ACS helping soldiers after hurricane Matthew

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

10.12.2016

Story by Spc. Elizabeth Clark 

50th Public Affairs Detachment

The Center provides emergency food assistance, legal assistance for damage claims, evacuation travel order assistance and Military Family Life Counselors assistance. The Center is a central location for any help Soldiers, family members and retirees may need.
The EFAC will help provide short and long-term recovery aid to anyone around Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. After hurricane Matthew, people who had been affected by the storm are looking for any help they can get.
“We went through a similar situation with the tornado in February,” said Tonya Imus, the Supervisory Mobilization, Deployment and Stability Support Operations program manager here. “People feel overwhelmed after a severe weather incident. They don’t want to run all over post looking for the help they need.”
Imus’s home is still without power. Despite this, she still helped set up the EFAC so that people can get the help that they need.
“We assist people to help themselves,” said Imus. “It’s about getting people back to the new normal as quickly as possible.”
Throughout the day there was a steady stream of Soldiers and families that were looking for recovery assistance from the hurricane. One such Soldier who was seeking aid at the EFAC was Spc. Cronje Helm, a cable systems installer-maintainer with the 123rd Division Signal Battalion.
Helm is living in the barracks on post and needed to replace the perishables he lost due to the hurricane. The EFAC was offering vouchers to help anyone who had suffered from this.
“I was crushed to lose the food,” said Helm. “I got the message about the food vouchers and felt that there was some hope left.”
Service providers at the EFAC help Soldiers such as Helm receive the help that they need. One service provider is James Fleming, the Financial Readiness program manager at the EFAC. Fleming was one of the main individuals responsible for helping Soldiers, family members and retirees receive food assistance.
“We’ve had a plethora of individuals come in to assist the Soldiers, family members and retirees whose homes have been damaged during the hurricane,” Fleming said. “It warms your heart to provide assistance to those individuals that are in need.”

• Date Taken: 10.12.2016
• Date Posted: 10.20.2016 14:07
• Story ID: 212384
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US