STAYING SAFE DURING STORM CLEANUP

While some of this may sound like basic common sense, the tips here are good reminders for staying safe during storm cleanup. Check out this information from the Centers for Disease Control.  Click the link below:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/pdf/Kids_Cleanup_Safety-H.pdf?

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Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response

Help keep yourself, your family and your community safe after Hurricane Helene by being aware of rumors and scams.  Click on the above title.


U.S. Attorney Dena J. King Urges The Public To Beware Of Scams And Price Gouging In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Helene

Please click on above for article.


Information from NC Governor Roy Cooper's Office:

RALEIGH 10/2/24

Today, Governor Roy Cooper and President Joe Biden took an aerial tour of areas damaged by Hurricane Helene before holding a briefing on storm impacts at the State Emergency Operations Center. During the briefing, President Biden announced the approval of 100% FEMA Reimbursement for six months, a significant funding commitment from the federal government. The briefing was attended by President Biden, United States Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, United States EPA Administrator Michael Regan, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and other top state and federal officials.

Prior to the visit, President Biden approved Governor Cooper’s request for active-duty military personnel and equipment to support ongoing operations in Western North Carolina. The active-duty military personnel are in addition to more than 1,000 North Carolina National Guard soldiers currently deployed who are surging food, water, supplies and conducting search and rescue operations. The NC National Guard has already performed more than 1,400 rescues and delivered more than 700,000 pounds in supplies.

“The damage caused by Hurricane Helene to Western North Carolina is immense, and we are continuing our unprecedented efforts to surge resources into affected communities,” said Governor Cooper. “We’re grateful to President Biden, FEMA and all of our federal partners for their support and commitment to helping our state respond, recover and rebuild from this disaster.”

State, federal and local partners continue to work together to surge resources into Western North Carolina in response to unprecedented damage from Hurricane Helene across the region. Throughout the week, Governor Roy Cooper has traveled to Western North Carolina to assess storm response, meet with those affected and thank volunteers for their hard work.

Storm Damage Cleanup

If your home has damages and you need assistance with clean up, please call Crisis Cleanup for access to volunteer organizations that can assist you at 844-965-1386.

Major Disaster Declaration and FEMA Assistance

President Biden approved Governor Cooper’s request for an expedited request declaring a Major Disaster for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This declaration paves the way for Public Assistance to help our hard-hit local governments, as well as access to FEMA’s Individual Assistance program.

FEMA may be able to help with serious needs, displacement, temporary lodging, basic home repair costs, personal property loss or other disaster-caused needs. Homeowners and renters in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can apply.

North Carolinians may apply for Individual Assistance by calling 1-800-621-3362 from 7am to 11pm daily or by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov, or by downloading the FEMA app.

Join Us for Hurricane Relief Efforts

Together, we can help those affected by Hurricane Helene! Your support makes a significant difference in rebuilding live and communities of Rutherford and Polk Counties. Please specify if you want your monetary donation to go to Polk County. 100% of donations will be dispersed in the community.

 

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As our community continues to pull together in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we recognize that our 'new normal' looks drastically different today than it did prior to last Friday. While our UWRC team is mobilizing in the community to provide support for various relief initiatives, we want to invite our friends and neighbors who are still without power or water to access our resources. Our conference room will be open weekdays from 10am-4pm for anyone who needs to charge their phone. Residents are welcome to bring containers to fill with water. Free coffee and snacks will be provided; this is for first responders too. Our office is located at 668 Withrow Road, Forest City.
 


2-1-1 in a Personal Crisis and a Natural Disaster

Dial 2-1-1 for NON EMERGENCY requests for information. This includes locations of shelters, how to find help with food or water, and later information about FEMA and other rebuilding support efforts.

Available 24/7 2-1-1, a single, easy-to-remember number.  Their team is behind the scenes with local and state emergency response teams, coupled with our robust resource database, which is vital to our response efforts.


United Way of Rutherford County

Your gift to the United Way works here in your community. It takes everyone in the community working together to help create lasting changes. Our VISION is to be the leader in the effort to create lasting changes in people's lives and community conditions and we need your support.

2023 990

2023 Audit

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


As of October 11th we have raised $89.509.75 for Hurricane Helene Relief.

An Update From our Executive Director

October 8, 2024

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

“How are you holding up?”

“How can we help you?”

When you encounter our UWRC team, we’re going to ask how you’re doing. And we genuinely want to know. Your wellbeing is our top concern; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. As we move further into long-term disaster relief efforts, the mental toll and emotional residue of this disaster is going to impact all of us in different ways.

Maybe you’re cool, calm, and collected during a crisis, but in quiet moments you find yourself bursting into tears. Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed now and paralyzed by anxiety. Maybe you find yourself mentally replaying images of the devastation you’ve personally experienced or seen. Perhaps you find yourself compulsively watching the news or video of people being plucked from rooftops. If you’ve lost a loved one, your home, or suffered other losses shock, numbness, and grief are expected. But you may experience survivor’s guilt or other feelings that you don’t understand or expect. There’s no rule book for how you’re supposed to feel after experiencing a disaster and/or witnessing the suffering of family, friends, and neighbors. Vicarious trauma is real, so please be kind to yourself.

