FROM: Friends of the Everglades, 101 Westward Dr., #2, Miami Springs, FL 33166, PH: (305) 888-1230
September 1, 1992
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS
The attached form should be photocopied and distributed to news media, hotel and landlord associations, individual hotel management concerns, and any other party who is in a position to offer housing to the Hurricane Andrew victims. Please enclose a copy of this message and our Memo of Sept 1st with each form. We prefer that the filled-in forms be mailed back to our office (FOE/Hurricane, 101 Westward Drive, #2, Miami Springs, Fl 33166) so as to leave our single phone line free for other phases of the project.
Anyone with a computer can use the resulting database to assist victims looking for emergency housing. Others can use printouts of the data provided by computer users to locate housing by phoning the donors directly. All computer users are asked to participate either by distributing the resulting data or by helping the victims find a suitable temporary home.
We will compile the information from the forms in a Filemaker Pro database on an Apple Macintosh computer and publish the database on electronic bulletin boards in a package which includes: (1) a Filemaker Pro database file, (2) an ASCII text file of the database, (3) an ASCII copy of the Register Form, and (4) an ASCII copy and Mac/MS Word copy of our “Memo” and this “read me” file. Each database update will be dated in the file name (Macintosh) or will bear a version number. [Eg.: “Housing, v 1.2, 9/7/92”for Macs or “housing.v12” for Dos users.] Version numbers will progress as follows: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc.—to track the months and weeks after the storm. Updates will be posted as close to each Monday as possible. Please distribute the newest version available. Any version three weeks old is obsolete. Your cooperation in using only the latest version will be appreciated by those listed who may have already used up the housing offered.
ATTENTION SYSOPS: Mac users, please unpack the uploaded self extracting archive on your BBS so that Dos users can also access each version. Please delete the older versions when you receive the new ones. We will be using Diskdoubler to make SEAs. Just double click on the diamond shaped icon to unpack the archive on your hard disk. The Filemaker Pro database file may be converted for use in other database programs. Check your program’s manual for information on how to import this data. Dos users, you may be able to convert the database for use on your machine, but the ASCII file will probably be the most useful for you. We will sort the database alphabetically by “last name” before printing it to file. If you have any ideas as to how we can better package this for your use, call our office and let’s talk.
TO: All landlords, hotels, motels, private homeowners, and anyone else who can provide housing for victims of Hurricane Andrew
FROM: Joe Podgor, Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades
SUBJECT: Hurricane Housing Relief Register
________________________________
The ravages of Hurricane Andrew have left over 250,000 people homeless in Dade County, Florida, in what has been accurately called the biggest disaster ever to hit the United States. Estimated costs exceed $30 billion, 63,000 homes were destroyed, power and phones may be out in the hardest hit areas for months, and all this is happening in the heat of the summer, at the height of the mosquito season, on the very edge of the Everglades.
Friends of the Everglades has decided that to have Friends you must be one. In the long term, victims of the storm are going to require a place to stay while their homes are being rebuilt. Already the available space in Dade and Broward Counties is being depleted, leaving rents high and no room for the many people who need to put their lives back together again. So we are looking ahead to the needs of the next six months to a year, by putting out this request for housing to aid the hurricane victims.
We are starting a Hurricane Housing Relief Register, a database of donated, shared and discounted housing offered by the good people of Florida. Please use the attached form to register any offer of space for hurricane victims, and mail it to: Friends of the Everglades, Hurricane Housing, 101 Westward Drive, #2, Miami Springs, FL 33166. Telephone registration will be accepted by phone between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
The worst areas are now being helped by civilian and military efforts to provide them with a tent over their heads, food and water, while the rescue and reconstruction of their homes commences. At present, tent villages are being established in the neighborhoods and at vital relief centers. The Red Cross and the military are moving mountains of supplies to the South Dade County Area.
These accommodations, while welcomed, will not wear well for months under the harsh conditions of the region. Children and elderly are exposed to fiberglass fibers in the air from roof debris causing skin rashes, sun poisoning, cuts from wreckage, sanitation problems, insect bites, poor water supplies for washing, drinking and cooking —all adding up to unbearable conditions in the long term.
Many people will be getting insurance checks for repairs to their homes, some have begun already. Many others will have to rebuild from the ground up and may need shelter for longer periods of time. These people are just like you and I, except their house blew away. But their kids still need to start school this fall, they still need to go to work to keep the paychecks coming in, and their mortgage payments are still due each and every month.
Please help in any way you can. We at Friends, appeal to our colleagues and friends to get this memo out to as many news outlets and sources of temporary housing as you can. We only have one phone line, so be patient. You can leave a message on our machine, but we prefer you call us between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Mailing back the attached form will be the best way to register, but phone registrations will be accepted.
IMPORTANT: The order in which the fields occur must be exactly the same as on this form in order to set up DOS databases to use the ASCII files that will be made available once the data is compiled. The files published on BBS’s will be comma-delineated ASCII and Mac format Filemaker Pro. Other formats are available on request by modem (call voice line 305-888-1230 to make arrangements). Specify whether you need tab-separated, SYLK, DBF, DIF, WKS, BASIC, or Merge file types.
HURRICANE HOUSING RELIEF REGISTER
Date Registered:______________________,
Last Name:_________________________________________________,
First Name:_________________________________________________,
Company or Organization:____________________________________,
Kitchen (K) or Kitchen Priviledges (KP):___, Separate Bath (SB) or
Shared Bath (SHB):____, Laundry facilities:__, Parking for how many vehicles?_____, How many people can you accommodate per unit?______, How many units are offered?_____, Children (Y/N) — (How many)?__________, Pets (Y/N) - (D/C/B)?_______,
Disabled (Y/N) - (Describe any special facilities available)?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________,
Storage available:__, How long is unit available (#of months):_____,
Room only:__, Room and board:__,
Donated:__, Cost per month:__, Lease (#of months):________,
% Discount:_____, General Description of Offer (use extra sheet):____.
