With more than $360,000 raised for Thunder Bay flood assistance, Salvation Army officials are hoping those dollars will qualify for the province’s two-for-one credit.
“We’re working with the city, the city’s lawyers and the Salvation Army national office to see how and if the funds that we have raised can also apply for that two-for-one,” said Major Mervyn Halvorsen, the executive director of community and residential services.
“They’re working through that and that’ll be a bonus because it’ll be $360,000 times three,” he added.
Halvorsen also encouraged anyone looking to donate to the flood assistance to donate directly to the Thunder Bay Disaster Relief Committee in order for it to qualify for the two-for-one credit.
Committee chairman Wayne Fletcher said they are also in discussions with the Red Cross to see if the funds they raised in the weeks immediately following the May 28 flood will qualify for that credit.
And from this point on, all money has to be donated to the disaster relief fund or it won’t be matched by the province, he said.
Although the city is eligible for up to $16 million in relief money from the province, only $3.2 million is available for those uninsured and underinsured flood victims.
The disaster relief committee is tasked with raising $1.6 million. If more is raised, the committee could ask the province to give more.
Claim forms for the fund will be available at Saturday’s public meetings, which include not only the detailed claim form, but also forms for immediate relief.
Fletcher said the immediate relief would be $1,000 per claim and those people will still fill out the larger claim form once they have all their receipts.
“It would be a way to try to alleviate that because it’s going to take a longer process to do the rest of the claims,” he said.
He added the committee hopes the $1,000 will be in people’s hands in a week.
With the last public meetings becoming heated at some points, Fletcher said he doesn’t know what to expect on Saturday.
“I know there are people that are upset and angry. That happens in these situations. I think people have to understand that we are not the city,” he said, adding the disaster relief committee has to follow provincial guidelines.
“We’re trying to help people who weren’t insured and suffered greatly,” he said.
The public meetings for Saturday are being held at the Slovak Legion from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and at the Moose Hall from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. People looking to fill out advance claim forms must have photo identification.