We’re going to keep encouraging people to use the disaster distress hotline (see below) and to talk with our peer support specialists, recovery coaches, and community health workers. We’re not clinically licensed therapists, but we are trained to provide trauma informed supports and to help connect you to additional services and resources. We also work closely with our local behavioral health providers, so you can expect multiple collaborative efforts to address community trauma in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Time has a funny way of feeling warped after an event of this enormity. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 days since Helene hit our county. In some ways, it feels like it was months ago. In other moments, it feels like yesterday. Natural disasters of this magnitude change our lives so dramatically that we start thinking of life as ‘before’ and ‘after’.

Our UWRC team has been boots on the ground from the moment the storm blew through on that fateful Friday. Like so many of you, our team members were out in their neighborhoods, cutting trees and clearing roadways. Checking on their family and neighbors. Working at the emergency shelter alongside DSS staff at RS Central after the first evacuees arrived. If you’ve never had the experience of wrestling with a stubborn Red Cross cot, it's not unlike giving a cat a bath. The cat doesn’t want the bath and you might get a few scratches. PS- Rutherford County DSS did an amazing job under decidedly challenging conditions. They kept things going until Red Cross teams arrived days later and they're still providing support for displaced residents.

Over the course of the past 11 days, UWRC team members have fanned out throughout the community to help our fellow Rutherford County residents. We’ve been working in the shelters. Delivering food, water, medicine, and other necessities to homebound residents. Unloading trucks of supplies. Helping at distribution sites. Opening our building for phone charging and a water filling station. Taking first aid supplies to first responders. Coordinating volunteers to assist at nursing homes and other locations. Everywhere we go, we’ve been so heartened to see the compassion, love, and generosity flowing across our county. This is what true community looks like.

We’ve been deluged with calls from people who want to volunteer. We’ve had people who see our UWRC t-shirts stop us, asking how to jump in and help wherever they can. Right now, we’re trying to delicately remind everyone that we’re in the relatively early stages of this disaster. While the intentions are heartfelt and genuine, we ask everyone to please defer to our first responders and government officials to ensure that we’re not impeding their efforts in our desire to do something to help.

Rebounding from this devastation will be a lengthy process. When a large-scale natural disaster hits, it’s as though our entire community is suffering the death of a loved one. Sadly, we all know what that’s like, right? Immediately, we’re flooded with food, support, and people offering to help. We hear from people we haven’t seen in ages. Our family and friends from across the country show up for the funeral or send cards and flowers. The next week, people still check in because they know our pain is raw and we’re still reeling. As the first month unfolds, everyone wants to be there for us.

But then life returns to normal for everyone else. The offers of help start to taper while we remain cloaked in our heavy shroud of grief. As the numbness of loss starts to wear off, we really need our friends and family. Because we’re trying to recalibrate and establish a new sense of normalcy. We’re trying to rebuild our new life of ‘after’ and still need their support.

The point is, we’re in the early phase. Help is pouring in. But over the next few weeks, life will move on for people who don’t live here. New tragedies will strike. New disasters will hit. The intense attention we’re receiving now will start to wane. That’s when we’ll really need the help of volunteers from our own county and region. If you’ve felt helpless or frustrated because you want to do something meaningful, we absolutely need you. We need you in the long weeks and months ahead. Building back is a long-haul endeavor. Healing and recovery happen in layers. The need for help won’t disappear any time soon. But the offers from other places will. 

Thank you to everyone who’s stepped up to help. Thank you for contributing your time, energy, and labor. Thank you to everyone who’s donated to UWRC’s Hurricane Helene Relief Fund or to any other legitimate relief funds or efforts. We thank you for trusting us. Our 990s are public record, we undergo annual financial audits, and we have fiscal and programmatic oversight from our grant funders including the State of NC and the federal government. We’ve served Rutherford County for more than 50 years and we’re committed to serving our residents.

100% of disaster relief funds go to the community. We added the option for people to designate funds to Polk County as our neighbors there don’t have a United Way. All funds automatically default to Rutherford County unless people specifically designate them for Polk. You can also designate your funds specifically for Lake Lure or Chimney Rock Village. We’ve been meeting with people in shelters and other residents affected by the storm across the county to assess needs. We recognize that the people who are living this nightmare are the experts in what they need. We’re also asking local government and human service organization leaders about the needs they see to ensure we’re receiving broad community input for how to best help. We continue to work closely with United Way of NC as well.

All of us at UWRC are honored, humbled, and privileged to do this work. We’re here for the sprint meeting immediate needs and for the marathon of recovery and rebuilding. We believe in the strength, fortitude, and generous spirit of our community. We believe in the vision, competence, and determination of our community partners and leaders. We believe in the love, faith, and goodwill of our fellow residents. We are Rutherford Resilient. And we will recover. Together.

With gratitude,

Suzanne

 

Just a friendly reminder…

 SAMHSA staffs a Disaster Distress Helpline 24/7.  You may be put on a brief hold, but they answer relatively quickly and provide emotional distress counseling. The Disaster Distress Helpline (DDH) is the first national hotline dedicated to providing year-round disaster crisis counseling. This toll-free, multilingual, crisis support service is available 24/7 to all residents in the U.S. and its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters.

 Call or text 1-800-985-5990.

Español: Llama o envía un mensaje de texto 1-800-985-5990 presiona “2.”

For Deaf and Hard of Hearing ASL Callers: Please text or call the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990using your preferred Relay provider.

Our Services

AGENCIES

AGENCIES

See our list of partnering agencies.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

We canvassed the county to gather input from residents via surveys and focus groups that were held throughout the county

SingleCare

SingleCare

We partnered with FamilyWize to distribute prescription discount cards free-of-charge.