FEMA Corps Workers Help Residents Sign Up After Hurricane Michael

Nov. 12--LYNN HAVEN -- Brianna Lentz spent Saturday morning knocking on doors in Lynn Haven to make sure residents registered with FEMA.

Lentz is 19 and part of FEMA Corps, a year-long AmeriCorps service program for young adults who help in disaster areas. Lentz and other FEMA Corps workers went through streets in the ravaged eastern Bay County town this weekend to tell people how FEMA can help, sign them up on iPads if they haven't already registered and explain the next steps when locals mentioned they were initially denied.

FEMA Corps has been on the ground in Bay County for two and a half weeks to help after Hurricane Michael, and also spend time at mobile registration centers when they're not canvassing neighborhoods. FEMA Corps workers also checked on the status of applications for people.

"There are times where it's hard to see all the loss people have had," said FEMA Corps worker Michaela Mangum, 23, who heard about the program from a friend. "But it is rewarding because we get to talk with them about it and get them some help, and answer any questions they have."

Mangum, who signed up because she wants to work in disaster relief work, is halfway through the program and staying at a responder camp off John Pitts Road in Panama City with the other FEMA Corps workers and emergency response teams. They stay in a big tent, which allows Mangum to meet people and make connections.

"I feel like the hardest thing for me is this normalcy that's come with it and how tough it is coming to terms with the fact that this starts to become to the normal for an area for a while," said Lentz.

A FEMA representative who went with the young group also told residents about further steps they can take to get damage claims approved, after homeowners inevitably spoke of their claims being denied. Residents were informed FEMA can't duplicate insurance company claims, and also encouraged to bring damage claims to FEMA recovery centers at the Bay County Public Library on 11th St. in Panama City and to the other center on Beulah Ave. in Callaway if they're initially denied.

FEMA Corps provides a $6,000 scholarship for participants that can be used for additional education programs and a small stipend.

___

(c)2018 The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.)

Visit The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.) at www.newsherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.