA volunteers offering aid
Corps covers Central Florida to tout resources after Irma
Wielding a clipboard as she goes door to door, Christa Snyder aims to convince dubious residents that, yes, federal aid is available for Hurricane Irma damage — even for spoiled food.
The 25-year-old self-described “Army brat” is among the more than 800 young adults serving on disaster-response teams sent to the Southeast in Irma’s aftermath through the FEMA Corps and AmeriCorps government service programs. On a recent weekday, she canvassed a neighborhood near Lake Ivanhoe.
“Being able to go out in the field, being able to meet people face to face rather than be behind the desk — you get to see survivors,” she said.
President Donald Trump approved Federal Emergency Management Agency aid for 37 counties in the Sunshine State — including all of Central Florida — by Sept. 13, two days after Irma tore through the region. The next day, FEMA Corps and AmeriCorps members arrived to coordinate supplies, register residents for possible assistance and connect people
with a bevy of federal resources.
“For the first week we were doing 24-hour operations,” said Sarah Wheeler, 25, a Californian who has helped send more than 1,300 trailers of supplies from a FEMA base in Groveland. “A couple days ago, we went to 12-hour operations.”
Other teams have knocked on more than 1,000 doors in Metro Orlando to educate residents on potential benefits.
Michael Mikhail, a Lake Ivanhoe resident, was hesitant to seek federal assistance. “I have a friend down in Fort Myers who has a boat in his living room,” he said. “I got lucky.”
A tree had fallen on Mikhail’s house and the insurance adjuster still hadn’t come.
Peter Sessum, a FEMA spokesman, said federal funds could help with costs not covered by insurance and wouldn’t affect claims in Fort Myers or anywhere else in Florida. Mikhail took the application sheet.
So far, more than 144,000 applications for aid have been approved for household assistance in Florida in the aftermath of Irma. Residents can be compensated for damage to their generators, chainsaws and cars or businesses that faced loss or damages can receive low-interest business loans. Online applications are available at FEMA.gov.
Those who are displaced can be approved for hotel vouchers, temporary manufactured housing and, in some cases, direct financial help for new homes.
But to be eligible, residents must be registered. FEMA places a high priority on making storm victims aware of possible benefits.
Snyder, who lived all over the country growing up in a military family and now calls Fredericksburg, Va., home, has knocked on dozens of doors in places including Bithlo, Maitland and Apopka since her arrival — more than 1,000 in all. Many of the homes were on a list of people who called 311, a nonemergency help line, during the storm. City and county governments provided the information.
She worked alongside a small crew of FEMA Corps members and people like Sylvia Jones, 56, a Department of Homeland Security employee called in for extra help.
“We spend about 12 hours together, six to seven days a week,” Snyder said of her teammates. “So it’s kind of hard not to bond.”
FEMA Corps, similar to the Peace Corps, pays a small stipend for a 10-month stint for volunteers between 18 and 24. Many turn 25 while in service. Started in 2012 solely for disaster-response, it is made up of communityminded young people.
“Purpose is key for me in my life.,” said Vincent Popham, 25, of Austin, Texas. “If you can see the purpose and it resonates with you, it’s easy to do that. If not, it’s like walking uphill with a boulder tied to your ankle.”
A FEMA Corps team was also housed at Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter’s Domestic Global Village, a hostel-like center on Bay Street in Eustis. Other teams stay in hotels.
Corps members said they see themselves as “the friendly face” of government while connecting residents to the claims process. The FEMA Corps members were supplemented by young adults serving with AmeriCorps, which has several major programs with thousands of volunteers every year.
People serving with the two groups also have been working in Texas, which was devastated in August by Hurricane Harvey.
More than $525 million in individual and housing assistance has been approved in Texas and Florida after the hurricanes, and costs are expected to climb. Damage in Central Florida counties was estimated at $226 million as of Sept. 15.
Helping people deal with problems after Irma is satisfying work, the volunteers say. Snyder, who will enter her senior year in college next year for a degree in communications, said she wasn’t sure what to expect at first.
“I know Florida has a reputation,” she said. “But they’re [Floridians] not as crazy as the rumors.”