Hurricane Relief, Phase II: Renewing the Gulf Coast
If you're one of the many families struggling to rebuild your lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Modest Needs
wants to help you through our special Gulf Coast Renewal Initiative.
Modest Needs' Gulf Coast Renewal Initiative is designed to offer several critical types of assistance that are not available elsewhere to qualified Gulf Coast families. Types
of assistance available only through this program include (but are not limited to):
- Assistance with the cost of returning to your hometown, if you're currently living in another US state and are ready to go home;
- Assistance with the cost of building supplies, if your home is still standing and you need help with the materials necessary to repair it;
- Assistance with the cost of basic household necessities, if your home is already livable but you need help to afford items like beds, or a refrigerator; and
- Assistance with the cost of housing / utility deposits, if your home is no longer livable and you need help to relocate WITHIN one of the Gulf Coast states; and
- Assistance with the cost of insurance deductibles, if your home was insured against flood damage, and you can't start rebuilding because you can't afford to pay the insurance deductible.
Applying for a Gulf Coast Renewal grant under this special initiative is easy! Just follow the special directions below:
- Determine whether you qualify for this grant. Modest Needs Gulf Coast Renewal grants available exclusively to residents of the Gulf Coast who are seeking
assistance to return to their home states, or who already have returned home and need assistance to speed the rebuilding process.
- Complete an application for assistance from Modest Needs. To begin your application, just visit our
Applications and Instructions page and follow the directions there. You'll find the link to our online application
at the very bottom of our 'Applications and Instructions' page.
- IMPORTANT: On the 'Application Start' page, enter the correct ARA number for this program. The ARA number
for our Gulf Coast Renewal program is GCR2006. If you forget to put this code in the ARA box on our Application Start page,
our system will send your application to the wrong place, and we won't be able to help you.
And that's it! If you follow the directions on our Applications and Instructions page, the entire application process should take
you less than ten minutes.
BEFORE you apply for a Gulf Coast Renewal grant from Modest Needs, please read the following special notes:
- Gulf Coast Renewal grants are available ONLY to persons who wish to return to or currently are living in a Gulf Coast state. If you
are a hurricane evacuee living in another area, and you need a type of assistance not available elsewhere, you're welcome to complete an application
for help from our General Fund.
- As with all of our grants at Modest Needs, Gulf Coast Renewal grants will not provide cash directly to you. If Modest Needs
is able to approve you for a Gulf Coast Renewal grant, we'll fund your application by purchasing the supplies or service that you need on your behalf and
delivering them directly to you. Please do NOT send an application for general cash assistance (e.g. "Please give me
$300 for general expenses.") We cannot consider applications of this type.
- Generally, the maximum grant available under this program is, as always, $1,000.00 However, if you need just slightly more than
our maximum grant to complete the rebuilding process, we'd encourage you to apply anyway. Just be sure to specify the exact amount necessary to
fund your application in full in the 'Request Details' section of our application, and we'll do all we can to help.
- When applying for a Gulf Coast Renewal Grant, you MUST include a contact telephone number. This will allow us to reach you more
quickly and - if possible - to expedite the funding of your application. You can add a telephone number to your registration at Modest Needs
by logging in and then clicking 'Change This Info' on your Personal Page.
If you have other questions about this program or how to apply for help from it, please send those questions to us at
questionsmodestneeds.org
. You
can also call us during normal business hours (9:00am to 6:00pm EST) at (212) 463-7042.
Thank you for applying for a Gulf Coast Renewal grant from Modest Needs Foundation. We'll do our best to find a way to help you.