Hurricane Helene - how you can get help and offer help

As Greenville County begins the response and recovery process from hurricane helene, this short episode provides a few resources for help with the disaster's impacts on your home and belongings and for dealing with challenges such as food, prescriptions, and more. We also share how you can help your neighbors and those in need.

Links:

FEMA Assistance

Community Relief Fund Donation

Transcript

Katy Smith:
Simple Civics listeners, this episode is posting the first week of October 2024, and we've been in the middle of election season and sharing our conversations with candidates. However, last week, our region was hit by an historic disaster because of Hurricane Helene. We are sharing this short episode with a few pieces of information on how you can help with storm recovery, or if you need help. I hope you are safe and well, and I hope that by the time you hear this, your power is on and you are well on the other side of this disaster. If not, or if you'd like to provide support, please keep listening.

Katy Smith:
I'm Katy Smith with Greater Good Greenville, and I'm so glad to be joined today by Nathaniel DeSantis, our podcast producer with Podcast Studio X, for a quick conversation about Hurricane Helene recovery in Greenville County. First, we are thinking about all of our neighbors in Florida, Georgia, Western North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee, who were also hit by this devastating storm. I know we are all really struggling in the western half of South Carolina, but know there are some terrible stories and a long road ahead in those other states as well. So all of our prayers go to them. We also know there's lots of information on the news and from your utility providers, and we don't want to replace that. But we had a few quick pieces of information we wanted to share today. So Nathaniel, thanks so much for the conversation we're about to have.

Nathaniel DeSantis:
Thank you for having me on. I'm glad we can help everyone in Greenville County and the Southeast figure this out. So first, probably on most people's mind is their own property. So you have things like home damage, auto damage, damage to possessions. What should people do if they're facing that situation?

Katy Smith:
Yes, it's a lot to learn and a lot to navigate. If you have insurance, you should go ahead and file a claim with your homeowners, auto owners. If you have renter's insurance or other insurance, you should do that first. But you should also apply to FEMA for assistance. So FEMA assistance is open for South Carolina. And what you're going to want to do is take photos of your damaged home or belongings for your own records and make a list of any damaged or lost items, which may be helpful for you while you're working with your own insurance and then in discussing losses with a FEMA inspector. So you don't have to have filed an insurance claim prior to applying for FEMA disaster assistance, but you'll be required to provide to FEMA your insurance settlement or denial before being considered for certain types of assistance.

Nathaniel DeSantis:
So what all is actually involved in applying for FEMA?

Katy Smith:
I have not gone through it myself and I'm preparing to go through it myself. But what I understand the steps to be are that we need to have ready our social security number, our annual household income, all of our contact information, phone number, mailing address, email address, the home address for the damaged property. We'll need bank account information because if we're approved for disaster assistance, we might want to have those funds directly deposited to our accounts. And then all of our insurance information. If we are covered by insurance for our damage, FEMA does not cover it, but for the things that, that insurance does not cover, or if that insurance is delayed, we might be able to ask for additional assistance from FEMA. So they may then come to verify that damage with an on-site or virtual inspection. It's different from an insurance adjuster visit. And these are not the people who decide if we get FEMA support. They're just trained in identifying damage caused by disasters. And then sometime after, we'll get a decision of what FEMA will cover. And there's the opportunity to appeal that decision if we disagree. So that is what's ahead for all of us who can apply for FEMA. Now, it's worth applying, even if you think you don't need to, because it helps Congress know what funds are needed for disasters in our state and helps them understand the scope of our disaster here. And we'll put the links for the FEMA application on the episode page. You can also just go to FEMA.gov, that's F-E-M-A.gov slash assistance slash individual to get that process started.

Nathaniel DeSantis:
And from personal experience, what I will tell the listeners, for example, we have a damaged roof at my home and it's going to take insurance, I think, over a week to come out and actually inspect it and everything. So FEMA takes a long time, but so does the insurance process. So start right now if you can. Seriously, get on it. You will thank yourself later. But moving on, there are people who have some immediate needs and immediate attentions like food, prescription, debris cleanup? What about people in those situations? What can we do for them?

