FORT PIERCE - St. Lucie County's Grants and Disaster Recovery Department is looking for area non-profit organizations that need recovery assistance due to Tropical Strom Fay.

Certain non-profit facilities that sustained storm damage from Tropical Storm Fay may be eligible for Public Assistance from FEMA. FEMA Public Assistance potentially can reimburse 75 percent of disaster response and disaster recovery expenses. Non-profit facilities that are eligible for Public Assistance must meet a specific definition. FEMA defines an eligible private non-profit facility as: "... any private non-profit educational, utility, emergency, medical or custodial care facility, including a facility for the aged or disabled, and other facility providing essential governmental type services to the general public, and such facilities on Indian reservations." "Other essential governmental service facility" means museums, zoos, community centers, libraries, homeless shelters, senior citizen centers, rehabilitation facilities, shelter workshops and facilities which provide health and safety services of a governmental nature. All such facilities must be open to the general public.

To apply for Public Assistance, it is required that a Request for Public Assistance be submitted. Attendance at an applicants' briefing meeting to be conducted by FEMA in St. Lucie County is also strongly recommended. The applicants' briefing meeting will be scheduled in the near future.

To submit a Request for Public Assistance and to be notified of the date and location of the applicants' briefing meeting, please contact St. Lucie County Director of Grants and Disaster Recovery Bill Hoeffner at (772) 462-1467 or at hoeffner@stlucieco.gov. Additionally, if you have not sustained storm damage as a result of Tropical Storm Fay, but would like your organization to be included on a notification list in the event of a future disaster, please contact Mr. Hoeffner.

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