By ANDREA McCANN
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Hoosier farm families still reeling from June 2008 flood devastation have an opportunity, through the end of the month, to get help with household needs they’ve put on the back burner while they rebuild the farm.

Hoosier Organic Marketing Education (HOME), a nonprofit organization that serves as a clearinghouse for information on organic farming and food, has $18,000 in emergency relief available. The grant funds were made possible by Farm Aid and Operation USA (OpUSA), a disaster-relief organization that reaches out to vulnerable populations to provide emergency relief.

In the wake of a disaster, said HOME assistant event coordinator De Ana Owens, reconstruction is the top priority of many farm families, who then may put off personal needs, such as health care, prescriptions, utilities and groceries.

“Their personal needs are going with no, or little, attention,” she said. “We want to help by supplementing that. We want to help with the more immediate household needs.”

To apply for one of the grants, Owens explained, families must have applied for aid with another agency already, but need not have received assistance from other agencies. She said President Bush designated several states to receive disaster assistance after a variety of natural disasters in 2008, so aid is available through many sources. She hopes farm families have contacted other agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Salvation Army and United Way.

“I want to stress what the organization wants families to keep in mind,” Owens said. “Don’t hesitate in applying, thinking you don’t meet the criteria or that someone else may benefit more.
“If you are an Indiana farm family, and reconstruction or rebuilding or any other unforeseen occurrence has taken place on your farm due to the floods of the latter part of 2008, and these have put your daily or monthly household operation in need of a little financial relief, apply for the grants. Just apply.”

An application and list of application criteria can be found at www.indianacertifiedorganic.com/farmassistance but the main criteria necessary to apply for the $300 grants are:

•The farm must be family owned and operated, not a conglomerate corporation.

•The financial concerns were generated during or since the June 2008 floods.

•The money cannot go directly to the business; it must go toward more immediate family household needs.

•Apply by the first week of February.

Owens added that their website is an excellent, all-inclusive resource that includes links to other sites for aid, including Indiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (INVOAD); the Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery Indiana (LARRI) for Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties; and the Indiana Governor’s Office of Disaster Recovery. She said these organizations and agencies are among those graciously helping to get the message out about HOME’s relief assistance.

“Disaster assistance is not normally our focus, but we were willing to get involved,” said Cissy Bowman, Indiana Certified Organic CEO and HOME program director. “It’s a wonderful thing, and we’re happy to do it.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Mitch Daniels received notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that Indiana will receive an additional $18.1 million in federal disaster funding to assist with 2008’s storm recovery efforts. Those funds are expected to assist families with social services and health services, including the rebuilding of health-care and child-care facilities.