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Town to disburse money from Tornado Relief Fund

Date: 8/16/2011

Aug. 15, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM — After the June 1 tornado, Monson Savings Bank opened an account dubbed the Wilbraham Tornado Victim Relief Fund (WTVRF) in which people could donate money to aid those affected by the storm.

Now the town wants to start putting that money to work.

“There were 237 homes in Wilbraham that people either took out insurance claims on or had damage documented by the building inspector,” Paula Dubord, director of Elder Affairs and town liaison to the Wilbraham Relief Fund, said. “This fund targets helping people with the out of pocket expenses.”

Letters will begin going out on Aug. 15 to the 132 homes with property damage documented by the building inspector that contains an application to receive a portion of the close to $50,000 raised in the WTVRF to defray repair costs.

However, any resident who has incurred expenses related to the tornado can pick up an application at Town Hall, the Wilbraham Senior Center or on the town’s Web site, www.wilbraham-ma.gov.

“You don’t have to have documented structural damage to take advantage of this,” Dubord said. “All you need to do is be able to provide paid receipts and your insurance loss statement.”

Dubord added that many in the community, who were fortunate enough to escape damage to their houses, including herself, have struggled with the expense of tree removal and those residents should feel encouraged to apply.

“The insurance company is giving people hundreds of dollars for what sometimes is thousands of dollars worth of tree removal,” she said.

Applications are due in by Sept. 19 and should be addressed to WTVRF at Town Hall, 240 Springfield St. After that deadline, a committee appointed by the town will review the applications and “as fairly as possible split up the money,” Dubord said.

The WTVRF account will be closed on Sept. 15.

“We’ll close the account at that point so the committee knows exactly how much money we have to work with,” she said.

Those who suffered property damage in the July 26 microburst or other severe weather are not eligible and only one application per residence is allowed.



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