WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

Recovery Corps' HEF program helps families rebuild their lives

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps recently concluded the client intake period of its Household Establishment Funds (HEF) program and is in the final stages of wrapping up another successful iteration of the program.

The Recovery Corps served 1,011 families in Tangipahoa, St. Helena, and Washington parishes, providing up to $1,500 per family in rent and utility deposits and payments, bedding, and appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, washing machines, and dryers to families impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In all, the Recovery Corps allocated more than $1.5 million to the three-parish area.

“Once again, the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps was able to provide resources to families and individuals who have yet to be fully served nearly four years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita made landfall,” said Dr. Monteic A. Sizer, President and CEO of the Recovery Corps. “It is both amazing and alarming that wherever we bring the HEF program throughout the state, we continue to see such basic needs of our impacted citizens yet to be addressed.”

The HEF program provides one-time assistance for families attempting to re-establish or maintain their households as part of their recovery process from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The average benefit amount per family was $1,384, with the most requested benefits being bedding, utility payments, washing machines, stoves, and dryers.

“Many of the items we were able to provide were replaced items damaged during the hurricanes,” Sizer added. “The benefits that we provide allow families to further their recovery processes. Because they don't have to spend their own money on bedding or rent payments or a new washing machine, these families are able to cover the everyday expenses that come up, including auto repairs, doctor’s visits, and prescriptions. This helps to further the recovery process and allow these families to remain self-sufficient.”

Most of the clients of this iteration of the HEF program either work full-time or are disabled. Nearly 80% self-reported one of those two categories. Clearly, the HEF program attracts hard-working Louisianians who are looking not for a social service handout but rather for assistance in getting their households back together following the hurricanes.

“Each time we do an iteration of this program, we realize the vast amount of unmet needs still remaining in our state, and this iteration was no different,” said Sizer. “We continue to request that the state, the federal government, and local governments make resources available to the Recovery Corps so that we can use our HEF program and our other outcome-based direct service programs to assist more hard-working Louisianians.

“We are also requesting that those still struggling to fully recover call their local, state, and federally elected officials and request resources be made available to the Recovery Corps so we can bring those resources directly to impacted citizens throughout the state.”

The Recovery Corps and its partners are currently making the final rent and utility payments on behalf of clients in the HEF program and are delivering the final orders of furniture and appliances to those who expressed a need for them.

ABOUT THE RECOVERY CORPS
The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation based in Baton Rouge, La., and formed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Recovery Corps’ mission is to facilitate human recovery for the State of Louisiana in the aftermath of disaster, both natural and man-made. The Recovery Corps has partnered with human service and non-profit organizations throughout the state and the country to deliver assistance as effectively and efficiently as possible, allocating more than $80 million to recovery efforts and assisting more than 30,000 households since January 2006.