COUNTY News:
Volunteers donating time and services are asked to log their hours and efforts using a form available on the County’s COVID-19 website: https://losalamosnm.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=6435810&pageId=16645183
Whether residents are spending time helping to deliver meals to vulnerable seniors or making face masks for the community and County first responders, Los Alamos County government would like to know.
Residents should log hours and a description on the form and submit it to the County using the online form found on the link above.
“Capturing volunteers’ efforts is a critical part of tracking the total cost of this pandemic to our community,” Emergency Manager Beverley Simpson said.
Simpson explained that, after a presidential emergency or disaster declaration, FEMA will provide up to 75 percent cost reimbursement for eligible projects under its public assistance program. However, in order to qualify, local governments must provide a 25 percent match.
“If we can show the hours and donated resources from our community, those efforts might qualify Los Alamos County in meeting the matching funds requirement,” Simpson said.
She encouraged all individuals to fill out the form and submit it, no matter how few the hours or dollars.
“Every little bit of volunteer time and effort should be submitted, because it can add up quickly,” Simpson said.
Simpson said she has also set up a Volunteers Coordinator within the LAPD and Emergency Management office for the duration of the pandemic crisis. Samantha Terrazas will be assisting Simpson with tracking the volunteer form submittals, as well as tracking and handling queries about requests for new resources needed or fielding questions from volunteers. Terrazas and Simpson will be monitoring email at EOCEM@lacnm.us
Simpson asked that, because of the high volume of calls and queries, the public should first check for daily updates that the County posts about the COVID-19 emergency on the County’s website: https://www.losalamosnm.us/government/departments/emergency_management___e_m_/pandemic_and_coronavirus
“The response from the community so far has been very positive and supportive,” Simpson said, asking for volunteers to continue to communicate among the various groups that have been established to keep lines of communication open and avoid overlapping or unnecessarily duplicating efforts.