Disability Funders Network Rapid Response Fund: Grants Awarded

• Advocacy, Inc. (AI) — $5,000
  www.advocacyinc.org
  Advocacy, Inc., has and continues to conduct outreach activities to identify and address the needs of people with disabilities who have been displaced by the hurricanes (now in Texas).  For the next 12 to 18 months, AI staff will continue to provide advocacy and legal services related to the disability needs of hurricane evacuees.  AI is seeking funds to provide certified interpreters.
• Brookhaven Homes of Louisiana, Inc. — $5,000
  Brookhaven Homes of Lousiana is providing volunteer work crews to assist families with restoring their homes to a safe and functional condition.  Brookhaven then assists individuals with a plan for recovery and restoration.  Services are provided within the greater New Orleans metropolitan area, which includes the east and west bank parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard.
• Coalition for Barrier-Free Living/Houston Center for Independent Living (HCIL) — $2,800
  www.coalitionforbarrierfreeliving.com
  HCIL is using funds to assist hurricane evacuees with disabilities reestablish their independence in their new community.  Funds will be used to purchase necessary start-up furniture, pay telephone deposits, provide accessible transportation and provide other necessary services through the center.
• Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities — $5,000
  www.mscoalition.com
  The Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities is working to replenish food, supply emergency kits and provide disaster preparedness training.
• Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) — $5,000
  www.c-s-d.org
  CSD-Texas is providing interpreting for deaf hurricane evacuees and their families relocated to Texas.
• de l’Epee Deaf Center, Inc. — $5,000
  www.deafcenter.us
  The center will be providing medicine, assistive devices, food and clothing to deaf and hard-of-hearing persons who reside in the Katrina-affected areas of South Mississippi.
• Exceeds Their Needs, Inc. (ETN) — $5,000
  Monies will be used to provide case management and stipends to evacuees who wish to return to the greater New Orleans area.   ETN will assist individuals with disabilities and their families by providing case management services to assist with housing and disaster relief, and to provide small stipends to be used for food and transportation.
• Exceptional Nurse.com — $5,000
  www.ExceptionalNurse.com
  Nurses with disabilities who reside in areas affected by Katrina will be provided with financial assistance to use for housing, utilities, relocation expenses, durable medical equipment and/or assistive technology.
• Families Helping Families of Acadiana — $5,000
  www.fhfla.org/acadiana
  Families Helping Families of Acadiana is working with evacuees with developmental disabilities and those with psychiatric disabilities in order for them to obtain medical equipment and medications.  Families Helping Families will also be assisting evacuees obtain long-term resources to be used for housing, utilities, clothing and food.
• Families Helping Families at the Crossroads of Louisiana (FHF – Crossroads) — $5,000
  www.familieshelpingfamilies.net
  FHF – Crossroads is working to meet the immediate needs (diapers, clothing, medical equipment) of individuals with disabilities who were affected by the hurricanes.
• Gulf Coast Teaching Family Services, Inc. — $5,000
  www.donategulfcoast.org
  Gulf Coast Teaching Family Services is working to assist persons with disabilities displaced by Hurricane Katrina to return to the New Orleans area.  They are looking for funds for start-up costs for individuals to be able to move into apartments or houses.
• Lighthouse for the Blind in New Orleans — $5,000
  www.lhb.org
  The Lighthouse provides services to people who are blind or who have visual impairments by providing jobs, job-training and services.  They are working to restart services at the Lighthouse following the hurricanes and are looking for funds for transportation.
• LATAN (Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network) — $5,000
  www.latan.org
  LATAN is seeking donations of assistive technology devices for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina to use in shelters, hotels and temporary residence, and eventually take with them to permanent homes.
• The Lupus Support Network — $5,000
  www.lupus.pensacola.com
  The network will be assisting lupus patients who were affected by the hurricanes and have no other means of paying for medications and/or treatment by local rheumatologists.
• Lutheran Social Services of the South — $5,000
  www.lsss.org
  All of the monies will be used to purchase medical equipment and assistive technology for evacuees with disabilities who relocated to Texas.
• T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability — $2,539
  www.tkmartin.msstate.edu
  T.K. Martin Center is working to deliver and repair assistive technology to individuals with disabilities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
• Mid-Alabama Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities — $5,000
  Mid-Alabama Coalition is using funds to provide emergency assistance with housing, durable medical equipment and transition expenses.  Priority for assistance will be given to individuals who moved from community living into nursing homes (because of health problems caused or exacerbated by the evacuation and/or because they needed to secure emergency shelter).  Funds will also be used to prevent nursing home placement for community evacuees who face institutionalization because of a lack of community supports in the aftermath of the storms.
• St. Tammany ARC — $,5000
  www.starcla.org
  Monies will be used to assist individuals with disabilities and their families whose lives were drastically impacted by Hurricane Katrina.  Monies will be used to set up FEMA trailers (utility deposits, purchase linen and bedding, food, toiletry items, kitchen utensils, etc.) and to assist individuals in rebuilding and revitalizing their communities.
• Seaside Community Foundation — $5,000
  www.seasidefoundation.org
  The foundation, located in Florida, is stepping outside of its mission parameters to provide aid in the form of transitional housing for disabled persons affected by the hurricanes in Mississippi.
• SpellCo Redevelopment Corporation — $5,000
  www.srcnet.org
  SpellCo will use monies to provide accessible computer and Internet access to individuals with disabilities displaced to the Houston area.  Computer and Internet access will enable these persons to do job searches, find displaced and/or missing loved ones, type and print resumes, etc.  SpellCo will also use its lab to provide training in computer programs.
• TBI Family Services, Inc. — $5,000
  www.tbifamily.org
  TBI Family Services, Inc., will be assisting in making temporary ADA-compliant modifications to FEMA-supplied trailers while planning permanent ADA-compliant home modification solutions when rebuilding personal residences.
• United Cerebral Palsy of Houston — $5,000
  www.ucphouston.org
  United Cerebral Palsy of Houston is seeking funds to provide counseling, other support services and medical equipment for people with special needs affected by Katrina. It is also seeking donations of medical equipment, assistive technology and baby items such as diapers, baby wipes, baby food and formula.
• United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (USSAAC) — $5,000
  www.USSAAC.org
  USSAAC will be reaching out to Gulf State residents with AAC needs who have been impacted by the hurricanes and respond quickly to specific needs for AAC equipment and services. They will have an AAC specialist on the ground in LA to coordinate outreach, requests for assistance, offers of assistance, equipment and services, client/equipment matches, and other day-to-day activities.
• The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) — $5,000
  www.dept.usm.edu
  IDS is working to provide post-disaster assistance to persons with disabilities in the state of Mississippi.  This assistance includes rent payments, replacement of necessary medical supplies/equipment, acquisition of assistive technology devices and addressing accessibility needs for housing accommodations.
• Volunteers of America Southeast, Inc. (VOASE) — $5,000
  www.voase.org
  VOASE will use funds to provide medical equipment (replacement wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility devices) and to provide interpretive services for evacuees who have hearing and/or speech disabilities.