Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.
Hurricane survivors arriving in Las Vegas will be directed to a new assessment center opening at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Clark County officials said.
The new site will replace the intake center at Catholic Charities' Fertitta Community Assistance Center as the one-stop location for linking hurricane survivors with a variety of local, state, federal and nonprofit services and assistance.
The building, formerly used as office space by the Energy Department, is located about two blocks south of Sahara Avenue on Highland Drive. A map is posted on www.accessclarkcounty.com.
The new site will serve as a disaster recovery center jointly operated by Clark County and the Nevada Division of Emergency Management at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"The new site will duplicate services that have been under way at Catholic Charities' Fertitta Center," said County Manager Thom Reilly. "FEMA asked us to help open a more permanent processing site because we're seeing hundreds more evacuees here locally than anyone expected after Hurricane Katrina struck."
Evacuees not yet registered with FEMA can go to the new recovery center starting Thursday morning to register for federal aid. In addition, local service agencies will continue to offer programs, information and referral for any new and returning evacuees seeking services.
The Regional Transportation Commission will operate free, dedicated transportation for hurricane evacuees from the Downtown Transportation Center on Stewart Avenue near Fourth Street to the disaster recovery center on Highland Drive.
The 12-passenger vehicles will depart every hour starting at 7:30 a.m. from the transportation center. The last trip of the day will leave the disaster recovery center at 8 p.m. or until all evacuees are transported.
More than 2,400 hurricane survivors have reported to the Fertitta center since Sept. 7 when it opened as a processing site. All of the evacuees arrived in the valley on their own or with help from family, friends or others in the area.
Catholic Charities' normal operations will resume in the Fertitta building when the disaster recovery center opens on Thursday.
The Fertitta Community Assistance Center opened in August on Catholic Charities' campus to serve as a single stop for providing social services to the homeless and local needy families and senior citizens.
Catholic Charities has provided more than 500 meals a day to evacuees since Sept. 7 in addition to clothing, toiletries, wheelchairs, toys and other assistance.
"It has been our privilege to assist Clark County and many supporting agencies in this community-wide effort to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees," said Monsignor Patrick Leary, executive director of Catholic Charities. "As we resume our normal operations on our campus, Catholic Charities will continue to provide meals and other services for evacuees at the new disaster recovery center."
About a dozen local and state agencies will be on hand at the recovery center, including Clark County Social Services, the American Red Cross, United Way of Southern Nevada and other nonprofit organizations, local housing authorities, state Mental Health Division, state welfare, Nevada Job Connect, Clark County School District and Clark County Health District representatives.
FEMA representatives will be available at the center to assist clients with FEMA registration only.
The Southern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross had served more than 2,000 hurricane survivors as of Monday with direct funding of more than $620,000.
Financial donations to the Red Crosscan be made online at www.redcrosslasvegas.org, or call (800) HELP-NOW. Checks can also be sent to the local chapter's office at 1771 E. Flamingo Road, Suite 206B, Las Vegas, NV, 89119.
Several other local nonprofit groups also are accepting donations, including the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Community Food Bank of Clark County.
The United Way of Southern Nevada is managing general donation requests of goods and services. Call 734-2273 for more information, or visit the agency's Web site at www.uwsn.org.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is maintaining a list of local property management companies offering apartments for rent to evacuees. For more information, call 366-2100.
Catholic Charities and Nevada Job Connect are keeping ongoing lists of employment opportunities for hurricane victims. For more information, call 385-2662.
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