Katy Smith:
If you have or neighbors of yours have needs like exactly like you just said, Nathaniel, food, prescription assistance, needing ice to keep insulin stable, things like that, 211 is your resource. And that's run by United Way of Greenville County. So to access that, just dial on your phone the number 211. But you can also access all of those resources online by visiting sc211.org. And if you want to use text on your mobile phone, just text the word help to the number 211211. It's very easy to access it. Any of those means that are helpful to you. They've added up extra staff, both here in South Carolina and outside of the state that are here to direct you to resources. So that's an easy way to get connected with things that you might need. Now, if you're listening and you are a service provider, you're a nonprofit or a public agency, it can help if you update your profile so you can let United Way know how you can help. To do that, just visit www.sc211.org and click useful links and you can complete a form to add or to edit your agency information. If you are on a board or a volunteer with a nonprofit, you might want to nudge your executive director to let them know. We've been in close touch through Greater Good Greenville with all of our nonprofits in town and have relayed this to them as well.

Nathaniel DeSantis:
Great information. And there are some people who are a little bit more fortunate than others maybe and have the means or the availability or the time or the resources to help. So what about those people? What do you have to tell them or how can they get involved? How can they help?

Katy Smith:
I think disasters like this show the loveliest parts of our community because people do want to help. They want to bring supplies. They want to get involved. And the challenging thing here is that as we are still in the middle of a disaster response, the county and the cities are still trying to clear the roads and coordinate with utility companies and more, and they cannot take on your supplies and your willingness to volunteer. So really, they have asked us to pass along the simplest of simple civics requests for you. Number one, they have said, just be a good neighbor and checking on people is a really, really important thing you can do. If you can, quote unquote, volunteer by checking in on older adults you know, or checking in on people who live by themselves or helping neighbors haul debris or tear out wet carpet. These are all just really important tasks that don't need anyone to coordinate you because it just spreads the load throughout communities and throughout neighbors. So that is a really important way to volunteer. Just do it on your street, in your neighborhood, through a faith community, whatever it might be.

Katy Smith:
If you would like to give money, and honestly, money is really helpful because you can just with your eyes see how costly this is going to be, especially for people in need. We have three options for you. So the United Way of Greenville County has launched its Community Relief Fund, and this is to help address immediate relief needs of our community in partnership with lots of organizations.

Katy Smith:
We will put the link on our episode page. You can also go to unitedwaygc.org to make a donation there, and they'll help put those dollars to work. If you're interested in supporting needs across the state, you can donate to the 1SC Fund. This is a fund that is launched when our state has disasters, whether they be at the coast or in the Midlands or when COVID occurred, this fund was launched. It is here again to help with Helene. It's managed by the Central Carolina Community Foundation. So you'll see that's where the gift is going. But they are the partner with our governor and all of our organizations across the state to help put that to work. So that would be a really important thing to do. You can also donate to a nonprofit organization that you care about. These nonprofits are working hard. They are losing revenue as patients and clients aren't coming in and as some fundraisers have been canceled. So feel free to make a gift to the nonprofits that are doing work. The most important thing you can give, though, is your patience and your grace and your kindness. You might have seen some really poor behavior in lines at gas stations or at the grocery stores or at lights that are out that should be treated as four-way stops.

Katy Smith:
Keeping a cool head and knowing that this is going to pass is a gift you can give to everybody and to yourself. So that's really probably the most important thing you can take away from all of this. We just appreciate you listening and caring and know that because of caring community members like you, we will get through this.

Nathaniel DeSantis:
Those are great things people can do to help. One other thing that I will say is that not everyone is a Simple Civics listener. And I don't want to get too preachy, but I do think you could also share this podcast episode to help people who might not know the resources available to them. So just shoot a text over to someone that you think might need help or someone who wants to help and can be connected to these resources. It's valuable for them to have it as well. So that's the last thing I'll say about it. And then it's great that we're seeing the community come together the way it is. A terrible thing that happened, but great that we're all coming together the way that we are in the way that we have for this, and that we have these resources available to everyone.

Katy Smith:
Thanks so much, Nathaniel, and thanks to y'all for listening.

Catherine Puckett:
Simple Civics: Greenville County is a project of Greater Good Greenville. Greater Good Greenville was catalyzed by the merger of the Nonprofit Alliance and the Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy. You can learn more on our website at greatergoodgreenville.org.