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Star Correspondent

On Friday night, ETSU’s William B. Greene Jr. Stadium will host a high school football doubleheader as Happy Valley takes on Unaka at 5 p.m., followed by the Hampton Bulldogs facing 1-2A conference foe Eagleton Academy at 8 p.m.

“We want a full stadium to raise funds for those who have been affected by Helene,” said Happy Valley head coach Jason Jarrett. “Carter County schools will collect the proceeds and make the distributions. We will be selling T-shirts for $15, sweatshirts for $30, and coffee tumblers for $25 to help raise funds to support the people of Carter County, and all the proceeds will stay in Carter County.”

Happy Valley and Hampton will be the “home” teams, with Hampton holding its Homecoming between games.

“We need a lot of publicity for this, and you don’t have to be from Carter County to contribute,” Jarrett said. “There are still a lot of areas that have been hit extremely hard. Hampton doesn’t have a football field anymore, and they practice here.”

The game against Unaka, although a non-conference match, will give Happy Valley a chance to sweep the county games.

“Any time you get a chance to run the table, you obviously want to do that,” Jarrett said. “It is a beautiful facility, and you have the chance to see two competitive games and the opportunity to showcase our players—all the players.

“When the storm hit, we didn’t know what the foreseeable future was. We didn’t know if we were still going to be able to play the games, so we are grateful to ETSU for letting us use their facility for this.”

Unaka head coach O’Brien Bennett said, “The damage done is in the millions of dollars, and we aren’t going to be able to raise that kind of money, but if we can provide a little bit of help, we want to do that. And that is what this is about, and we are excited to participate. If we can make a difference somehow, that’s what we want to do.”

Admission is free, and there will be donation buckets throughout the stadium.

Additional resources for help include First District Representative Diana Harshbarger, who has posted a website at harshbarger.house.gov/fema-disaster-assistance.

On the site, she lists the types of assistance FEMA is providing, including Serious Needs Assistance (SNA), which provides a one-time direct payment of $750 for victims with immediate needs such as food, water, diapers, infant formula, first aid, breastfeeding supplies, gas, and personal hygiene items.

Other FEMA programs in place include the Individual and Households Program (IHP), which helps with temporary housing assistance for those whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm. This program also helps restore damaged homes, with a maximum payout of $42,500.

Another FEMA program is Other Needs Assistance (ONA), which helps with medical and dental needs, damage to essential vehicles, disaster funeral and burial assistance, and disaster-related child care assistance. It also maxes out at $42,500.

Additional programs include Rental Assistance and Continued Rental Assistance, which provide grants for survivors to cover housing costs while their homes are rebuilt or repaired, or while they search for new housing. This assistance includes funding for security deposits, rent, essential utilities, short-term hotel stays, and moving and storage costs. Approved individuals receive two months of assistance but can request a three-month extension for up to 18 months if their pre-disaster residence remains uninhabitable or if they demonstrate a disaster-caused financial need.

Maximum amount provided: FEMA will pay Fair Market Rate (FMR) plus an allowance for utilities.

Two other programs are Displacement Assistance (DA) and Disaster Legal Services (DLS). DA covers the costs associated with lodging in a hotel or motel, staying with family or friends, or other housing options. The maximum amount provided will be based on the rate of 14 days of hotel costs for those impacted by the disaster.

DLS provides legal assistance to qualifying individuals, which may include help with insurance claims, power of attorney, new wills, lost legal documents, problems with landlords, FEMA appeals, home repair contracts, and contractor fraud.

These federally funded programs are available to residents of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi, and Washington counties. They can be accessed at DisasterAssistance.gov, or you can call 1-800-621-3362 or use the FEMA app.