Team members with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are seen meeting with people affected by the December flood during the Envision Disaster Relief Night of Information, held Feb. 27 at Mountain Valley High School. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

RUMFORD — Valuable information was provided by organizations on Feb. 27 to help the River Valley recover from the December storms and flooding.

The Envision Disaster Relief Night of Information, hosted by Envision Rumford, was held at Mountain Valley High School. This was for homeowners, renters, business owners, and non-profits, to learn about various types of assistance available to them.

The turnout was relatively small – less than 40 people – but it was also broadcast live and remains available on YouTube to be viewed.
During the first hour, eight different organizations gathered in the Muskie Auditorium and provided a brief overview of the types of assistance they can provide.

Then everyone was invited to circulate in the adjacent cafeteria and speak in person with each organization, to learn more and ask specific questions about their circumstances.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Small Business Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA-NRCS, United Way, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Community Concepts and Oxford County Mental Health Services were represented at the event.

Envision Rumford President Derek Taber said, “On Dec. 18, we were two communities divided by a river, which flooded, bringing us together as one community. As a solutions-oriented group, we have come up with quite a few different revenue resources to share. We are a small non-profit named Envision Rumford. However, we’ve created the Envision Disaster Readiness Program during a time of crisis.”

Sam Harvey of the FEMA Individual Assistance Team encourages people affected by the December flood to visit the Disaster Recovery Center, located upstairs in the Rumford Municipal Building at 150 Congress St. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

He noted, “To this day, we’ve raised almost $40,000 for relief, which is pretty tremendous for a group used to working with no budget and just volunteers. I’m very, very happy for the people who have volunteered their time.”

Taber said that they distributed $28,000 in relief funds to needy residents of Rumford and Mexico through the General Assistance offices of the two communities, as well as to contractors who earlier provided donated emergency services to those in need.

EnvisionRumford is a group of business leaders and community members working to make Rumford, and the great River Valley area, a better place to live and do business.

The Disaster Recovery Center, with FEMA and SBA staff, is located upstairs in the Rumford Municipal Building at 150 Congress St. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays.

The SBA Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience can provide low-interest, long-term loans to homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profits to cover damage incurred Dec. 17-21, 2023, that is not covered by insurance or another source.

Traditional farming activities are not eligible for business loans (they have to apply for USDA recovery options), but we can provide business loans to farm-related retail businesses, roadside stands that sell to the public, agricultural cooperatives, and aquaculture activities.

Sam Harvey of the FEMA Individual Assistance Team, said registering is free and there’s no penalty to withdraw or adverse repercussions. The registration deadline is April 1.

“If you’re prompted to apply with the Small Business Administration, and you’re eligible for one of their low-interest disaster loans, it’s a great resource to help you with a lot of your repairs, to give assistance that might help you to get back to where you were,” he said.

Harvey added that FEMA assistance is only intended to cover the basics, to make your home safe, sanitary and functional. “It’s not going to be enough to put paint back on the walls and hang the pictures. It’s only intended to help kick-start your recovery.”

He said that if you’re not eligible for a SBA loan, it will refer you automatically back to FEMA to see if there’s additional assistance that might be available specifically for your personal property, damage to your vehicle, etc. There’s a lot of things that you want to make sure you go through all the steps to get as much assistance as you are eligible for.

“We’re getting to the point now where a lot of people are starting to receive what we call the termination letters from FEMA. And those are the letters that you receive in the mail, or they might be emailed to you, or put into your file online, if you have one,” said Harvey.

He said those letters will tell you, “yes, you’re eligible for assistance. Here’s how much, and what it’s intended for”.

Or ‘”no, you’re not eligible for assistance because of x, y and z reasons.”

“It’s really easy if you get a letter that you’re not eligible for assistance to get frustrated and crumple it up and probably curse my name before you storm off,” said Harvey.

“But it’s important to read the entirety of the letter and understand what’s going on,” he said. “If you’re not sure what it’s saying, not sure what it’s asking for, then maybe something as simple as we need a copy of your driver’s license, or a copy of your homeowner’s insurance that says that this is not covered by insurance.”

Harvey said, “Go through those steps. If you’re not sure, call the helpline, go to the Disaster Recovery Center and go to one of our folks and ask those questions. Be your own best advocate. We have a lot of people on the ground, and they all want to get you as much as assistance as they can.”