A consortium of community groups have come together to help residents in crisis in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Rabbi David Weiner of Pittsfield’s Knesset Israel congregation says a September 2017 fire at the White Terrace apartments downtown revealed weaknesses in the city’s social safety net.
“Many of the people who made it through the fire had a lot of struggles on the other end of it," said Weiner. "Accessing resources, it was at a time of year when hotels were a little bit more expensive. And they had a couple of nights in a hotel, at which point they turned to the city and said ‘what do we do?’ The city pointed them to the Christian Center, which – though it is quite a mighty and adaptive sort of organization, social service organization here in Pittsfield – was unable to really handle the depth and breadth of the demands on them.”
Weiner says the center’s Executive Director – Ellen Merritt – reached out to other groups in the city to start a conversation about what they could to assist the next round of Pittsfielders faced with disaster. From there, the Pittsfield Emergency Recovery Committee coalesced. Contributions to the group’s efforts come from almost 20 organizations, including the city’s fire and health departments, as well as the Brien Center, a number of churches, local politicians, ServiceNet, and more. Weiner says about two dozen members from those various groups and beyond have been a part of the unfunded volunteer committee, which has around 12 standing members.
“The organization slowly, as we engaged in a research process, discovered that after day 2, after a disaster, after the destruction of a home, that not much happens for people," he told WAMC. "And so we felt that it would be important to engage and take care of people as much as we could in those next few days and weeks and months that followed.”
One of the committee’s first decisions was to work on expediting the collection and distribution of supplies for residents transitioning out of disaster and into new homes.
“Certainly the social safety net is thicker and denser in some parts of the community than it is in others, and to try to expand it is a value worth pursuing,” said the rabbi.
The next step it identified was the creation of a handbook to guide people through life after an emergency.
“When they get this handbook, they’ll find that there are instructions here for the first hours after the fire – what kind of medical care you might need, what it takes to go back in – what that experience will be like, what’s involved in boarding up a property, who you need to tell about what’s going on if they don’t know already, what to do to find a place to stay that night if for whatever reason the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army aren’t already on scene, which they probably are, how to file an insurance claim, a reminder of what to do with utilities, and also instructions for speaking with neighbors and the media – what to say, what not to say,” said Weiner.
The handbook doesn’t stop with the immediate aftermath – it also leads residents through the following weeks and months.
“How do you restore your belongings?" continued Weiner. "What’s salvageable, what’s not? What’s the financial model that restoration companies use – so how do you negotiate that well? What kinds of expenses do you need to track? How do you need to move out, how do you go about finding some place to live if you haven’t done it in a while and especially if you’re not doing so well? Where do you put your pets, if they made it out? How do you go about replacing medication?”
The handbook also offers advice around trauma and healing, as well as replacing legal documents and working through insurance.
“I’m been very surprised to see that as far as we can tell, we’re the first in the state to be doing something like this – though I’d be very pleased to hear that we aren’t,” said the rabbi.
Weiner says beyond the practical advice, the committee has become an opportunity to further develop the city’s sense of community and compassion.
“Pittsfield is a pretty small place, and to be able to reach out and be with our neighbors at a difficult time is really important,” he told WAMC.
For more information about the Pittsfield Emergency Recovery Committee, contact the Christian Center at 413-443-2828.
