Volunteer hours can count as local match for federal flood funds

Columbia and other local communities hope to get a second use out of hours volunteers worked after last fall’s historic storm.

Those hours are important again because local governments can use them to offset costs for recovery from the Oct. 4 flooding.

Columbia, Richland County and Lexington County still are grappling with how to pay for flood recovery. Federal dollars could cover up to 75 percent of some recovery costs and projects, with local governments paying for the remaining 25 percent.

But that 25 percent doesn’t have to be have to be only cold, hard cash. In-kind contributions, including volunteers’ efforts on public work sites during and after the disaster, can count toward the community’s local match.

That’s why the United Way of the Midlands is collecting those hours in an online form and forwarding the data to Columbia and Richland and Lexington counties.

Anyone who volunteered in the Midlands after the storm can visit the form to explain where they worked, how long they worked and the type of work they did – so long as they weren’t paid and the work was flood-related.

“Anything associated with the government’s response actions and recovery actions” could count toward a community’s local funding match, said Elizabeth Ryan, the state Emergency Management Division’s recovery chief.

Hours volunteered on public property – at schools, parks or shelters – would count, she said. But those worked on private property or in flood-damaged homes would not.

So far 3,714 volunteers in Columbia, Richland County or Lexington County have logged their hours with United Way of the Midlands. They worked more than 46,000 hours – about 12.4 per volunteer.

The hours are worth what each volunteer typically would have been paid for his or her work, Ryan said.

Columbia has determined it can report about 4,500 volunteer hours estimated worth $53,000, though it is not guaranteed those hours will count toward its local match, Columbia budget director Missy Caughman said.

“Everything is still subject to review,” Caughman said.

Lexington County has logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours but does not have an estimate of the hours’ worth, spokesman Harrison Cahill said.

“Those volunteer hours were critical in garnering a swift recovery for the county,” he said.

A Richland County spokeswoman directed questions to United Way of the Midlands and the SCEMD.

United Way of the Midlands urges anyone who volunteered in the weeks and months after the storm to report their hours, regardless of the type of work they did, communications manager Molly Brantley said.

“We’re just collecting it all,” she said.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Volunteer hours can count as local match for federal flood funds."