First and foremost, we are thankful that our residents are safe after Thursday night’s storm! The National Weather Service upgraded the storm as an EF2 with winds up to 125 mph. Several of us experienced damage to our homes and were without power for an extended period of time. We are thankful for no loss of life or pets. 

Second, the Fieldstone president, Dawn, was driving around on Friday morning and meeting with residents and the Humane Association to understand their immediate needs and how the HOA could help. The responses were extremely helpful and contributed to our efforts with external partners. We wanted to give you a brief update on some important things happening:

• Rita, our Van Buren Trustee, reached out to Dawn and connected us with Monroe County emergency management. The trustee is available for assistance with food, shelter and other needs. Please contact her at (812) 825-4490 or Rbarrow@vanburentownship.org if you need assistance. 

• After a few conversations, Jamie from Monroe County emergency management will be placing two rolloff bins close to the corner of Tensleep and Bedrock. One rolloff is for tree or other vegetation that was damaged and the other is for home debris. As these become full, they will be emptied. These are only temporary (for 2 weeks) but provide a central location for the hardest hit areas. If items are too big or assistance is needed getting debris to these rolloffs, please contact Jamie at 812-349-2546 jneibel@co.monroe.in.us.  She has non-profits that are offering services free of charge to our residents-you may have already received their cards in your door. We did try to advocate for curbside pickup of storm debris, but that was not an option.

• We are working in conjunction with the County highway department to get the street signs put back up again and re-aligned. If there is a sign down, please put it close to the pole and they will fix it. It is easier to put it up again then have a new one created.

• We noticed an increase of people coming into our neighborhood (taking pictures, looting, etc. in addition to several roofing contractors soliciting residents in the early Friday morning hours. The deputies have been patrolling Stonechase and Fieldstone since late Thursday night but if you need assistance, please call 911.

The HOA understands the roll offs may cause slight sightline issues, so please use caution in these areas. Once again, we are trying to offer as many “free” services to our hardest hit residents. We wish you the best in your recovery efforts and let us know if we can be of further assistance.