Hurricane Helene: Get Funded
10/5/24
KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS!! and mark every one that you have that is associated with your relief efforts. There will be a force to reckon for the reimbursement for these funds to the people who came in clutch. There are funds available, there always is, it just needs enough red tape ripped away from it and people will get their feelings hurt, but the American people need to be put first ahead of other countries. See how FEMA has responded to rumors (https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20241004/fema-launches-web-page-respond-rumors-and-confirm-facts-related-hurricane):
Rumor: FEMA does not have enough money to provide disaster assistance for Helene.
Fact: This is false. FEMA has enough money for immediate response and recovery needs. If you were affected by Helene, do not hesitate to apply for disaster assistance as there is a variety of help available for different needs. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has enough funding to support Hurricane Helene efforts and FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts. As FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has said, she has the full authority to spend against the President’s budget, but we’re not out of hurricane season yet so we need to keep a close eye on it.
We're playing a game, and, surprise, you were voluntold and no one told you until now. We're playing a "Pics or it didn't happen" game, a record game, an "I have so much evidence so prove me wrong" game. I don't know how, in all this chaos, they are funding anything other than those registered and contracted with FEMA.
SO... here's what we do: KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS!! and label them. If you're lazy like me and lose receipts often, get a basic quickbooks account (yes it costs money, but you have a traceable record here, which is a milestone for the game), take a picture of it, and then throw it in a shoe box hoping you don't have to find it again, but basically know where it is.
Take pictures of you working onsite, next to readable license plates, addresses, geotag them, share from the location if you have cell coverage so the cell companies capture which tower it's being transmitted from. Mileage, times, hours, locations, people, coworkers, types of work done, hazards encountered, bodies handled, rivers crossed, vehicle repairs, Fuel/other supplies donated, copies printed, boots bought! EVERYTHING! We're looking for outright compensation for goods and services rendered. Tax credits are an ok second option. Tax writeoffs may be spoken of and should be sought after tax credits if outright payment is not fully furnished, but let this be the last resort as it requires debt (other than consumer) and is only realized during tax time.
The benefit here is that your tax liability is lowered meaning that if you make $100 and paid $50 for fuel and $25 for a tape measure as business expenses, then you'll only be taxed on the $25 that remains. The $25 is your tax liability instead of the $100 you initially made. This is the beauty of business and it's receipts and records that I'm emphasizing in this post. If you don't have that structure then you get taxed on the full $100 even though you made the same purchases but the IRS categorized them as personal. If you get audited, you'll say "I did it for relief during hurricane helene work" they'll say, ok, can you prove it? Show me the reciepts. If they're lenient: "do you at least have some pictures showing some places that you were with that pickup/loader? Can anyone else witness to that?" I know it's difficult to do now with so much going on, but the best way it was put to me in a safety briefing for a shooting range where I was responsible for anyone who got hurt was "Think from the investigation back to where you are now". That's when you'll answer some of your own questions, and have better questions for the professional that you choose to consult later.
If you have not coordinated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about funding, you need to be doing what I have detailed above and get active or someone else active on your behalf to get on their funding radar. In the future, a judging party needs to see that you took concerted efforts to get on FEMA's radar for funding, or see IN WRITING or on a video/audio recording with legible, identifying information that they denied you funding. This will go in your favor.
If you had 1 million people working on your home and 5 million requesting compensation, what questions would you ask, what policies would you publish to clarify guidance, who would you put in charge of distribution, and how would you keep track of the funding that was paid? A mind can wonder here, but this is a scenario that puts you in a position to present our problem (working without money) and also solving it. This way, when you are arguing with FEMA, you can keep your calm, ask level-headed but calibrated questions, and win the game that FEMA is simply hosting while congress holds the purse.
Go vote this year. Your funding counts on it.
Cover photo credit: Tony Tipton is featured in this Instagram video where he thanks people and his grandson for delivering hard-to-get fuel out of Tennessee to fund a state road repair project.
Video Credit: Unknown
Instagram: @mollywiththeboys
URL: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAt50JpyCPX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
10/6 update:
Just found an article that shows a history of botched disaster responses by the same director who allowed supplies to be confiscated and block private humanitarian assistance. So many people are dead, missing, and trapped in homes and this incompetence stalled critical rescue efforts. These people are shameful and Deanne Criswell should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
URL: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/10/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-says-fema-director-deanne/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR12GWiRSvniCOCEA6hWDoS-lHF_ivYs0Bd6ePr3tAOryeO6LHpP3jnObj0_aem_GuZZg5nK8Kmso5wlbS_zww
