Hurricane Harvey Relief

 

From MD-2 Texas Lions Council Chair Rick Talbert  — March 7, 2018:

To date the Hurricane Harvey Task Force has received approximately $1,126,500.00 in funds designated for Hurricane Harvey Relief – the details of which are noted below:

TEXAS LIONS FOUNDATION: TLF received approximately $100,000.00 in contributions following Harvey of which $58,500.00 was specifically designated for the Task Force and which has been delivered to the Task a Force. In addition, TLF issued $72,000.00 in Emergency Grants (36 @ $2,000.00 each). TLF really stood Texas Tall in responding to Harvey.

LIONS CLUB INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: LCIF has received approximately $926,000 in designated Hurricane Harvey contributions. To date, $555,000.00 has been designated for the specific projects identified below with the remaining $361,000.00 yet to be designated.

Major Catastrophe Grant. Task Force received $100,000.00 as the original Major Catastrophe Grant which was allocated $25,000 per District (A3, S1, S2 and S4) which has been spent on emergency relief activities. The Grant Report has been filed with LCIF and accepted as a closed grant.

Holiday Spirit Grant. Task Force received $60,000.00 from LICIF as the Holiday Spirit Grant for providing assistance to families and children for Christmas which the Task Force allocated between the Districts. Funds have been spent and report has been filed with LCIF.

Neighborhood Reconstruction Grant. Task Force submitted its Neighborhood Reconstruction Grant for $280,000 ($70,000 per District) to LCIF and has received approval of such Grant. Funds have been received and distributed to each District. The Grant is to assist 20 homeowners in each District with repair costs of materials not to exceed $3,500.00 per homeowner. The Task Force has prepared an Homeowner Application which is in the process of being distributed to local clubs to work with local homeowners.

Buckner’s Child Home. Task Force submitted its Buckner’s Children Home Grant for $81,277.00 to assist in the repair of its campus in Beaumont, Texas which serves some 1,500 children annually. The Grant has been approved by LCIF and the funds are expected to be received shortly. The damages exceeded $400,000.00 much of which was not covered by insurance so the LCIF Grant will be of great assistance in helping the children get back to a normal life.

Nursing Stations. Task Force submitted a grant to repair and refurbish Nursing Stations in a small east Texas school district serving some 1,800 students which were devastated by the flooding. LCIF is currently reviewing the Grant and its approval is pending. The school district suffered millions of dollars in damages so the requested Grant of $35,000.00 will be of great assistance to that community. The Grant is to assist specifically in insuring that the school children will have adequate medical facilities and supplies as necessary.

Pending Projects. The Task Force is currently reviewing potential additional projects such as assisting volunteer fire departments with replacing damaged equipment, assisting some communities repair public parks, assisting in the repair of emergency shelters, etc.

TASK FORCE: TF received $80,000.00 in general donations and $40,000.00 restricted to medical related expenses. TF also received numerous truckloads of donated items from around the USA which have been distributed to the disaster victims. All such funds have been distributed to the Districts except approximately $7,500.00 and have been expended on a wide variety of needs.

Note: in addition, there have been additional funds and goods donated directly to many of the clubs in the affected area.

It continues to be an amazing experience which has made us all proud to be a Lion! So lets continue to move FORWARD TO THE FUTURE OF SERVICE as Lions enter our 2nd century of SERVICE.

Rick Talbert
MD-2 Council Chair 2017-2018