The North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church came to town Aug. 29 to do its part in helping Jacksboro in its tornado relief efforts.
The group was filming videos around the city and talking to those affected by the March 21 tornado in an effort to raise $500,000 for victims. Bishop Mike McKee said he saw a lot of good today.
The videos were made to show the damage. Communications Director Pam Hughes and her video team spoke with Alinda Cox, a member of the local tornado recovery committee, whose home was destroyed in the tornado.
Hughes told a meeting of the local committee along with city and county officials that they did thefilmingtoshowduring conference seasons within the Methodist Churches. The theme this year is “Close to Home”, Hughes explained. Donations will then be made in churches around the area.
Hughes said they will be back later in the Fall to do more video work and tell impact stories. By that time work on homes will hopefully have begun.
There is no deadline for fundraising per se but the grant monies used to get the program started, which included hiring case workers and potentially a construction manager/ supervisor, ends June 2024. Hughes said donations can be made starting in mid September on the United Methodist Church Committee on Relief (UMCOR) webpage as well. A link to the donation site from that page will be up in mid-September, Hughes explained.
Local case managers Sandra Dixon and Susan Coley are working about 25-30 cases each right now with about 80 percent of the list of victims having been spoken to, according to Jeremy Basset with UMCOR. Roughly 70-90 cases are working with insurance so they can’t be spoken with during the insurance process.
Basset said the next phase with be having contractors assessing the damage and seeing what can be repaired and what will need to be replaced. Getting bids from contractors and potentially having volunteer teams come in and do the work is the next step.
Local Committee Chair Joel Hood spoke of a Needs Fair Sept. 19 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Church of Christ. Adjusters, a mold remediation person will be on hands to answer questions and give advice to victims.
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