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From the Napa Valley Register: Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund distributes $6.2 million for fire relief

October 2, 2018. By Register Staff

In the year following the devastating Napa Valley firestorms, the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund reports working with more than two dozen nonprofit organizations to distribute $6.2 million.

Relief and recovery services have gone to 15,000 Napa County fire survivors to assist with temporary shelter, meals, clothing, medical care, legal aid, application assistance and help navigating insurance claims, the Napa Valley Community Foundation reported Tuesday.

Of the $6.2 million, $4.2 million has been distributed in the form of direct financial assistance to more than 2,100 workers, households and small businesses – who lost homes, personal property or income because of the fires.

A full report of the Fund’s receipts and expenditures will be available at www.napavalleycf.org on the first anniversary of the fires on Monday, Oct. 8.

“We are deeply grateful to the 25,000 donors near and far whose generosity put us in a position to help, and to the hardworking nonprofits in Napa Valley who dropped everything to be of service to those affected by the fires,” said NVCF President Terence Mulligan.

Mulligan said that services and direct financial assistance would continue to be available to the residents of Napa County for several years to come.

“The pace of rebuilding is slow, and the work is far from over. That’s why we expect to make large grants from the Fund going forward,” added Mulligan. So far, grants to help underinsured homeowners rebuild have averaged $35,000 per household.

The Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund is managed by Napa Valley Community Foundation and was established with a $10 million lead gift from Napa Valley Vintners following the 2014 South Napa Earthquake. After all phases of quake-related relief, recovery and rebuilding programs concluded in 2016, the Fund had a balance of approximately $2.9 million, which was the starting point for relief and recovery efforts for the 2017 Napa Fire Complex.

“After the 2014 earthquake, we trained ‘second responder’ nonprofits in disaster readiness, and struck agreements with each for automatic grants in the event of a future disaster,” said Mulligan. “This investment has made us more nimble and responsive, and served our community well since the outbreak of the fires last October.”

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