It is now November.  The flooding happened in August.  Is it all cleaned up yet?  NO WAY!  Can they still use your help?  OF COURSE!  You can volunteer your time (call Tom Gould at 725-4219 to see when and where you can help) and your monetary donation is also still greatly appreciated.  Tri County Disaster Recovery is coordinating the continued assistance that individuals and churches need. 

    First Presbyterian Church in Gowanda needs to gut and remodel their entire basement.  They had a wall bowed – Tri County Disaster Recovery was able to get a donation of a back-hoe and operator to clear out around the wall so volunteer Mennonites could repair and rebuild it.  The Head Start program at First will be able to assist in replacing the appliances they use, however, there is lots of construction to be done.  Please call Tom to set up a time to specifically work at First Presbyterian, Gowanda.  Monetary donations can be sent to the church or to the Presbytery office.

    Trinity United Church of Christ was hit especially hard.  Tom has been using volunteers groups all along to rebuild and “close” the church walls up.  There are still some construction and content needs out there.  Tom will work with you for volunteering your time and muscles, call Jan at the Presbytery office (668-1995) if you want to make a monetary donation or have tables and chairs, etc. to offer the church. 

    Individuals in all the areas hit by flooding are being helped by Tri County Disaster Recovery and its 2 long term recovery groups – REACH (Recovery Erie and Cattaraugus Hope) and ROCC (Recovery of Chautauqua County).  There are several volunteer case managers working with members of the community affected by the flooding.  They follow through to be sure needs are met through the various agencies and public funding sources available.  When they have exhausted all those sources of assistance, the case manager will bring the file to an “Unmet Needs Table.”  Donors provide funding and other resources to fulfill the unmet needs.  There is a procedure that is followed to ensure these donors are truly meeting unmet needs – not just duplicating funding or providing for wants rather than needs. 

    If you have further questions, please call Jan in the Presbytery office – 668-1995.