Community funds find their way to households affected by Davenport building collapse

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - More than half of the households affected by the partial building collapse at 324 Main St. have received funds or know of plans in place for help from community organizations.

Financial assistance comes from the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation. The fund was activated after the May 28 partial building collapse in downtown that killed three people and left many homeless and without any possessions.

Quad Cities Community Foundation held a meeting Friday with outreach workers from different organizations and the Quad Cities Open Network, which distributes the funds. The purpose was to update the status of 67 households who were referred to the foundation by the American Red Cross, according to Kelly Thompson.

Thompson is vice president of Grantmaking and Community Initiatives at Community Foundation and chair of Long Term Recovery with Disaster Ready Quad Cities.

According to Thompson:

• 56 households have either received their funding or are connected with an outreach worker and are about to receive it or know that they can when they’re ready.
• 46 have put in requests for their available funding. The vast majority of those have received their funding; several will receive their funds soon as Quad Cities Open Network, who distributes the money, has another batch that will be sent out next week.
• 10 are connected to an outreach worker and either are about to submit a request, or have said they are not ready to use their funds yet.
• 11 have not connected with an outreach worker to request their funding.
• For the remaining 11 households, the outreach team has not been able to connect with them.

If a household that lived in 324 Main St. is already working with SAL Community Services’ Open Door, Humility Homes and Services, Community Action of Eastern Iowa, or The Salvation Army, please contact assigned outreach workers to access the funds, Thompson said. If a household is not currently working with any agency, contact SAL Community Services’ Open Door at 563-265-5500 and ask for Tammy Trice.

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