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Fire Relief Resources

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Dear Friend,

As Chairman of the Committee with oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I have been working non-stop to make sure Oregonians have the Federal resources they need to fight these fires, find shelter, and begin rebuilding. I worked with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and the Trump Administration to expedite approval of Governor Kate Brown’s request to declare a Major Disaster declaration for Oregon. The declaration, along with subsequent action from the Small Business Administration (SBA), provides a number of programs to assist individuals, households and businesses, along with assistance for public agencies and selected non-profits that have participated in response efforts.

Individual Assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is currently available for Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, and Marion counties.  This may expand as damages in additional counties are assessed by the State and FEMA. But please know, Government disaster assistance only covers basic needs and usually will not compensate you for your entire loss. Contact your insurance providers if you have insurance. The government may help pay for basic needs not covered under your insurance policy.

Any resident or property owner in the counties listed above who has been impacted by the fires should register with FEMA to determine eligibility for assistance. You can register by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) [TTY 800-462-7585] or online at www.disasterassistance.gov. Be prepared with the following information to register:

  • Social Security Number
  • Insurance policy information
  • Address of the damaged primary dwelling
  • A description of disaster-caused damage and losses
  • Current mailing address
  • Current telephone number
  • Total household annual income
  • Routing and account number of your checking or savings account (for direct transfer to your bank account)

For more information about applying for Federal disaster assistance, please review this fire recovery guide and visit the Wildfire Resources Page on my website. For help working with a Federal agency, please reach out to my office at (541) 465-6732 or toll-free at 800-944-9603.

Assistance Available from the Federal Government

For residents or property owners in the covered counties, FEMA may be able to provide a range of Individual Assistance to help you get through this crisis and begin the recovery process. To access FEMA assistance, you will need to apply and answer a series of questions that will determine your eligibility. Please see the next section for more details on the process.

Types of Individual Assistance: FEMA provides a range of individual assistance to qualified applicants. Below is a brief summary of available services. A full list can be found at: https://www.fema.gov/individual-disaster-assistance.

  • FEMA may be able to provide assistance paying for temporary shelter (including hotels or renting a home) if you have been evacuated and need longer-term housing while you wait for your home to be repaired or rebuilt.
  • In limited cases, FEMA can provide financial assistance to repair or rebuild property that has been damaged or destroyed by the fires and is not covered by insurance.
  • FEMA can occasionally help to replace essential personal belongings that were destroyed in the disaster.

How to Apply for Disaster Assistance

Individual Assistance. To receive assistance from FEMA, you can apply in the following ways:

  • Online at DisasterAssistance.gov
  • Constituents may call the registration phone number at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362); those who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.

Small Business, Homeowners, or Renters Assistance. The Trump administration has approved SBA loans for businesses and nonprofit organizations in the covered counties. The SBA loans of up to $2 million are to help businesses to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets.

Businesses that received Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) in response to the COVID-19 crisis may still be eligible for assistance under this disaster and are encouraged to apply.

Other Resources

Unemployment Assistance. People who are out of work due to the fires may be eligible for unemployment benefits or those displaced individuals may need to update their information accordingly with the Oregon Employment Department (OED).

OED has put together this Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to help answer some of your questions. To contact OED directly, There is also a dedicated option to the Contact Us form for people who have evacuated and need help with a claim, or need assistance getting a new ReliaCard or setting up direct deposit. You can also contact OED by phone at 1-877-345-3484, Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. OED has also created a Wildfires Alert box to its site with an update on office outages and closures, and links to key resources for people impacted by the fires. OED anticipates to be able to start making disaster unemployment assistance payments next week.

Tax Relief and IRS Assistance. In September, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that victims of Oregon wildfires now have until January 15, 2021, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. This comes after the Oregon delegation pushed the IRS to deliver this much-needed relief.

 For more information, please visit the IRS’s website.

For homeowners wanting information about their residences.

  • Call 541-682-3977 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
  • Visit the resource center at the Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Avenue in Eugene from noon to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week.

In-person crisis support with Lane County Behavioral Health. The Graduate Hotel (66 E. Sixth Ave., Eugene), Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Emotional Support Line: 1-800-923-HELP (4357)

Disaster Stress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746. The line is available in 100 languages, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Looking Ahead

The damage from the wildfires across Oregon is catastrophic, and the scale of the recovery is beyond the capabilities of the State. I’m grateful that the White House approved Oregon’s Major Disaster declaration in record time. This decision will make more Federal aid available for survivors of the fires and give communities the resources they need to start to rebuild.

You can be sure that I will continue pushing for the resources Oregonians need to respond to and recover from these wildfires. I know, as always, that our community will come back stronger than before.

Sincerely,

Image

Peter DeFazio

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Greater Douglas United Way Announces The Ford Family Foundation Pledges $10,000 to COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund

Greater Douglas United Way announced today that The Ford Family Foundation pledged $10,000to Greater Douglas United Way’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. The fund has beenestablished to help our local community with urgent needs as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
100% of all funds raised will stay local and will go to provide support for our community’s organizations and individuals in need as a result of this pandemic.

The Ford Family Foundation supports the development of communities — from community capacity building to economic vitality…and once again they have stepped forward supporting our community in a time of need.

If you are interested in being a part of this effort, donations can be made online at www.gduway.org, checks can be mailed to our address at 702 SE Jackson St., Roseburg, OR 97470 or you can go to any Banner Bank branch in Douglas County to make a deposit directly. 100% of your gift will go to help people in need as a direct result of COVID-19. Greater Douglas
United Way will focus any funding on basic needs through local nonprofits for people affected by COVID-19.

All funds raised will be used to help those in need. Greater Douglas United Way will not charge any administrative expense on the fund. To date, GDUW has raised over $63,000 and has disbursed $25,000 to local member agencies.

Greater Douglas United Way is focused on helping make Douglas County a better and safer place to live, work and play by focusing on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good life.

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DENNY’S LAUNCH DRIVE-THRU GROCERY SERVICES

Article written by Kyle Bailey of KQEN.

https://kqennewsradio.com/2020/04/07/dennys-launch-drive-thru-grocery-services/

In the KQEN Business Spotlight:

5 Denny’s Restaurant’s in Oregon, including the Roseburg location, have set up drive-through grocery services in their parking lots in response to the COVID-19 situation.

A release from Denny’s said guests can place their orders online or from their vehicles, and servers will bring orders, fully packaged and ready to pick up. The new service allows customers to get the food and supplies they need without compromising social distancing protocols or having to enter high-contact spaces. The list of items available for purchase is linked with this story:  https://media.kget.com/nxsglobal/kerngoldenempire/feature_pages/Get-Local/Kern-County-Open/Dennys-Grocery-Menu.pdf. It includes staples like milk, eggs and produce.

The release said the locations will also be rolling out Home Meal Kits that include all the ingredients for a family meal with simple cooking and assembly instructions. The kits will be available for the rest of the month.

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Greater Douglas United Way Announces $10,000 from COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund will be granted to The Salvation Army of Roseburg

 Greater Douglas United Way announced today that they granted $10,000 to The Salvation Army of Roseburg from their COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. GDUW knows that The Salvation Army has seen an increase in requests for rental and utility assistance, fuel assistance and food box requests, so it was critical that they receive the much needed funds at this time. These extra funds will help meet the increase in requests that they are currently dealing with. 

Greater Douglas United Way’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund has been established to help our local community with urgent needs as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 100% of all funds raised will stay local and will go to provide support for our community’s organizations and individuals in need as a result of this pandemic. To date, over $50,000 has been raised and with the recent disbursement, $20,000 has been given out to the community. 

If you are interested in being a part of this fundraising effort, donations can be made online at www.gduway.org, checks can be mailed to our address at 702 SE Jackson St., Roseburg, OR 97470 or you can go to any Banner Bank branch in Douglas County to make a deposit directly. 100% of your gift will go to help people in need as a direct result of COVID-19. 

