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The hurricane season of 2004 was particularly bad here in Florida. Within the span of two months, three powerful hurricanes made landfall in or near Florida. Damage sustained as a result of these storms was significant and made the FLA Board of Directors aware of the need of wolfdog owners for financial assistance during such disasters.

Below is an overview of the FLA Disaster Relief Fund, established in September 2004 in memory of Founding Members Beth Palmer (who was a previous Director, Vice President, and Secretary) and Jan Mitchell (wife of President Al Mitchell) who went to the Rainbow Bridge in 2003. Monies in the fund were initiated using memorial donations made by friends and members of the Palmer and Mitchell families. The fund will only be able to continue through (tax-deductible) donations from concerned individuals looking to assist wolfdog owners in need following a disaster.

At the bottom of this page is a link to a second page containing an application form; a donation form; donation payment options via PayPal; a list of donors and the amounts donated; a list of recipients, amounts received, and reasons for receiving financial assistance from FLA; and a "piggy bank" showing current fund availability.
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Objective:             To provide financial assistance to wolfdog owners for expenditures related to their animals incurred as a direct result of disaster. Level of assistance will be determined by the FLA Board of Directors and will not exceed $250 per person per incident.

Eligibility:             Financial assistance will be granted to wolfdog owners only. Individual wolfdog owners will be given priority over businesses and organizations. Although the focus of FLA—and this fund—is within the State of Florida, FLA may consider requests from outside Florida in cases of special or dire need.

Application:          Wolfdog owners in need of financial assistance due to damage sustained from a natural disaster must complete an application form and mail it to FLA. All applications must include the following:

• Name and mailing address of person or business/organization requesting funding.

• Identification of the disaster (e.g., hurricane [give name], tornado, flood, etc.).

• Explanation of need and justification for consideration for reimbursement through the FLA Disaster Relief Fund (e.g., downed or damaged fencing as a result of a tree falling on it during Hurricane Frances, costs incurred as a result of moving or boarding animals during a flood, etc.).

• Original receipt(s) showing proof of material costs and/or work completed.

 Implementation:      

Donor:

• Completes donation form and mails it to the FLA Secretary.

• Sends check (with form) to the FLA Secretary or donates by PayPal via the FLA website.

• States (via a check box on the form) whether or not the donor’s name will appear on the website (if not, “anonymous” will be used instead) along with the amount of the donation.

Recipient:

• Completes application form and mails it to the FLA Secretary.

• Includes original receipt(s) for materials and/or work required as a result of the disaster.

FLA Board of Directors:

• Provides initial funding from donations made previously in memory of Beth Palmer and Jan Mitchell.

• Upon receipt of applications for financial assistance, reviews the applications and determines if and how much the applicants will receive.

• Upon receipt of donations, sends thank you letters indicating that the donations are tax deductible and that no goods or services were received by the donors from FLA in exchange for the donations.

• Maintains and updates FLA Disaster Relief Fund web page (see below).

• Solicits donations from FLA Members, from a variety of e-mail lists, and from other sources as appropriate.

• Specific job responsibilities within the FLA Board of Directors are as follows:

• Secretary: Receive mail-in donations and requests for assistance; submit applications to BOD for consideration; notify Webmaster of names and amounts of donations; forward donations on to Treasurer; send thank you letters to donors; send award notices to recipients.

• Treasurer: Receive donation checks and deposit them in the bank; mail checks to recipients; keep detailed records of finances involving the fund (distinct and separate from normal FLA business).

• Webmaster: Create the “Fund” web page; keep the list of donors, recipients, and currently available funds updated on a regular basis.

Click here to go to FLA Disaster Relief Fund, Page 2

Click here to read FLA President Al Mitchell's letter announcing the Disaster Relief Fund

Note: PDF files and can be downloaded and read/printed using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin for your web browser.  If you do not have the Reader plug-in, you can download it from the Adobe website: