Local flood victims still need our help

The Santa Fe Community Foundation is leading the way in providing assistance for our neighbors damaged by heavy floods in July. With its Fund for the Flood, the foundation has a goal of bringing in $100,000, with just over $7,000 raised so far — including a matching grant of $2,500 from Shell Oil Co. Foundation to equal a $2,500 donation from an employee.

Applications won’t be accepted, however, until $10,000 comes flowing in. People with damage will be able to obtain up to $1,000 for home repairs, with Habitat for Humanity assessing homes and helping with repairs. Habitat for Humanity is the foundation partner on the fundraising effort.

The fundraiser is an example of how the Santa Fe Community Foundation steps up. It is there, of course, for the always present needs — whether children’s programs, efforts to fight poverty, improve community health or other concerns that never fade.

Occasionally, something needs doing right now. That’s when an agency such as the foundation starts the ball rolling. Think of the drive back in the early 2000s, when private citizens set up the Plaza Community Stage Fund through the foundation to raise money — successfully — for a permanent stage on the Plaza.

Santa Fe is fortunate to have a proactive community foundation.

The nonprofit, most of all, is a trusted partner. The New Mexican, for example, works with the Santa Fe Community Foundation during its Empty Stocking Drive every holiday season; it’s a commitment to ensure that money is collected and delivered just as the donors desire.

The floods of the summer have left many working families and business operators struggling. Folks don’t have an extra thousand dollars to put up a new fence or to repair stucco or to repair water damage. So many people live paycheck to paycheck and simply lack extra money put aside for life’s emergencies.

Many in Santa Fe also do not have comprehensive flood insurance, meaning there’s no coverage for damage from the overflowing arroyos. Insurance might pay for hail damage and the like, but most people who were flooded are on their own.

Failing to buy flood insurance is not unusual, either. We live in a desert, after all, and the July flood was hardly the norm, even if extreme storms are part of the changing climate picture. Even for damage covered by insurance, there often is a struggle to meet plan deductibles; the $1,000 potentially available from Fund for the Flood can help fill in the gap between what insurance covers and what a policyholder pays.

We hope our fellow community members take the time to pitch in — think of it as the modern-day equivalent of the neighborhood gathering to replace a barn washed away by a raging river.

The Fund for the Flood will take both cash donations and help from local businesses who donate in-kind services; as of Tuesday, no handymen or contractors had called in to donate, but we know that will change. (Find out more at www.santafecf.org/give-now.)

The Fund for the Flood is the kind of initiative that will keep our neighbors from falling behind. Now, let’s see the community get behind it.