In the wake of the storm that struck the area on Aug. 28, the Stratton Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in 1996, has raised upwards of $280,000 for Irene relief efforts. Along with a number of other organizations and non-profits, the organization is working to identify and provide assistance to those people who either lost their homes or suffered significant damage as a result of the storm.
Coordinator for the Stratton Foundation, Tammy Mosher, said the foundation began thinking of ways to help a day or two after the tropical storm hit.
"Oliver Olsen, together with members of our board, realized a need to centralize donations," said Mosher. "The day afterwards we started brainstorming, reaching out to everyone we knew, that we were going to take on this role for our community."
One of the things the Stratton Foundation - who is working closely with Neighborhood Connections - did through the use of designated funds was to hire Patti Komline, a state representative from Dorset whose district also includes Danby, Peru, Mt. Tabor and Landgrove, as Project Director for a disaster relief initiative. She along with Al Rogers - a Weston resident with a background in consulting, project management, financial analysis
and government relations - will identify and work with families and businesses that suffered significant damage to their homes, land, or businesses as a result of the storm to develop individual recovery plans.She and Rogers will also make an assessment of the need, which they will present to the Stratton Foundation. Based on their assessment, the Stratton Foundation will then decide how to allocate funds, Komline said.
State representative Oliver Olsen (Bennington-Windham-Windsor-1), who is on the Stratton Foundation Flood Relief Committee, said he along with some other individuals will be working to raise money for the relief fund.
Still, Olsen admitted that what they have probably would not be enough.
"The reality is we probably won't have enough money to make everyone whole," he said. "The goal will be to understand the full scope of the need and prioritize funding based on those assessments."
How the money will be parceled out is still to be determined. Komline said the Stratton Foundation was going to have to decide whether they were going to help everybody by giving them some money, if they were going to help some people by giving them a lot of money or if they were going to meet the needs of all the people and raise the necessary funds.
Komline said a time frame for dispersing funds may become more concrete following a meeting with the Stratton Foundation on Friday.
Komline, while remaining a state representative, recently stepped down as the Republican Party's assistant minority leader in the state legislature. She started her new post at the Stratton Foundation last week and so far she has spoken with about 40 people - 25 of whom need assistance, she said.
"I talked to four people whose homes were totally gone, including their property gone. A couple of people, their houses are probably going to have to be torn down," she said. "[I've talked to] people living with no drinking water; no hot water. They don't have heat yet. [and] I still have more people to go to."
While the people who don't have drinking water, heat, and who have serious mold problems are all in need, may eventually look back at this period in their life as a bad time, it was the people who had lost their homes, their land, and still have a mortgage to pay that were going to be a focal point, she said.
"That's one of our top priorities is how to help those people," Komline said. "The people that are holding mortgages to nothing, that's life changing, and that's a huge priority for us going forward."
Komline said it is believed that somewhere between 700 and 800 homes were lost statewide and they are trying to determine how many of them were primary homes with mortgages.
In addition to the Stratton Foundation and Neighborhood Connections, other organizations - such as the Student Conservation Association (SCA) - are also making an effort to help flood victims.
"We're reaching out trying to let people know that the SCA can help with either people we have in Charlestown (N.H.) or people who know how to do land work," said Northeast Regional Development Officer for the SCA, Brett Morrison.
Morrison said that the SCA could be a coordinating or a collaborating partner and that they have already been talking to corporate and national funders to ascertain who might be able to help pay for the work that needs to be performed. The SCA is also acting as a intermediary, not only for corporate and national funders, but for other agencies and non-profits as well, Morrison said. The SCA's goal, Morrison said, was to help as many people as possible by helping the other organizations communicate effectively with one another.
In the meantime, events continue to be held to help raise funds for those victims in need of assistance. On Monday, Oct. 10, the Stratton Resort is hosting an "I Love Vermont" Community BBQ from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. under the tent at the base lodge with live music from UBUNTU.
The Fat Spy Tavern in Bondville held a buffet dinner and silent auction, which raised $11,000 and more recently a bar in New York City held an event that raised $7,000 for the flood victims, Mosher said.
Burr and Burton Academy has also created a Tropical Storm Irene Relief Fund and the school has raised about $35,000. Relief grants in increments of $250 and $500 will be given out in the form of gift cards and grants to pay for other services - such as contractors - will also be considered, according to a recent press release.