FEMA is on the ground helping survivors of the tornadoes that devastated southeastern Kentucky earlier this month.

The federal agency has established disaster recovery centers in Laurel, Pulaski and Russell counties and encourages those affected by the storms to apply for help.

We have three disaster recovery centers up and moving, so survivors are getting the assistance that they so badly need.

Since there's no cookie cutter way to recovery.

There are many different ways that this can look like for people in terms of what kinds of assistance are available.

We will triage your unique situation, sit across the table from you, meet you with empathy, you know, and you'll have that human connection, which I think is really important when people have been through the kind of events that they've been through and, you know, we can say, you know, oh, hey, you know, you should probably talk to somebody from the state.

We've got someone from the Commonwealth sitting at that table right there, or you have a small business.

Why don't you talk to someone from the Small Business Administration?

They've got a table right there, or the American Red cross or, someone from Social Security or Vital Statistics.

There are multiple agencies under one roof that can help put together, you know, your path to recovery.

So, you know, give us that chance.

One of the big things for people to know is that in order to be eligible, one of those one of the first qualifying factors is that you need to, reside in one of the designated counties.

Anybody that applies for food assistance is going to receive a letter.

And you know, when you get that letter, you know, if it appears to be a denial, you know, read that letter from top to bottom, inside out, because many times we might just be missing a, you know, a document.

There might be a clerical error.

And, many times we can take that denial and turn it into approval.

So when you get the letter from FEMA, read it from top to bottom.

And if you want to appeal, you can do that right here at a disaster recovery center.

Or you can do it online or you can give us a call.

Our programing is vast.

There's a wide array, wide array of help available, anything from housing assistance to moving and storage to, you know, you don't have to be a homeowner.

You can be a renter.

What if you lost your personal property, like your clothing or your computer or your or your vehicle when it comes to your insurance or with us, you know, your documentation is going to be very important.

And there may be some things that people haven't thought of.

Take pictures of the inside of closets, of the inside of cabinets.

Take more pictures and videos than you think you need.

Also, you may want to write down the serial numbers of big appliances before you get rid of them.

Say they've you have, you know, upholstery that has become ruined or that you need to get rid of it.

Cut out a swatch of it, cut out a swatch of wallpaper and hang on to it before you discard it.

Do all of those things to just make it easier for us to, help you get those items replaced to reimbursed.

And then, of course, hold on to your receipts.

We witness a lot of the, you know, stress and that Kentuckians have been through over the past several months.

There's this, like, amazing sense of neighborliness here in Kentucky where there's a lot of this, you know, there's a lot of times what we see is, you know, people will say, I don't I don't have it as bad as the person across the street from me or next door to me.

Maybe I, you know, don't deserve or don't need assistance or I can handle it on my own.

You know, I would say to those people, you know, there's there may be room at the table for you or there is room at the table.

Let us tell you how we can we can help you to appeal any aid rejections from FEMA.

Call the number you see on your screen.

One 862 one.

3362.