Tribal members can apply for a fourth distribution of federal pandemic relief funds administered by the Wrangell Cooperative Association. This round of financial aid is limited to $2,000 per household.
The application period closes May 16.
Tribal members can select to receive the assistance for utilities, groceries, heating fuel or gasoline, or a combination of any of the four choices in increments of $500, $1,000 or $2,000 if the applicant prefers that the aid go all to one category.
Previous rounds were limited to covering utility bills or groceries.
People who received assistance under earlier rounds still need to apply for this latest program, said Alexandra Angerman, CARES Act coordinator for the tribal council. They need to fill out a short form verifying that they have been hurt financially by the pandemic and still need assistance, she said last Thursday.
First-time applicants will need to complete a slightly longer form.
Tribal members can email carescoord.wca@gmail.com to request an application, go to the website wcatribe.org and click on the COVID-19 and Fourth Distribution tabs to download a form, or come by the tribal office at 1002 Zimovia Highway from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays to pick up a form from the box on the porch.
The program is open only to tribal members living in Wrangell. Slightly more than half of the WCA’s approximately 850 members live in Wrangell.
Angerman said elders can call her for assistance, and she can take their information over the phone.
The first rounds of cash assistance were funded by federal aid under the 2020 CARES Act, which distributed money to states, municipalities, tribes, businesses and others nationwide to help people get through the first year of the pandemic. This latest round of pandemic relief administered by the WCA is funded under the American Rescue Plan Act, which took effect last year.
Federal aid under both congressional appropriations has totaled more than $22 million so far to the Wrangell borough, school district, the tribe and businesses. Several million dollars more went directly to individuals in three separate payments over 2020-2021.
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