All funds raised will be used to help those in need. Greater Douglas United Way will not charge any administrative expense on the fund. Deposits can be made at any Banner Bank in Douglas County to the Greater Douglas United Way COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. 

Greater Douglas United Way is focused on helping make Douglas County a better and safer place to live, work and play by focusing on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good life. 

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Greater Douglas United Way Announces $10,000 from COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund will be granted to The Friendly Kitchen/Meals on Wheels of Roseburg

 Greater Douglas United Way announced today that they granted $10,000 to The Friendly Kitchen/Meals on Wheels of Roseburg from their COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. GDUW knows that Meals on Wheels have had to radically changed the way they provide services in our community, so it was critical that they receive the much needed funds at this time. These extra funds will help ease the burdens that they are currently dealing with. 

Greater Douglas United Way’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund has been established to help our local community with urgent needs as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 100% of all funds raised will stay local and will go to provide support for our community’s organizations and individuals in need as a result of this pandemic. 

If you are interested in being a part of this fundraising effort, donations can be made online at www.gduway.org, checks can be mailed to our address at 702 SE Jackson St., Roseburg, OR 97470 or you can go to any Banner Bank branch in Douglas County to make a deposit directly. 100% of your gift will go to help people in need as a direct result of COVID-19. 

All funds raised will be used to help those in need. Greater Douglas United Way will not charge any administrative expense on the fund. Deposits can be made at any Banner Bank in Douglas County to the Greater Douglas United Way COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. 

Greater Douglas United Way is focused on helping make Douglas County a better and safer place to live, work and play by focusing on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good life. 

Read more

Greater Douglas United Way Announces COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund

 Greater Douglas United Way announced today that a fund has been established to help our local community with urgent needs as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 100% of all funds raised will stay local and will go to provide supports for our community’s organizations and individuals in need as a result of this pandemic. 

Donations can be made online at gduway.org, checks mailed to our address at 702 SE Jackson St., Roseburg, OR 97470 or you can go to any Banner Bank branch to make a deposit directly. 100% of your gift will go to help people in need as a direct result of COVID-19. 

Greater Douglas United Way will focus any funding on basic needs through local nonprofits for people affected by COVID-19. 

All funds raised will be used to help those in need. Greater Douglas United Way will not charge any administrative expense on the fund. Deposits can be made at any Banner Bank in Douglas County to the Greater Douglas United Way COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. 

Greater Douglas United Way is focused on helping make Douglas County a better and safer place to live, work and play by focusing on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good life. 

For more information, please email us [email protected]. 

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United Community Action Network Food Bank

The UCAN Food Bank started offering the Cooking Matters program this year. Cooking Matters is a free, six week cooking course for low income adults to learn how to cook healthy and nutritious meals on a budget. Each week, participants receive a free bag of groceries to practice their newly learned skills. During one class’s debrief about the take-home bags, two of our participants (a mother and daughter) started laughing. When questioned, they said they didn’t realize the spice packs we provided (which included 2TBS of many spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, paprika, etc.) were for the entire course. They put ALL of the spices in the Barley Jambalaya. They laughed and laughed together when it happened and said it was a great bonding moment (and actually tasted okay). This is exactly what cooking and eating should be about, bringing families together over both successes and mistakes.

Here is Chris Van Dyke, one of our volunteer Chef Instructors. He is teaching participants at Phoenix School about knife skills and safety.

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The Salvation Army Roseburg

Through The Salvation Army’s emergency housing facilities, homeless shelters, transitional living centers, group homes, and family shelters, we provide over 10 million nights of lodging annually across the country. In addition to supplying shelter, beds, food, and basic hygiene resources to those in need, we help combat long-term homelessness by serving homeless adults, veterans, and children with holistic physical, emotional, and spiritual support. Visit salar.my/homelessness to learn more about our shelters and to help the homeless in your community.

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