No, Revitalizing Waterbury is the fiscal sponsor for the CReW, helping manage donations, financial reporting and payroll.

Long-term recovery groups are community groups formed for the purpose of helping households recover from a disaster. Even with FEMA and other assistance, it can take people up to two years to recover from a natural disaster.

There are long-term recovery groups working throughout Vermont to help households recover from the 2023-24 floods. We partner closely with other LTRGs including LeARN in Lamoille County; Barre UP, RAFT serving Huntington and Richmond; and more.

Flood recovery: we help people figure out their financial and construction plans for flood recovery; we provide construction management services; we help with FEMA appeals and access to other resources. 

Flood mitigation: we help provide community education on the actions people can take to make their individual properties and their communities more resilient to the effects of climate change, particularly increased rainfall and flooding.

CReW also helped manage immediate flood response for the Town of Waterbury in July 2024.

CReW serves Waterbury and four surrounding towns: Bolton, Duxbury, Middlesex and Moretown.

CReW has a board of directors (see the list on our website) and a number of sub-committees: Case Management & Construction, Mitigation, Fundraising, Finance, Communications & Outreach. Community members can serve on these committees – please reach out to info@thecrewvt.org if you are interested!

CReW has received several different kinds of funding:

• Disaster recovery grants from foundations (Catholic Charities of Vermont, Lutheran Disaster Relief Services, the Vermont Community Foundation). Some of this funding is restricted for specific purposes.

• Donations from businesses.

• Donations from individuals in the community. 

• In-kind support from Revitalizing Waterbury.

No. The Town of Waterbury has provided in-kind support (tools, workspace) when CReW has worked on immediate flood response (muck-out) but at this time, the CReW has not asked for ongoing support from any of the five towns we serve. As of this writing (December 2024), CReW has not received any State or Federal dollars to support our work, though that may happen in future.

CReW’s funding is used to provide 1:1 support for households dealing with flood impacts. We have paid staff who work directly with people to help them find financial resources and solve construction challenges; we also pay contractors directly for services such as foundation assessments, mold testing, plumbing and electrical repairs that are not covered by other funds.  

Restricted donations have been designated for outreach staff salaries, funding of construction services, and purchase of building materials.

CReW helps folks who’ve been affected by flooding with funding assistance: making FEMA appeals (most FEMA claims require multiple appeals), applying for other sources of grant funds or loans; requesting assistance from the Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund; providing funding for contractors or building supplies. 

CReW also helps with construction assistance: our construction manager can help connect with contractors, identify low-cost solutions to rebuilding challenges, provide materials lists and source materials; make on-site measurements and repairs and additional services as needed.

CReW also provides mitigation planning assistance – helping property owners figure out what mitigation steps they can take to protect their property and helping find available funding.

Yes! The damage from the 2024 flooding, which included hundreds of homes affected by flash-flooding, extends through CReW’s service area. Over 300 properties in our towns were affected by the 2023 flooding, and there were over 600 in 2024.

Many households were flooded three times in a year, which takes a heavy toll on people’s wallets and their spirits; some property owners have requested buyouts or sold their homes and moved away, and many more are figuring out what steps to take to minimize future damage. While flood insurance is important, not everyone has it (many folks affected do not live in an official flood zone), coverage can vary and it does not always cover everything needed to fully recover.

Many households in 2024 were flooded for the first time ever due to the tremendous deluge of rain. Flash flooding that sends streams raging can include significant damage to property - not just driveways but septic and well damage, and damage to private roads with costs that must be shared by the neighborhood.

While the July 2023 and 2024 disasters were FEMA-declared disasters – meaning households are eligible for grant assistance from FEMA – that assistance can be hard to access. FEMA’s maximum award is $42,600 but fewer than 20 households in Vermont have received the maximum from FEMA for 2024. CReW has seen many cases of households experiencing damage costing well over $50,000, and it will take a lot of administrative pushing for folks to access the money they need from FEMA and other funds.

In addition, there is very little grant funding available for mitigation work on people’s homes. While this is the work that can be most valuable in preventing further damage, most funders are focused on bringing properties back to their condition pre-flood.

So flood-affected households need to work hard to access resources, to repair their homes, and to make the changes that will make their homes safer. CReW helps provide support through very complex challenges.

Learn more about volunteering here.

Outreach email: Send an email to outreach@thecrewvt.org

Office hours: We offer drop-in office hours each week at the Revitalizing Waterbury offices: Tuesdays from 10 am -2pm, and Wednesday from 1-5pm.

Phone message: Leave a message at 802-232-2075

Yes! To receive our newsletter to your inbox, please sign up on this page.

Physical: Our office hours are held at the Revitalizing Waterbury conference room, 46 S. Main Street Waterbury, 2nd floor (above Waterbury Sports, use side entrance)

Mailing - CReW, ℅ Revitalizing Waterbury, PO Box 473, Waterbury VT 05676

Our Executive Director is Mike Dacey, who also manages construction

Our Outreach coordinators: Mame McKee and Kate Roberge 

Board members are listed on our About page.

Our team provides household level mitigation resources and expertise (advice on what people can do on their individual properties), while our Mitigation Committee is looking at the possible local-level projects that could happen which would reduce neighborhood-level risk. So for example, a local project that would protect floodplains could have a big impact in reducing flood risk for the properties nearby.