United Way offices hit hard by flood

United Way of Racine County, located on the first floor of the Lincoln Building at 2000 Domanik Drive along the Root River, appears to be the only business in the county seriously affected by the flooding in Racine last week. The offices sustained extensive damage when the river reached record levels and flooded the Lincoln Park, Island Park and Spring Street areas of Racine. (See picture HERE.)

Carpeting, tile and dry wall in the offices all must be replaced, and many pieces of office furniture will be discarded. “We expect it will be four to six weeks before we can return to our space.” said Dave Maurer, United Way executive director.

Lincoln Lutheran gave United Way temporary space on the fourth floor. “This allows us to be nearly fully operational with these office and meeting areas. Staff have continued with meetings and events as scheduled for the most part and kept up with email communications,” Maurer said. With the phone system back in place, staff can now be reached by leaving voicemail messages.

United Way has been in contact with the American Red Cross and other emergency services and is planning to offer ongoing basic needs assistance to Racine County residents who have suffered flood damage when those other resources have expired. “While we have some operational disruption, we anticipate the longer term needs of some families will require our support and we will be there to help as we were with Katrina victims who landed in Racine a few years ago,” said Maurer. “Some flood victims are our neighbors down the street.”

n addition to gratitude for the support provided by Lincoln Lutheran and their staff, United Way extended thanks to Great Northern, Merchants Moving and Storage and Home Depot for the quick responses.

Here's a United Way directory for anyone needing to reach the staff:

Executive Director, David Maurer, 635-7499 x-119, davemaurer@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Director, Susan Gould, 635-7499 x-111, sgould@unitedwayracine.org

Finance and Administration Director, Barbara Jopke, 635-7499 x-113, bjopke@unitedwayracine.org

Resource Development Director, Tracy Nielsen, 635-7499 x-118, tnielsen@unitedwayracine.org

Communications Director, Lisa Koenen, 635-7499 x-117, lkoenen@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Manager, Tiffani Pinkerton, 635-7499 x 120, tpinkerton@unitedwayracine.org

AFL-CIO Liaison/Community Services Director, Ron Thomas, 635-7499 x-112, ronthomas@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, Michelle Brown, 635-7499 x-121, mbrown@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, Marie Hargrove, 635-7499 x-115, mhargrove@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, MaryBeth Kallio, 635-7499 x-114, mkallio@unitedwayracine.org

Western Racine County Liaison, Doug Farrell, 492-3108, dgf517@idcnet.com

How you can help flood victims

Update 2: Here are the local dropoff points for donations:

Racine Area
Holy Communion Church
church on the hill on 6th Street
Mon - Fri 7:30 am - 4 pm
Sun 6:30 am - noon
Sat by appt only - call Pastor Jeff 497-7576

Milwaukee Area
Cardinal Stritch University
Main Campus - 6801 N. Yates Road
http://stritch.edu/about/location.aspx
Mon - Fri (hours unconfirmed)

Kenosha Area
Cardinal Stritch University
Hwys 50 & H - 9080 76th St
Mon - Fri 10 am - 6 pm

Update: Good news for local relief efforts for flooding victims. The United Way has agreed to back the efforts of Christina Mueller and Mystical Listrom. They're collecting contributions and donating to relief efforts. Here's the full explanation from Listrom:

Hello everybody! I have outstanding news that I can't wait to share!!

United Way of Racine County is backing us 100% & we have their 100% guarantee ALL MONEY will be given to directly to the flood victims!!

They are setting up the trust fund account for money contributions. Details are not set yet, Christina and I will be meeting with United Way this weekend to finalize the details.

Not only that, but the United Way of Racine County is donating to our fund!!

They did not realize these people were not being helped by any other organization and were getting the run around. Christina and I were the only ones pushing this drive with the help and support of everyone who reads this mail and has participated as well.

I do plan on sending more information later in the evening or tomorrow when I have a minute to breathe from all the excitement.

Contributions can be made to: United Way of Racine County

write on the memo line: ARAYA HOPE FUND

That makes the name of our efforts official. "ARAYA HOPE FUND"

(Sounds like "A ray of hope".)

