June 7, 2010 VOAD Minutes
Meeting held at 6410 Lantern
The meeting was lead by Carol
Flores, Vice Chair
Attendees:
| Linda Walker |
Adventist Community Services |
| Paul Sofka |
American Red Cross |
| Paulette Wagner |
American Red Cross |
| Jimmie Green |
American Red Cross |
| AnPhong Vo |
Boat People SOS |
| Debra Walker |
East Sunnyside Court Civic Club |
| Shawn Henners |
Gateway to Care |
| Mandy Mejia |
Gateway to Care |
| Cornelia Jamner |
GRACE Community Services |
| David Swendgen |
Harris County Community Services Dept |
| Esmeralda Gonzalez |
Harris County Community Services Dept |
| Jarrett Williams |
Harris CoCommunity Services Dept, Social Services |
| Mardie Menke |
Harris County Office of Emergency Management |
| SaDonne Williams |
HCSD Guest |
| Joseph Juarer-Delgado |
HCSD Guest |
| Carmen Reyna |
HCSD Guest |
| Diana Lehman |
HCSD Guest |
| Deyanira Silva |
Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program |
| Colleen Lowry |
Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program |
| Eric Dolive |
Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program |
| Julia Davis |
Houston Works USA |
| Mardie Page |
Independence Heights Assistance Ministries |
| Jennifer Posten |
Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston |
| Donna Reasonover |
Light House for the Blind |
| Denise Walker |
Lone Star College System |
| Jenessa Howard |
Lone Star Legal Aid |
| Carol Flores |
Lutheran Disaster Response |
| Julie Reid |
Lutheran Inter-City Network Coalition |
| Joyce Jacquet |
Mental Health Mental Rehabilitation? |
| Rev Jimmie Irving |
Project LIFT |
| Jessy Burton |
Save the Children |
| Sonya LeDoux |
Social Services |
| Everett Fergusons |
Social Services |
| Ann Schorno |
Society of St Vincent de Paul |
| Catherine Shorter |
South Park Area Civic Club |
| Carolyn Gibbs |
Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief and Development |
| Gill Keyworth |
Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief and Development |
| Michael Tsen |
Tzu Chi Foundation |
| Taishan Huang |
Tzu Chi Foundation |
| Leonard Lan |
Tzu Chi Foundation |
Jennifer Posten began the
meeting by speaking of the death of Jack Colley.
Mardie Menkie did the eulogy
and introduced the attendees.
NCI Case Management Service has come to 9500 clients so
far and there have been 600 new just recently. Time is running out for the
funding to assist them to be used. Please help spread the word about Ike Relief
help.
Remember to re register your
seniors for hurricane/disaster preparedness. Call 211 to get this done.
Andrea Gillis gave a report
on the Hurricane Conference held in McAllen
Texas.
Bob Conklin of Rebuilding
Together Houston gave a talk.
There was a handout to help
with this.
Some highlights were:
Rebuilding Together Houston
is a community outreach organization that provides no cost home repairs and
modifications to low-income homeowners, including the elderly, disabled,
veterans, and disaster victims. To fulfill their mission, RT – H works
year-round to deliver home repair and modification projects by licensed
contractors and rehabilitation by volunteer crews and more than 10,000 repair
and modification projects by contractors, providing over 1.2 million hours of
direct assistance by volunteers to preserve affordable homeownership throughout
Houston’s economically challenged neighborhoods. Homeowners served in 2009
included 50 veterans and 75 qualified homeowners whose houses were damaged by
Hurricane Ike.
Harris County Community
Services gave a talk about all the services they have available. There were
handouts to go along with this.
Some highlights of that were:
They offer a plethora of
community services for residents of Harris
County. They provide case
management in disaster, financial assistance, and more specifically rental
assistance, mortgage assistance, and utility assistance. To get this
assistance, one must provide proof of age being over 18, proof they live in
Harris County, valid id, social security #, valid vacate or eviction notice if applicable,
proof of financial need. The address for that is 9418 Jensen, 77093. They have
20 appointments a day available.
They also offer bereavement
services.
Announcements:
We need two people to lead
the meeting in the fall.
We would love to hear agenda
ideas.
The next VOAD meeting is on
July 12 at 11:30 at NCI at 9700 Bissonet. We will not be holding the
meeting on the first Monday due to The Fourth of July Holiday.