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LASP … Coordinating Efforts and Meeting Community Needs in the Face of Disaster Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) partners with ABA Young Lawyers Disaster Legal Services in response to Hurricane Ida Pro bono opportunity to help low-income residents Submitted by Marion Hoffman Fraley, Communications Director/LASP
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urricane Ida raged across Delaware County and southeastern PA on Sept. 1, creating a path of destruction of flooding and tornadoes that will be longfelt. Legal issues related to the storms also won’t dissipate overnight. In fact, storm-related legal problems are expected to continue for at least three years after the initial event and provide an opportunity for pro bono involvement to help lowincome residents. In response to Hurricane Ida and the federal disaster declaration, Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) is working with the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division’s Disaster Legal Services Program and FEMA to provide disaster legal aid. Since 2007, the ABA YLD program has provided help in 45 states and more than 200 disasters. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, LASP attorneys staffed legal resource tables. Since the Sept. 10 federal disaster declaration following Hurricane Ida, LASP staff have met weekly with Shrushti Kothari, Project Manager, ABA YLD National Disaster Content and Resources, and former Staff Attorney in the Disaster Relief Unit at Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, Texas. The weekly disaster legal aid meeting also includes FEMA officials, other Pennsylvania legal aid programs,
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and a Legal Services Corp. (LSC) representative. Kothari also presented an all-staff training on identifying storm-related legal problems to LASP and other Pennsylvania and New Jersey LSC-funded legal aid programs covered by Hurricane Ida disaster declarations. In October, LASP activated the legal aid Helpline for Hurricane Ida in PA, in collaboration with MidPenn Legal Services, North Penn Legal Services (NPLS) and Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA). FEMA requires one helpline per state per storm. Low-income Montgomery County residents, as well as people in the seven other counties in the federal disaster declaration, can get free legal assistance by calling 877429-5994 Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., or leave a message. Bedford, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and York counties are included in the declaration. Sara Planthaber, J.D., M.S.W., LASP’s Hurricane Ida Helpline Specialist, noted that as of Nov. 17, LASP has opened storm-related cases based in Delaware County, including FEMA applications and denials and landlord-tenant matters. Of the four counties LASP serves, Montgomery County has the highest number of Ida-impacted legal aid cases.
