Restoring Hope Starts with Sharing Need

World Renew DRS is partnering with the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergency (BRACE) and the Escambia Long Term Recovery Group by providing the technology platform for the Needs Assessment process to help identify, quantify, and value the unmet disaster-caused needs of survivors of Hurricane Sally. The information gained through the Needs Assessment will help BRAVE and the partners of the Escambia Long Term Recovery Group in assisting disaster survivors with unmet needs in a prioritized manner, through a triage-like process.

World Renew DRS volunteers, Tom and Cindy Visser, and staff members Diana Marquez and Sue Kuipers, are providing guidance, coaching and support to BRACE leadership, who in turn are training University of West Florida social work student interns and disaster case managers on how to conduct and document Needs Assessment. The interns and case managers are providing survivors what is often the therapeutic first opportunity to tell their personal story of devastation of Hurricane Sally. They have already reached out to 851 families impacted by Hurricane Sally and have identified 142 families that are now receiving support from case managers as they navigate the road to restored hope and homes.

Michelle Luckett, the CEO of BRACE, expressed appreciation for the partnership and support of World Renew DRS at a meeting of the Escambia Long Term Recovery Group on Tuesday, March 2nd.