Ma-Chis tribe receives donation from Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) to be distributed in Crenshaw County
By Haley Mitchell Godwin
On Aug. 30, the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama, located in Elba, was gifted with a semi-trailer load of baby and adult diapers, masks, canes, and other personal protection equipment.
The tribe will distribute the items to those in need residing in Coffee, Crenshaw, Covington, Geneva, Dale, Houston, Henry, Barbour, Bullock, Pike, and Montgomery counties.
Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC), a nonprofit 501c3 organization based in Tucker, Georgia, has worked for over 35 years to provide equipment and services for adults and children with disabilities and create a better quality of life for all.
Lloyd Adams, FODAC Regional Logistics Manager, and Travis Stone, Disaster Relief and International Coordinator with FODAC, delivered the 18-wheeler full of supplies to the Ma-Chis facility around noon.
Stone has been with the non-profit group for several years and said that he is grateful the group has been able to extend their reach.
“We’ve recently been able to extend our outreach programs to the regional and international stage and so in a sense, what we donated today is not necessarily a common occurrence when it comes to deliveries, but an increasingly able occurrence when it comes to our capability,” he said. “We first came in contact with the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama through the rise of the pandemic when we gave out masks and face shields to help the tribe deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We were helping the local tribes in Georgia – the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and especially the Chickamauga when we came across the opportunity to bring the Ma-Chis Lower Creeks along for our outreach programs. This was my first trip to Alabama, and when you are from a major city, it is sometimes difficult to fathom how small communities cope during a disaster or pandemic. The feeling was incredible driving out here to rural Elba, seeing the lack of access to materials and products, and really getting a feeling for how this donation will impact people.”
Items donated by FODAC will be available to both tribe members and non-tribe members in the area.
To qualify for this assistance offered by the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama, applicants must meet the 150% poverty guidelines, receive SNAP benefits or SSI benefits, or be a veteran or have a veteran living in the household.
Proof must be provided. Distribution dates for the items have not yet been determined.
To apply for assistance from the Ma-Chis tribe, visit machistribe.net.
If in need of medical equipment or supplies, if interested in volunteering, or to learn more about FODAC’s programs, visit https://fodac.org.