THUNDER BAY -- Wayne Fletcher is assuring donations to the Disaster Relief Fund will go to deserving individuals who suffered a great disaster.
The chair of the Thunder Bay and Area Disaster Relief Committee reiterated Thursday that despite a second class-action lawsuit being filed against the city, the lawsuits have nothing to do with flood relief donations.
Under Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program guidelines, the disaster relief committee will still deal with claims from people involved in a lawsuit like any other.
"If, and that’s still a big if, down the road they were to get money, then under the guidelines from the Ministry, it says if they receive an award due to some outside source like insurance and or a lawsuit, then they have to pay back the money we give,” said Fletcher.
Right now, the committee is focused on processing the almost 600 claim forms that came in last week and trying to reach their fundraising goal by the Jan. 31 deadline.
Fletcher predicts they won’t get a good handle on processing the claims until the beginning of the New Year just because of the number that came in and they have to go through each one carefully to determine what is claimable and what’s not.
“At the same time, there is a whole guideline that says you get this much for a couch, this much for a furnace, this much for a chair,” he said, adding that the ODRAP has designations for each type of item.
For example, a person may claim a $700 couch, but under the program’s guidelines, a couch is assessed at $350.
Some claims came in with gross totals around $85,000. Those higher claims would include things like structural damage to their homes. Other claims came in as low as $500.
And while they committee will be busy processing claims, they can’t lose focus on fundraising so they’ll be able to pay out as much as they can to the claimants.
Events like Rock the Firehouse, the Santa Parade and a Tis the Season Charlie Brown play at St. Patrick High School are coming up and Fletcher said they are working on some things with corporations and municipalities that he couldn’t discuss the details of yet.
“We really appreciate all the individuals who continually raise money and who donate. We know people are digging deep into their pockets,” he said.
“This is sort of an extraordinary event that’s happened and it’s on top of everything else this city does and the individuals who donate to all the other different causes.”
