Funder's Forum -12/03/2014

Tri-County LTR Funder's Forum minutes

December 3, 2014

The Funders Forum meeting of Tri-County Long Term Recovery was called to order at 8 a.m. by Chairman Jim Fassino. In attendance were Darius Alemzadeh, Terry Bibo, Capt. Katherine Clausell, Ben Davidson, Mark Doebler, Fassino, Kevin Gramm, Kristy Howell, Matt Moehle, Tricia O'Neal, Lu Ori, Jennifer Orban, Tom Pelger, Alyssa Pollock, Liz Pollack, Tom Pelger, Betsy Pratt, Mark Roberts, John Rothfusz, Paul Seidl, Tim and Barb Slagel, Matt Stropes, Pam Tomka, Dominic Vallosio.

November minutes: Approved.

New members: Matt Stropes, Pekin Rotary Club; Lu Ori, River City Construction; Dominic Vallosio, United Way of Central Illinois; Pam Tomka, Washington Lions Club. New member client confidentiality forms were completed.

Chairman's remarks: After introducing the new members, Fassino noted that there are 54 cases for consideration, the highest number at any Funder's Forum meeting to date. Cases have been divided into unmet needs which do not involve soil remediation, reimbursement for soil remediation which has been completed, and quotes for remediation yet to be done. He said LTR is compiling numbers for soil remediation, although those numbers are to some extent unknowable. Therefore, the executive committee has decided to begin bringing such cases to the Forum beginning in December, as time permits. Should current trends continue, the Funder's Forum may need to meet longer than an hour.

Case managers Kathy Casey, Chuck Friend, Pam Green, Ed Murray and Mishel Sack were introduced since œWe couldn't match up the resources around the table without the good work you folks do. (Caleb Friedrich, Megan Watson and Mark Kwiat were unable to attend.) Casey described the essence of the job as touching base with clients, listening to their needs, and ensuring those needs are met, which can take multiple contacts. Friend said the job is œto get them back to normalcy.

Fassino also noted Betsy Pratt is the new CEO of the American Red Cross, Central Illinois Chapter.

Cases considered: Seventeen cases were presented for unmet needs which did not involve soil remediation, including items such as medical expenses, construction materials and engineering or attorney fees. Approximately $73,674.37 was pledged. (Some additional rental assistance may or may not be needed.)

Another 25 cases were presented which would reimburse clients for soil remediation. Eleven were funded, with a total of $24,058 pledged, primarily by the Salvation Army, which took requests for $2,800 or less.

LTR itself funded $21,734 for unmet needs which did not involve soil and $9,000 for soil remediation reimbursement.

Discussion was held about different ways to fund soil work. Ori said a base number to consider would be $4,500 to $5,000 for sod on an average-sized lot. Davidson said smaller organizations might be encouraged to know how the bigger groups intend to handle such cases. Washington Rotary's Howell and Washington Foundation's Moehle said their groups will have some internal review before the next Funder's Forum.

There was concern clients may be confused by different criteria or panicked at the thought funds would run out. Pratt mentioned that those who are being reimbursed had the money to do the work while those who presented quotes may not be able to have it done without assistance. Capt. Clausell said the Salvation Army would go ahead with pledges made in December, since it will close those cases.

Ultimately, the funders' consensus appears to be that each organization will act according to its own priorities, as is done with other needs presented to the Forum. The remaining 14 cases will be brought back on the January docket, along with 12 cases which involved quotes.

Per Steering Committee decision, individual case details will be confined to the CANS database.

Long Term Recovery Public meeting: 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, at LTR Center.

Other business: Pollock said it will be important to craft a message so case managers can give clients consistent information and the public knows this issue is being addressed.

Next Funder's Forum: 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, at LTR center.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 a.m.