Committee prepares for roofing weekend

Friday, September 27, 2013
Loretta George/Tribune photo Members of the Long Term Recovery Program Committee discuss upcoming projects to aid victims of the April 7 hail storm. Clockwise from left: Tim Emerson, Terri Coop, Chris Wuthrich, Don Tucker, Gene Twomey, Bill Pollack, Lloyd Olson and Jean Holy.

Many a hammers will be pounding between Oct. 18 and 19, as volunteers organized by the Bourbon County Long Term Recovery Program Committee undertake a roofing blitz.

On that weekend, four homes that received damage in the April 7 hail storm will get new roofs. They are homes that belong to Fort Scott residents that either had no insurance or were underinsured at the time of the storm.

The committee members, organized shortly after the storm, continue to meet weekly at Common Grounds Coffee Shop to aid those suffering from the hail storm, which affected about 2,500 homes in Fort Scott. Ten percent of those were uninsured or underinsured, Terri Coop, LTRP Committee member, said.

On Thursday morning, the committee worked on a plan to help four of the nearly 80 residents who have applied for assistance. Reaching this point has taken months because of the time it has taken to interview applicants and work with the USDA.

"We picked four clients, one of whom has not paid taxes in four years," Bill Pollack, committee member, said. "Those no more than one year behind, we can help."

The group went down a list of other applicants discussing the pros and cons of their need for help with rebuilding their roof.

Finally, the committee agreed on four families for the Oct. 18-19 repairs. The families will need to do some preliminary work before work can begin on their roofs.

"They will need to get stuff off of their walls, stuff out of the yard and driveway, make sure no access is blocked and a restroom is available," Coop said.

The committee then began to organize labor, materials and funding resources.

"Seventeen volunteers from the Apostolic Christian Church hope to be here on Oct.18 through 20...maybe as many (volunteers) from the First Presbyterian and Methodist and Community Christian Church," Pollack said. "Our plan is these (groups) doing the tear off and re-sheeting. I've talked to Rich Williard about using his dump trailer."

Gene Twomey, Brown Roofing or Raymore, Mo., has been serving on the committee as a representative of his company, since being asked by Tim Emerson, another committee member.

"It's been a long process with USDA. Everybody on the committee has...been sitting down with applicants," Twomey told The Tribune.

First on Twomey's to-do list, following the meeting, is conferring with his boss, Lloyd Brown, to ascertain what the company can do to help.

"He (Lloyd Brown) said we'd be willing to donate the put-back if volunteers could do the tear-down," Twomey said. "Our company has already donated tarp to the committee to help out homeowners. I don't know if labor is donated as a community service. It depends on how much they want us to do and the available labor."

At the meeting, Brown was asked to look at the houses on the list and get a set of materials that would be needed for the weekend roofing event.

That list will be sent to Chris Wuthrich, coordinator of the Apostolic Christian World Relief, which along with the First Presbyterian Church, has pooled $32,000 to help with the upcoming roofing aid to families in Fort Scott.