When the agency finally offered to give her a trailer, she bristled as an official read her a list of stipulations over the phone. But she also had an unpleasant time dealing with a real FEMA agent. After losing her own home to the wildfires, Vicki Garland, who is 71, was victimized by an identity theft scam by someone posing as a FEMA agent. The federal agency bases its aid decisions on a formula that can feel inflexible-for instance, one resident told me she could get up to $199 to replace a refrigerator, and families can be reimbursed up to $37,900 for a house. How Two Music Legends Found Themselves at Some Anonymous TikTokker’s Mercy The Real Reason to Be Concerned About NYC’s Rat Problem. There’s a Simple Cure for a Strange Kind of Dizziness. The Surprising Downsides of Using Dryer Sheets Disaster relief volunteers, meanwhile, are asked to sign waivers of commitment to the organization’s ideology that contain anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ language, defining marriage as being between “one genetic male and one genetic female.” There’s a sense, Rowell said, that Samaritan’s Purse prioritizes causes that are “culturally popular for Republicans,” where the group can “make a splash and take pictures.” In March 2020, Samaritan’s Purse set up a field hospital for COVID-19 patients in Central Park, less than a mile away from a functional, empty hospital that could have provided more services but would have been less visible to media helicopters. After Hurricane Ian walloped Florida last year, MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell traveled to Samaritan’s Purse relief sites, right-wing TV cameras in tow, to hand out thousands of pillows, including children’s pillows with pictures of creation stories from the Bible. The organization’s speedy response and omnipresence at high-profile disaster sites has given it countless opportunities to mix faith-and politics-with relief. But after social media posts came to light in which Isaacs called Muslims inherently violent, suggested that Christians should receive priority in relief efforts, and denied climate change, the nomination-usually a rubber-stamp approval-was rejected (and Isaacs remained in his Samaritan’s Purse job). Bush administration, was nominated by Trump in 2018 to head the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, which coordinates billions in funding for migrants around the world. Isaacs, a former international development official in the George W. “They’re an organization that runs toward the fire.” This is thanks in part to Vice President Ken Isaacs, the “Indiana Jones of the Christian relief world,” Smith said. “They are the rapid response team of the evangelical movement,” said Warren Smith, president of Christian financial watchdog Ministry Watch. On the ground, Samaritan’s Purse is known for its quick-strike response strategy, sending trailers and planes of supplies to high-profile disasters.
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