The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has teamed up with the state departments to hold fairs around the state where evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can access state and federal social services.
The event was held Saturday at the Nashville Red Cross building on Charlotte Avenue. TEMA spokesperson Willie Tally says the agency wants to reach out to other evacuees not in shelters.
The Nashville area Red Cross has closed its Crievewood Baptist Church Shelter but the Charlotte Avenue Service Center remains open for evacuees needing assistance. Service Center director Louise Vande Wiele says TEMA and FEMA offer different kinds of assistance from the Red Cross.
“They’re more long term services. We offer strictly emergency survival services which are food, clothing, shelter…Some social service agencies who are represented here today and they offer a whole gamut of things we don’t offer at the Red Cross. So it’s an advantage for the clients because they get to see a lot of agencies at once. Instead of coming in for financial assistance, they can come in for long-term, getting back on their feet type of help.”
But some volunteers said the event wasn’t well publicized and turnout was low in the morning, with only around 15 people showing up. Attendance picked up as the day wore on but one TEMA coordinator who wouldn’t give her name, says it’s another example of how coordination among the various agencies for actually dispensing federal assistance, has been high at the national levels, but doesn’t trickle down to the local levels.
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