Gulf Coast hurricanes drain federal charity of resources

A group that provides financial assistance to federal employees is close to exhausting its resources as it strives to help victims of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund officials said that as of Monday, they had distributed more than $100,000 in grant checks to more than 200 federal employees affected by Gustav, which made landfall on Sept. 1. Three hundred additional requests were being processed, with more coming in daily.

The organization anticipates that it will need $1.5 million more, with two-thirds going to victims of Ike, which hit Texas on Saturday. As of Tuesday morning, FEEA had raised $11,000 toward that goal, spokeswoman Anna Vredeveld said.

"For FEEA, this is just the eye of the hurricane," said Steve Bauer, executive director and founding member of FEEA. "Gustav was the first wave, and we just took our first hit as requests came in. Now, as evacuees return home to Houston and Galveston to find out what damage Ike has wreaked, we are preparing to get slammed by the tail of the hurricane."

FEEA's disaster relief program provides temporary assistance to federal employees. The program runs almost entirely on donations from federal workers, many of whom give during the Combined Federal Campaign. FEEA officials said many of the employees who receive help during crises later contribute.

But Vredeveld said the fund is not receiving the same level of support as it did during past disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The organization raised $1.4 million for victims of Katrina and pulled in enough money to provide full college scholarships to the children of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 1996 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

FEEA takes donations online at its Web site, www.FEEA.org. Contributions may also be made through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC #11185).