Disaster Relief Resource Center Opens at McClellan
The McClellan Joint Powers Authority (JPA) said today that state agencies, local agencies, church and charitable organizations that provide support to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita are opening offices at the former Fort McClellan. The Red Cross with volunteer doctors and nurses began office hours at the on-site Clinic building starting this past Tuesday, September 27. The Salvation Army began evacuee support services and opened a distribution point for donated goods on Wednesday, September 28.

More than 20 groups are in the process of moving into the former Maglin Hall and the clinic. Represented in this group are social service agencies and programs including Social Security Administration, Council on Aging, Head Start, Department of Education. State and local groups include Calhoun County Family Services, Anniston City Schools, and Calhoun County Health Department.  The Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce through its employment services will be helping match employers with evacuees seeking jobs. 

Other groups offering support to Hurricane victims include NAACP, Legal Referral Services, local churches and church associations.  Services at the resource center are available to all evacuees within Calhoun County and are provided free of charge.  A Monday meeting (8:00 a.m. at JPA HQ moving to Maglin Hall at 9:00 a.m.) of group leaders will mark the opening of the Disaster Relief Resource Center at Maglin Hall.

After a rapid response offer from the JPA, the State of Alabama and FEMA committed to providing space for about 1000 evacuees at this location. Also known as the “Starship Complex”, the space is expected to be finished by Friday, October 7.  Evacuees began staying at the facility on September 15 as the first rooms were completed.  More than 25 local contractors, working long hours beginning September 1, 2005, prepared 360 dormitory-style interim housing units for evacuees and for the support agencies.

The JPA, FEMA, American Red Cross, and Alabama Emergency Management Agency have been working throughout Alabama to identify people in need of interim housing. This work continues and explains interim housing choices and social service availability to evacuees at the Disaster Relief Project Welcome Center.  So far, as many as 50 evacuees per day have availed themselves of Red Cross and health services at the clinic.

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