Original post:

We received an email yesterday from two Racine women who are working together to help Racine's flood victims. They're getting the word out on what people need, and how people can make donations. Here's their emails, which explain the situation best:

UPDATED: Need help for Racine flood victims

Well, after our walk today, the hot ticket items needed are:

• **Washer/Dryer**
• **Dehumidifier**
• **Lawn mower**
• Laundry Soap
• Sanitizing Cleaners and supplies
• Holiday Decorations & Christmas tree
• Clothes from babies-adult
• Children's toys
• Yard furniture
• Food
• Money
• Dog/Cat food and supplies

The family featured in The Journal Times were in the middle of their kitchen remodel project and lost most kitchen items because they were stored in their garage. Those items needed are: dishes, toaster, blender, pots/pans, FOOD (their refrigerator is in the garage). They also lost their shed, it actually was floating in their yard only held in by their cyclone fence, which is also destroyed.

The majority of the people all listed these same items over and over again.

The insurance companies are giving them the run around. A few people have $5,000 deductibles, so even if the insurance covers the water heater and furnace, they can't afford to replace them. The insurance companies are telling them they need a Structural Engineer or Certified Housing Inspector with flood knowledge to prove structural damage and prove the damage was directly caused by the flood. The money for the inspection is not covered by the insurance company. If anyone is licensed and willing to volunteer their time to help with these inspection, it would be a BIG appreciation to the homeowners!

Carpet shampooing would be a blessing as the contaminated water was trekked through the house during removal of basement items.

Manpower would be another blessing. A lot of items have been removed, but people are still in need of some muscle or a handyman. Governor Doyle assigned jailers to help remove damaged/destroyed items; however, most people refused their help for fear of future unseen problems. Certainly there are elderly who could still use assistance as well.

Regarding the trust fund being set-up, Christina and Mystical visited Educator's Credit Union today and found out the details needed in order to start it. We are getting the ball rolling with that. We intend to purchase gift cards for Wal-mart for immediate needs like food, water, etc. with this money. If you are interested in side-stepping the trust fund and would like to donate the gift cards, that is acceptable too. Contact us directly to do this so they can be distributed immediately to residents (hardest hit first, of course), rather than being lost in the shuffle of things.

We also noticed a few laundry mats posting "Free washing today" or "Free drying today". If you happen to catch these, please email us so I can get the word out to people.

Holy Communion Church (the church on the hill on 6th St) is the donation drop-off/pick-up site. Please clearly label the items "FLOOD" because they have more than one charitable event in-process.

Both Kenosha and Milwaukee Campuses of Cardinal Stritch University will have donation bins available.

If anyone in our flood area happens to get this e-mail, please notify us so we can be sure to keep you updated on key issues (like the laundry postings) we come across to help spread the word in your direct area.

If any businesses are willing to donate items (even scratch & dent), perform a benefit, or anything else they can think of that may be of use to our flood victims, please contact us.

I would like to keep everyone updated from time to time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please let us know. If anyone would like to be added to the list, please advise.

Again, if anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,
Christina Mueller
Mystical Listrom


Mystical Listrom wrote: Christina Mueller and Mystical Listrom are together in the process of organizing help for Racine's flood victims. So far, their insurance policies only cover furnace, air conditioners, and water heater replacements. The Red Cross is only donating sanitizing supplies. FEMA has yet to come through. The Salvation Army and United Way are not helping.

The water is contaminated with sewage. The children are running around while the parents struggle to clean up the mess. School is out and there are 43 children on the one street that Christina helped out in alone. Their toys were either trashed or washed away.

These people lost washing machines, dryers, clothes, toys among other items. With the electricity and water supply turned off, they also lost shower availability, food spoiled, cook pizza on grills for dinner, divide their time running from the laundry mat to wash clothes and cleaning sewage damaged items from their homes.

We are in the process of looking into the legalities of setting up a trust fund to help pay for baby food, diapers, rental of equipment (power washers), contractor help, etc. We're also looking into having a benefit, food drive, and other events.

Wednesday evening Christina and Mystical will be going door-to-door to make lists of who needs what.

Details aren't set in stone at this point, but we could definitely use all the help we can get. If anyone is willing to help, whether it be manpower, donations of time/food/money/clothes/toys/other items, or if anyone has ideas or contacts, please respond to this email.

Every little bit helps. Any remaining items will be sent to other area flood victims.

Thanks,
Christina Mueller
Mystical Listrom