Vermonters and out of state donors have contributed $1.3 million to the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, and though the money continues to come in, how it will be spent has yet to be determined.
Enter the Vermont Long Term Disaster Recovery Group.
Gov. Peter Shumlin announced that the nonprofit group will be responsible for distributing the funds and deploying volunteer assistance to Vermonters who continue to need help rebuilding their lives after Tropical Storm Irene. The nine-member group is charged with assessing the financial and resource needs of disaster victims who have lost their homes or who have experienced large financial losses and have exhausted all other options for financial support.
David Coates, the chair of the newly formed nonprofit, said the group will work with the American Red Cross and the Vermont Community Fund to ensure that Vermonters get the help they need and efforts aren’t duplicated.
Money will be made available to individuals and families through the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, once they have exhausted private insurance, federal, state and local funding resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency covers up to $30,400 in damages to homeowners whose property has been totaled. About 112 residents have received the maximum allocation so far.
“There’s going to be a huge need at the end of the day,” Coates said. “We need to manage the effort so we don’t have duplication. We want to get it right the first time.”
Coates said the group will be building the “right infrastructure” to meet that need. He cautioned that work of funding the reconstruction of some areas of the state will be a multi-year effort.
At this point, no caps have been set for individual assistance, nor have any criteria for financial support been set. The group will begin creating a process for how the money will be distributed over the next few weeks.
The following bios of the members of the Vermont Long Term Disaster Recovery Group were issued by the Shumlin administration. The six members (three appointed by the governor and three selected by the Vermont Organizations Active in Disaster) will choose three additional, at-large board members.
Chairman David Coates of Colchester. Coates will chair the Vermont Long Term Disaster Recovery Group and is a Governor’s appointee. Coates is a Director of National Life Group and was elected to the Board in 1993. He is a retired managing partner of KPMG’s Burlington, Vermont, office. Coates is a Director of Green Mountain Power Corp., A.N. Deringer, Inc., Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company Advisory Committee, Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO), and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). He was elected as the Vermont Chamber’s Citizen of the Year in August of 2003. He is a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, the Vermont Debt Affordability Advisory Committee, the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank and the American Institute of CPAs.
Vice-Chair Bill Elwell of Bristol. Elwell will vice-chair the Vermont Long Term Disaster Recovery Group. Elwell is a United Methodist Pastor serving in Bristol/Monkton. He served as Chair of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). Elwell has served as a volunteer firefighter, including as a Chief, for 26 years in North Bennington and Bristol. He currently serves as the Chaplain of the Vermont State Firefighters Association.
Chris Graff of Montpelier. Graff is a vice president of National Life Group and was appointed to the VLTDRG by the Governor. He is a former journalist with The Associated Press and the author of Dateline Vermont, a memoir of his 30 years in journalism. For 15 years, Chris hosted Vermont This Week, a public affairs program on Vermont Public Television. He is a contributing editor of Vermont Business Magazine, a trustee of Vermont College of Fine Arts and a director of the Vermont Historical Society. He served on the Council on the Future of Vermont and the Commission on the Future of Vermont’s Justice System. He is a resident of Montpelier.
Ann Manwaring of Wilmington. Manwaring is a Vermont State Representative in Windham County, District 2 and was appointed to the VLTDRG by the Governor. She is a retired small business owner who founded and ran a small business for 23 years which emphasized family friendly policies. She was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio (B.A. Economics, 1962); Marlboro college Tech Center, Brattleboro, VT (M.S. in Internet Strategy, 2001). Affiliations: Select person, Wilmington, 12 years, Chair, 3 years; Vermont League of Cities and Towns, Board member, 9 years, President, 1 year; Wilmington budget Committee; Wilmington Planning Commission, Windham Regional Commission, Wilmington Charter Committee, Chair; Facilities Committee, Twin Valley Schools, Chair (Merged middle and high schools of Wilmington and Whitingham); Brattleboro Area Community Land Trust, Board Member; Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce, Board member. Member of the House: 2007-2012.
Laurie Hurdle of Washington. Hurdle is member of the VOAD coalition, representing the Southern Baptist Convention. Through Vermont’s spring and summer flooding disasters, she has focused on managing the logistics of housing and feeding volunteers.
Mary Ellen Mendl of Colchester. Mendl is currently executive director of Vermont – 211, a United Way project, and serves as vice-chair of the Vermont VOAD. By virtue of her role in the United Way, she has substantial knowledge of Vermont’s non-profit service providers, and has served as a communications hub between and among agencies. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, which is the fund to support the VLTRG’s work.