SUMTER Disaster Recovery, Inc.

The purpose of Sumter Disaster Recovery, Inc. is to establish and maintain a network within and on behalf of the faith communities, secular agencies, and individuals which will provide a coordinated response to the unmet needs, whether financial or otherwise, of persons and businesses that were victims of the tornado that struck Americus and Sumter County, Georgia, on March 1, 2007 and any future natural disasters affecting Americus and Sumter County. All assistance will be provided without regard to race, sex, religion, ethnicity or national origin.

e-mail: info@sdrhelp.org

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THIS IS A REPORT FROM THE DISASTER AREA OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA!!

Sumter Disaster Recovery, Inc. has been the recipient of outstanding assistance from volunteers from all over the United States and even Australia. We greatly appreciate what has been done to make our recovery so fast. However, we do have twenty-eight major jobs remaining to be completed at this time. I anticipate that this recovery effort will extend into October or longer. The following jobs are on schedule for completion for July and August. More will be scheduled for August and September as they are approved. We use volunteers wherever possible. The skills needed include demolition, installation of trusses/rafters, roofing, sheetrock ceilings and walls, carpentry, electrical and some plumbing. Final finish skills required include tape and texture of drywall, sanding, installation of insulation, painting, and cabinet installation, flooring either laminates or carpet. We will need on the lighter side cleaning, yard repair to fill holes left by stumps, some sod lying.

We presently have two homes that will be almost complete rebuilds, four roofing jobs with more coming within ten days. One major job that is in progress (see pictures attached), is the rebuilding of Old Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church that was 90% destroyed by falling trees and high winds on March 1. This congregation of predominantly aging citizens has the resources to purchase most of the materials but not hire the labor. Groups are working on this project presently but more labor (especially skilled) is needed now. We have the peak portion of the truss system to be installed before the roof can be dried in. We use a crane to lift the truss into place. We are ready to proceed to the next step.

Jobs on schedule at this time:

Oak Street
Ashby Street
Apple Drive
Felder Street
Sunset Drive
Watermelon Rd
Hudson St
Hudson Street
Jones Drive
Hudson Street

Most all our jobs have been similar to the above and all future jobs should be about the same.

Thank you for your assistance,

Jody Wade
Executive Director