CREW NEWS
CREW has been helping people throughout our community (Hendry and Glades counties) and identifying others that need help for several months. Over the next three months, CREW has already scheduled three volunteer crews from Lakeland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana who are volunteering their times, donating supplies and costs or transportation and personal costs to come to our community to help rebuild homes and mend lives. CREW has identified a lot of people with needs and it will take a long time to meet all their needs, obviously the more volunteers we have and the more donations we have, the quicker this process will be. Many other long term recovery groups that have helped communities like ours recover have found it takes years. CREW expects the same.
I wanted to take the time to acknowledge the many people who have helped get us to where we are today. I think it is important that the community knows how local individuals and business have helped us, as well as those from far away. Crystal Strickland, Patricia and David Adams, AGAPE home, and Babcock Furniture donated mattress for people whose mattresses were destroyed in the hurricane. Rawl’s Real Estate donated office furniture. The Career and Service center has donated office equipment and supplies. Blue tarps were donated from the Core of Engineers, New Harvest Church, and the First United Methodist Church. Lumber was donated by Ronald Rounds, who also volunteered time and skilled labor. Bentley Killmon donated use of truck. Carson Killmon, Miguel Herrera and Tracy Rounds donated time and labor. Veronica Gambel donated dry wall as did Davidson’s Dry Cleaners who also generously donated paneling and carpet. David and Tommy McClussky donated time and labor. Wanda Banks donated a hot water heater. David Adams volunteered time and skilled labor and use of materials. The City of Clewiston has provided us office space, and City Building and Zoning Department has provided invaluable advice and feedback for us as we prepare to help clients rebuild their homes. The First United Methodist Church also has donated a lot of time, food, and office space and office supplies and covered a lot of our start up costs, as well as hosting several volunteer groups. Pastor and Kathy Hicks, of this same church, also provided numerous hours of volunteer time and professional expertise, as well as furniture. The Community Presbyterian Church donated a Shed and volunteer time. The First Baptist Church donated time and labor.
In addition, we have lots of exciting things happening. We are hoping to assist at least 5 families living in condemned trailers apply for new donated ones, assist a volunteer group and family build a home from the ground up, repair interior damage for those whose insurance only covered their roofs, repair and replace roofs, referral and advocacy as well as case management services to families, education, and many other services. We have volunteer groups coming in from Lakeland, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. We also hope to increase our volunteer labor by recruiting local individuals and organizations to assist as well.
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He said, she said:
The Impact of Wal-Mart on Local Fiscal Health: Evidence from a Panel of Ohio Counties
Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D.
Air Force Institute of Technology and Marshall University
http://www.globalinsight.com/publicDownload/genericContent/hicks-walmart.pdf
Abstract: This research analyzes selected fiscal impacts of Wal-Mart in Ohio from 1985 through 2003. Using a panel of counties, and accounting for spatial autocorrelation in an instrumental variable model I estimate impact of Wal-Mart and Super-Centers on selected revenues and transfer payments. On revenues I find that the presence of a Wal-Mart increases local commercial property tax assessments, resulting in collection increases of between $350,000 to roughly $1.3 million. Wal-Mart also is associated with higher levels of local labor force participation. On expenditures I also find that the presence of a Wal-Mart dramatically increases the per capita EITC claims in a county (between 18 and 43 percent), while the dollar value of these claims experiences mixed impacts between Wal-Mart and a Supercenter. Similarly, the impact of Wal-Mart on Foodstamps expenditures is mixed, but small in any case. There are no in-county impacts of Wal-Mart on expenditures on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and its predecessor Aid to Families with Dependent Children. However, Medicaid expenditures experience growth which may amount to roughly 16 additional cases per county attributable to a single Wal-Mart. The per worker costs of Medicaid estimated in this study is consistent with reported levels in a number of states, and study estimates by Dube and Jacobs [2004], Carlson [2005] and Hicks [2005a]. The magnitude and statistical certainty of these findings, accompanied by a review of previous research suggests that local fiscal intervention, either through incentives or the much touted “Wal-Mart Tax” is unwarranted.
Feel free to donate to CREW to help us continue our work helping Hurricane Victims. Call 863-233-3126 for more information.
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