United Way donates $50k to Sandy victims

MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Help is on the way for some local victims of Superstorm Sandy, thanks to a big donation.

The United Way is giving $50,000 to people along the shoreline in Milford, who lost everything.

Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc along the Milford shoreline, damaging, if not destroying, house after house. The city's Mayor says hundreds if not thousands of residents have been displaced. His top priority is finding them a temporary place to stay.

"Right now a lot of them are living on couches of friends and families, but that wears thin as you well know so over the next few weeks we're going to need to make sure we assist them in helping to identify places to stay," said Milford Mayor Benjamin Blake, "work with them to make sure that they have the rental assistance that they need."

In order to rebuild, residents need certain permits and need to abide by new federal standards to help with this process the town is hosting a workshop Saturday at noon for residents and contractors.

"There are a whole host of new code requirements that the federal government has put out with respect to elevations for flooding and we want to make sure the people have that information so it's a smooth process," said Mayor Blake, "so people can get back as quickly as possible."

For all you do it yourself-ers, FEMA is going to have a mitigation team at the Lowe's in Milford all weekend long to help walk you through what you need to know to help you rebuild your house.

"Learn how to rebuild properly. The best way to install wall board for example, to mitigate future flooding, to get rid of mold, for example," said Marvin Davis, FEMA. "So there are a lot of things they can do when they rebuild to prevent damage in future floods."

In the meantime, their community is coming together to serve them a hot meal at two local fire houses.

"Firemen really know how to cook and they'll be serving pasta and meatballs and all the fixings to go along with it," said Phil Vetro, Chairman of Board of Aldermen.

The permitting/rebuilding requirements workshop is being held at city hall: Saturday, Nov. 16th at noon; and Tuesday, Nov. 27th at 6 p.m.

The free meal served by firefighters and provided by them and other members of the community will be inside two fire houses in the city: Station 6 and Station 8 from 4-8 p.m. Saturday. Open to the public.