Toolkit providing financial help to local flood victims
9/20/11 Minot Daily News

By Jill Schramm

MINOT, ND, Sept. 20 -- Ward County Extension Agent Lori Scharmer didn't realize the local impact that her work would have when she began two years ago to help write a financial toolkit for disaster survivors.
The Family Financial Toolkit was completed in April. Since June, the toolkits have been aiding Ward County and area residents in making financial decisions in the wake of devastating flood damage.

"The people who have used it have found it wonderfully useful. That's the feedback we are getting," Scharmer said. "It really helps them walk through making those financial decisions at a time when they are under a lot of stress."

Scharmer, who worked on the project with Extension agents in Morris and Rochester, Minn., said the document involved many other reviewers and signficant help from Lutheran Disaster Response in Minnesota and North Dakota.

The document came about because of the need that one of the agents had discovered in previously working with residents after a flood in Rushford, Minn. Flood disasters also were occurring in North Dakota two years ago, prompting the agents in the two states to work together.

Scharmer said she and her research partners found considerable information available on cleanup and remediating mold, but the information on financial recovery was limited and scattered. So they sought and obtained a federal grant to create an online publication that puts extensive resources all in one place.

Scharmer said she never thought during the creation of the toolkit that it's first use in North Dakota would be her own county. What she discovered locally is that the toolkits need to be available in hard copy because often displaced residents don't have access to computers or printers. Thanks to the generosity of a number of Minot-area donors, the Extension Service was able to produce the toolkit in binder form.

About 1,000 binders have gone into the community. The Extension Service has between 200 and 300 more available. Anyone interested in obtaining the toolkit can stop by the office in the Ward County Courthouse or call the office at 852-6450. The toolkit is available online.

The toolkit covers the multiple financial decisions that people need to make, starting with creating a baseline of where they were financially before the disaster and where they are now.

After establishing a starting point, the toolkit guides families to find accurate information, identify sources of help, document damages and contacts made with agencies and individuals, replace lost documents, assess housing options and make time for mental health. It covers areas that people under stress might not think about, such as notifying creditors about the change in circumstances. It includes worksheets for determining net worth and assessing financial ability to take on more debt. It also lists a number of available resources.

"It doesn't tell them what they should do, but it walks them through some decision trees, looking at what they want and need," Scharmer said. "Some of these decisions we are making in a very stressful time, if they are the wrong decisions, they could have an effect for the rest of our lives. So we wanted a tool that would help make decisions that are best."

The toolkit includes sections for homeowners and for renters.

Scharmer said the Extension Service hopes to eventually conduct a survey of local residents who used the toolkit to determine the value to them.

With revisions to local resources, the online publication has been used in tornado-stricken areas in Alabama and Joplin, Mo., and a version is to be made available to flooded residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

The developers have conducted national webinars to train other Extension agents and personnel with Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters in the use of the toolkit.