The 2016 Financial Report for HCHS is shown below:
- Bank Balance 12/31/16 $11,557.97
- Income for 2016 $18,481.38
- Expenses for 2016 ($12,098.58)
- Bank Balance 12/31/16 $17,940.77
Note: If anyone would like a detailed copy of the Income Statement, please send an email to carterhousesociety@gmail.com.
The Expenses Total for 2016 includes $6,749.97 for restoration projects and $2,343.41 for maintenance projects completed in 2016 that are listed below:
- Completed the project to repair a hole in the corner of the kitchen ceiling and painted the area
- Completed repairs on a second area of kitchen ceiling where sheetrock was damaged and painted the area
- Purchased new clothes dryer to replace the old unit that no longer worked and was beyond repair
- Reinstalled several slate tiles on the roof
- Repaired a portion of tile on front walkway leading to steps at front porch — the tileswere broken, not level and had become a safety factor
- Maintenance repairs – plumbing fixtures and refrigerator door
Fundraisers: HCHS held a few fundraisers and the first one was an Estate Sale held on April 2 and 3 at the Carter House. The items were a wide variety of that had been donated by a number of our residents — they had decided to clean out their closets. This fundraiser brought in about $900.00 and the only expense was $44.00 for running the ads about the Yard Sale in the Hammond Daily Star newspaper for a few days.
At the end of April HCHS participated in the Belk Charity Ticket Sale. Belk Department Store holds these sales at least a couple of times each year and non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) status can participate in the ticket sale and the non-profit gets to keep the $5.00 from each ticket sold. People who have purchased a ticket are allowed entry into the Belk Private Sale and if those who purchased tickets were not available to attend the Private Sale they were allowed to Pre-sale shop and reserve merchandise at the same discounts as those attending the Private Sale. Also, the $5.00 spent to purchase the ticket was refunded on the customer’s first purchase. There wasn’t a lot of participation but by going to the Belk Store and selling tickets HCHS made $110.00 and had no expenses for the fundraiser.
Accomplishments in 2016: The list of accomplishments in 2016 was a short list compared to previous years; after all it was an unusual year. The first bit of bad news was when the window in the blue bathroom was discovered to be leaking. It was a rainy Saturday and the water was entering at the bottom of the window where the wood had rotted. Due to the window curtain hiding where water was coming in this had gone unnoticed for a while. Before the window leak discovery we had already noticed there were a few places in the old wood siding that had started to rot plus siding boards had slipped out of place. The most obvious areas where you could see this was below the dining room window and the kitchen window located on the right side of the house. Work would have been completed on this project in 2016 if we had
not had the unusual event of the August 2016 Flood. This was one of the most catastrophic events that had ever been seen in the Carter Plantation area.
The repairs to the windows and siding had to be delayed until the contractor completed repairs for flood damage on some homes he had been working on in the area. The it was more important that the people have their homes repaired first.
August 2016 Flood: Damage to the Carter House was minimal compared to the damage to so many homes in Carter Plantation and the surrounding areas. The good news was that the flood water did not reach the level high enough to enter the Carter House. Now for the bad news, it did damage the duct work hung underneath the house and one of the three HVAC units ceased to work after the flood. This was one of the most important units because it served the dining room and kitchen areas. It was only a 2- ton unit and wasn’t sufficient in size to heat/cool the area when a large number of people gathered in those rooms. The HCHS Board voted to replace the unit with a larger, more efficient, and appropriately sized unit. The cost to repair/replace the duct work was approximately $2,340.00. The replacement HVAC unit recommended by the contractors who bid on the project was a 3 1⁄2-ton unit with the low bid being $6,388.00.
The good news is HCHS was able to apply for Public Assistance Grants through FEMA. These grants are available to non-profit organizations so HCHS met all the guidelines. The procedure to apply for the grants is for the organization to first contact FEMA and they set up a meeting with the applicant to review the damage. After the initial meeting a Project Worksheet (PW) is completed, approved by the applicant, and then it is sent to the FEMA Project Specialist. The FEMA Project Specialist is the person who has been working with the applicant and they forward the PW up the approval levels of FEMA. Once the PW has been approved by FEMA, it is sent to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) for their review and approval. Once the PW is approved by GOHSEP they write the check to be sent to the applicant for the project and the amount expected to be approved is 90% of the total PW request for the specific project.
The first grant HCHS applied for was the Carter House HVAC and the total PW was $6,800.45. FEMA looks at the PW to see what the replacement cost would be to replace the items with like items (exactly the same size/type of item being removed). So, for the HCHS PW FEMA figured what the cost would be to replace the HVAC unit with another 2-ton unit and then FEMA calculated what 90% of that amount would be and that would be the amount approve for the HVAC unit. This grant was approved by FEMA/GOHSEP in the amount of $6,120.41.
The second grant applied for was to renovate the Pool House that was flooded (approximately 12”-15” of water). Since the damage was pretty significant this meant a lot more would be involved to make the necessary repairs. The one good thing was the walls were not sheetrock, they are cinder block, but the baseboards, and vinyl flooring had to be removed in the two bedrooms. The appliances had to be removed, and the HVAC system had to be replaced. The contractor that was selected to do the work did not recommend that the cabinets be replaced but rather to paint them. HCHS completed the PW for a total of $27,876.00 that was thought would cover the costs for renovation but as usual there ended up being a few additional items to come up. FEMA/GOHSEP approved the amount of $25,088.34 for this grant.
Our third grant that we applied for was the cost of Gutting the Pool House and that amount was $3,215.00. They approved $2,893.50 for this grant. Along with the gutting work they allowed us to include the cost to power wash the Carter House and Pool House, and repair/replace several of the landscape lights that were damaged by the old fountain area on the side of the house by the sunroom.
HCHS will continue working on repairs so the properties will be ready to accept clients for events and a new tenant can occupy the Pool House. The Pool House was our main source of revenue.