Flood relief committee to hold Town Hall meeting - urges people to get their application forms in - soon.

By Pepper Parr

November 1, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

 In an early edition of this article we gave the closing date for the fund raising as November 4th – we were mistaken.  Fun raising will end on November 14th.  There are still have some gifts anticipated and promised by Nov. 14th.  Some donours are waiting to hear what the Province does.

Mayor Goldring has come out from behind the Municipal Elections Act and is now acting as a Mayor and is keeping people posted through his blog with news and updates on the issues and fundraising efforts on the August 4 Flood Disaster.

From left to right in the photo (and along the back) we have Burlington Lions Club members VP Barry Leppan, VP Blair Greer, VP Alastair Mirrlees (over Mayor Goldring’s shoulder), Director Jim McLaughlin (who is directly behind by Colleen) and President Ken O’Breza (the tallest gentleman). And of course Mayor Rick Goldring and Burlington Community Foundation President & CEO Colleen Mulholland in the front, holding the cheque for $8,000.

Goldring reports that: “Almost $800,000 in cash has been raised by the committee to date.
“I have been in contact with both our local MPP Eleanor McMahon and Minister McMeekin’s office for the latest updates from the province on our ODRAP application which we hope will match funds raised. The Burlington Community Foundation has a 100-day campaign for fundraising efforts which will come to completion on November 14, 2014.”

One informed participant with the fund raising group says that “you need a search warrant to find the Minister” who will have to eventually sign off on the Burlington request for ODRAP support. Burlington has yet to hear anything official from the provincial government.

Ron Foxcroft Kicking Off the Flood Relief Campaign.

When the fund raising Kick Off event was held in August the Burlington Community Foundation understood that there were potentially 500+ homes that were either under insured or uninsured. They did a quick calculation as to what would be needed and came up with the $2 million figure – and that became the fund raising target.

The BCF didn’t quibble over that number – they just stepped up to the plate and began making phone calls – they also put $15,000 of their own money on the plate. At the time many people were up to their necks in water and sewage – this wasn’t the time to ask a lot of questions.

However, as the amount raised grew the fund raisers began to ask: – just how much money are we going to need? It became increasingly difficult to determine that amount. There was no clear picture on just how many people might need help. Was it 500 homes damaged but covered by insurance or was it 250 homes that were damaged an either didn’t have any insurance or were under insured.

There were many homes, especially in the Regent Road area where homeowners were told they could no longer buy insurance. Others learned that their insurance company had scaled back the level of coverage they could buy.

Burlington believed the provincial government would come through on the two for one Ontario Disaster Relief and Assistance Program (ODRAP). All anyone has heard so far is that we “should be optimistic” which sounds like a politician playing games.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is going to be in Hamilton next Saturday during the Tiger Cats game (who are they going to lose to this time) and will be pinning medals on four members of the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment.

Burlington’s MPP Eleanor McMahon appears to have been left out to dry on this file. Her efforts have been close to heroic but the provincial government doesn’t appear to have all that much – at least so far – for Burlington residents.

Glenn Nicholson planned on an event to help a senior whose home was badly damaged by the flood: hundreds showed up including the Burlington Teen Tour band

The $800,000 raised to date has been due to the outstanding efforts of the Flood Disaster Relief Committee, local businesses, sports organizations, neighbourhood groups and individuals. There was that great street party on Elwood and the $3000+ raised by an 11 year old student Sheil Patel and the $8000 put on the plate by the Lions Club. The supermarkets came through; the banks came through and local merchants put out the donation boxes.

Burlington is close to “donation exhausted” said BCF fund raiser Ron Foxcroft who added “and the flood is no longer front page news. Other organizations – the United Way and the Joseph Brant Hospital need opportunities to raise what they need – the BCF needs to close the books and make the best with what they have raised.”

The Burlington Community Foundation is moving from their fund raising efforts to managing the applications for Losses and Damages claims. The Burlington Community Foundation Flood Disaster Relief Committee is hosting a Town Hall meeting with the Claims Committee and Cunningham Lindsay, the insurance adjuster supporting the initiative. The meeting is planned for Tuesday, November 4th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm to answer questions and provide support to those interested in making a claim.

Peter Hodgson led the Red Cross data collection drive to find out just how many homes had been flooded and how much help was needed. Councillor Meed Ward wore one of the first flood T-shirts.

At this point there have been just 50 applications for financial support. The ODRAP program is intended for those who were either uninsured or under insured.

When the Red Cross did their door-to -door survey work immediately after the flood they reported that there were 500 homes that were severally flooded. However, Peter Hodgson, the Red Cross volunteer who led that data collecting team, found that many people whose homes were flooded said they didn’t want any financial support and that what money there might be should go to people who truly needed financial support.

Hodgson also found that there was no one home at many of the doors they knocked on. “We had no idea if they had suffered severe flood damage and moved out or were just away for a few days.”

Hodgson spent weeks on the data collection work even though his home was flooded and he still doesn’t have the full use of the house he lives in. “it might be three more weeks before all the work is done”, he said.

Colleen Mulholland lives in a house that was badly flooded as does Mayor Goldring and Burlington’s MP Mike Wallace.

One of the unfortunate elements of this situation is that the information the Red Cross collected and turned over to the Region is being treated as something that comes under the privacy rules which means that the Burlington Community Foundation cannot access that data to communicate with the people who may need financial help and are entitled to financial support.

Colleen Mulholland, president of the Burlington Community Foundation, is spearheading a Town Hall meeting on November 4 at the Seniors Centre on New Street. “We have advertised the event and we hope we get everyone who needs help into the room. “We know there are hundreds of Burlington families who will qualify for financial assistance and are concentrating our efforts to communicate with those folks and help them through the process,” says Mulholland, President and CEO of the Burlington Community Foundation. “We are also communicating with the provincial government to understand its position on providing financial assistance so we can be crystal clear on how much funding we have to disperse.”
We believe there are people out there who need the financial support that is available and either don’t have the forms and don’t understand the process.

“There is only so much time left – all the forms have to be submitted by December 14th and this program has to be wrapped up eight weeks after that deadline.”

The fear is that there will be people who will not apply because they did not know or fully understand and they will lose out. Once the program ends it is over,

Since the Application for Losses and Damages became available on September 30th approximately 50 claims have been filed. The Claims Committee has set a deadline of December 14, 2014 for all Applications for Losses and Damages to be submitted. Disbursements will begin over the following eight weeks after the deadline.

Bank of Montreal dug into their vault and found $20,000 for flood relief.

Mulholland explains that “we will have volunteers on hand to work one-on-one to help complete the forms that are required. We will go to people’s homes to help them but we need to know who they are in order to help.

Mulholland would like every person who reads about this situation to tell five people and to ask those five people to tell another five people about the November 4th Town Hall meeting. “We just need to get the word out” she said.

Application forms are available on the BCF website, or they can be mailed out to residents by calling the BCF office at 905-639-0744, ext. 223.