Sandra and Edd Barnhill volunteered their time for the Long-term Recovery Committee (LTRC) as chairpersons for the committee during Wednesday’s Newton County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) meeting at Calvary of Neosho.

COAD began just after the devastating May 10 tornado.

“We are retired and we can really devote time to something like this,” Sandra said. “I will be helping to coordinate all of the members of the LTRC committee.”

According to a press release, “An LTRC is composed of representatives from disaster response and/or recovery agencies who individually address survivor needs as cases.
The cases are presented in the context of a meeting when the case needs are beyond the capability of the particular agency. It also shares decision-making authority equally with partner organizations.”

The group’s first priority is to get the community together and find out their input from the last COAD meeting and what services they need to fill in the gaps.

That meeting will take place on July 2 at the First Christian Church on Oakridge Drive.

“We really do need the community participation in this, we are a rural community and we really do need the help of all of the people in each community,” Barnhill said. “I would like to have more people from Granby, Newton County, Newtonia. We would like to have someone from these areas on the long term recovery committee to be a part of our efforts in trying to get help for the people who need that help.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, Rev. Dr. William J.P. Doubek III, vice-chairman, of COAD, told about an emergency meeting to be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the First Lutheran Church.

“We are asking congregations, volunteer organizations like Rotary and Exchange Club, Lions club to send a representative,” Doubek said. “We have issues that have come up during our current disaster of meeting the needs of our community and we need a representative from all of these organizations to come and receive information to give us an input, and maybe to take a challenge back to their organization and to give us volunteers to help.

“We have a lot of needs out in the county, as far as clearing fields, clearing debris. We have volunteers coming in out of county, out of state, but we don’t have someone here who is coordinating the volunteers. We have AmeriCorps people. At one time, we had almost 30, but now we’re down to six because of all of the disasters that are going on all over the Midwest, that have been deployed elsewhere. We need people from our community who can learn the needs, then direct and supervise all of these people that are coming in to help that is one of the issues.”

One of the groups that answered the call for a temporary volunteer coordinator was the YMCA.

“AmeriCorps has been doing for us and they are getting ready to leave, they need someone to take it over,” said Doubek. “The YMCA has volunteered to take it on a temporary basis until we can identify a person or a group of people who will take it over on a regular basis. They will be meeting with the AmeriCorps people to learn all of the data that they need to have.”

For more information, please contact the YMCA at  455-9999.

Another program that was to start this weekend was “God’s Can Do Kids,” located at the First Lutheran Church, 431 Cemetery Road, on June 20-22. That event has been rescheduled.

“We have had no registrations and part of what we have discovered, we don’t have volunteers out there meeting the families, sharing with the families that this is available,” said Doubek. “We are rescheduling for the fall. It is a biblical-based program on helping; equipping kids face disasters, face the fears, anxieties in life. It is non-demonational and is donated to the community by the author of the program.”

The program was to have activities will help youth deal with their fears, and include telling their stories or describing their experiences through music and art, and making preparations for a future disaster.

One area still needing attention is finding volunteer case managers.

Carol Nutt, Southwest Missouri Long Term Recovery regional casework supervisor, said there has been no case managers sign up for this.

“I would really like for us to have some numbers that we can put together and have case management training that first week in July,” said Nutt. “Because we have another training that will help those people the second week on the 8th. We can do the training backwards. It is better if they understand all of it up front.”

Requirements are that they have to be somebody that care about their community and that is willing to help others. And many times, Nutt said, it might not be anything more than gives some references to call in town, resources that will help tornado victims meet their needs.

“Case managers are going to be a contact person for that family, they will contact them, see what their needs are, see if they are in need, if they don’t have a need, then we just right up saying that they don’t have a needs and we will not be calling them again,”
Nutt said. “If we find out that they do have some needs, the case manager will be the one that will be contacting that family and trying to help them thought he problems that they have. And help them get back on their feet to road of recovery.”

Those who would like to be a volunteer case manager may contact Carol Nutt at 417-669-4303. Background checks are ran on all volunteer case managers. Her email is lawcoad@sofnet.com.