Residents and business owners who suffered losses in wildfires or floods last summer should be aware of upcoming deadlines to apply for assistance.
Friday (Nov. 28) is the deadline for homeowners to sign up for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. SBA can provide loans of up to $200,000 for homeowners to rebuild after their home was damaged, or up to $40,000 to homeowners or renters to replace the contents of homes lost in fires or floods.
“These are low-interest, easy qualifying loans,” said Hank Cramer, director of the Methow Valley Long Term Recovery Organization (LTRO).
SBA loans are also available to businesses that suffered economic injury as a result of the summer’s disasters. Applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available until June 2015.
Applications and information are available on the SBA website at www.sba.gov.
Funding through the American Red Cross will end Monday (Dec. 1) for basic relief needs such as utilities, building and winterizing supplies, and clothing.
People needing assistance applying for loans or disaster relief can contact a disaster case manager.
Grace City Church in Wenatchee is offering holiday gift baskets containing a $100 gift card for groceries to all fire survivors who lost their primary residence. The gift cards are for Harvest Foods in Twisp or Brewster, Safeway and Wal-Mart.
To sign up for the gift basket, residents should contact their local disaster case manager prior to Monday.
In addition, residents who need concrete, including foundations, and metal removed from burned home sites should contact case managers so that assistance can be arranged before spring. There is no deadline date.
Area case managers are: Methow Valley — Hayley Riach at Room One, 997-2050; Okanogan area — Jessica Martin, (509) 422-4041; Brewster/Pateros area — Shara Cunningham and Martha Jorgensen, (509) 923-1979.
The Methow Valley LTRO can be reached at 997-0335, (509) 429-2848 or methowltr@gmail.com.
