SPOKANE, Wash. – While communities impacted by last August’s Gray and Oregon Road fires wait to learn whether or not they’ll qualify for federal aid, local nonprofits have already been working to help those whose lives were turned upside down.
One of those organizations is the Innovia Foundation, which–in partnership with NonStop Local KHQ–raised more than a million dollars for fire victims.
The Innovia Foundation says all of the $1.2 million they’ve received will go directly towards covering relief efforts: funds were given to nonprofits for relief in the immediate aftermath of the fires, and will continue through the long-term recovery phase.
“We know from historical involvement in local disasters and models from across the country that relief happens immediately, but the long term recovery is a months, and years long process,” said Innovia’s Chief Community Investment Officer Molly Sanchez. “To have funds that are going to be able to do that down the road is critical to a successful recovery.”
But how will those funds be distributed? Sanchez says for starters, Innovia isn’t writing checks directly to individuals who need help.
Instead, their focus has been on providing grants to local nonprofit organizations working on the ground level with impacted communities directly, like the Salvation Army, Re*Imagine Medical Lake, the New Hope Resource Center in Elk, amongst others.
“That has helped with food, that’s helped with emergency shelter when we’ve had really cold situations, it’s helped with hotel vouchers for people who need it,” Sanchez said.
A majority of the donations, though, will go towards long-term recovery.
“There are some funds immediately available from state and government entities that have to be spent out right away, they are time limited,” Sanchez said. “We don’t want to spend dollars [donated to Innovia] on needs that [time-limited] dollars can address. The Innovia dollars will continue to be here. Again, they’re flexible dollars, so we can fill in the gaps to stretch all the other pools of funding further.”
The way fire victims can receive those funds is through a case manager with the Salvation Army, as part of the Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group.
“Those are the people who identify the specific needs, and make sure the dollars are equitably distributed to help families get what they need to get closer to their recovery,” Sanchez said. “The case managers can access resources across the community, not just the funds at Innovia. That’s a big part of it, but also they know what dollars other sources have available, and their role is to look at what’s needed and help refer people where they need to be.”
Sanchez called the destruction from the Gray and Oregon Road fires unprecedented, but said the community’s response wasn’t a surprise.
“The outpouring that we saw from the community speaks to how we do support each other, and [Innovia is] committed to being good stewards of those dollars to make sure they do what the donors wanted them to do,” Sanchez said.
For more information about Innovia’s Wildfire Emergency Response Fund or to donate, click here.
For more information about the Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group, click here.
For information on how to contact a case manager to receive relief, click here.
The Innovia Foundation says they understand that long-term disaster relief can be extremely complex. If you’d like more information on how relief funds are distributed by Innovia, they encourage you to call (509) 624-2606 with questions.
