Rumford residents Shannon Glover, left, and Connie Money will be going door-to-door in the River Valley area, beginning this month, to offer free, confidential support and offering referrals to anyone who’d like to talk about their lives since the December flood. The two women are Community Health Outreach workers for Strengthen ME Storm Response, a Federal Emergency Management Agency program to help people affected by the flood. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times) Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

RUMFORD — If you’d like to talk to someone about how you are managing the aftereffects of the December flood that devastated much of the River Valley region and the state, Shannon Glover and Connie Money can help you find the right resources.

The two women are Community Health Outreach workers for Strengthen ME Storm Response, a free and anonymous program to help people affected by the flood. Both received two-day training sessions through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They plan to go door-to-door, beginning this month, visiting homes in the River Valley area to offer their support and help.

Glover, who many area residents know as the manager of the Old School Food Pantry in Mexico, said Thursday that she knows people “are still dealing with a lot of the issues after the flood, because in December when it happened everybody was right there to help … they didn’t really process their feelings and emotions. So now if something as bad as a bad rainstorm happens, it can actually trigger them with PTSD,” she said.

Money, who joined Glover in an interview Thursday, said she thinks for some people just need someone to talk to about the December flood.

People may want to talk about how the flood made them feel and how it still is affecting them. Much of the women’s work — as they talk with area residents — will be “asking them about how they are coping and figuring out if they do need further counseling and resources. … We’re kind of helping people to learn how to help themselves,” Money said.

Glover, who is also a Red Cross volunteer, said, “I’m just passionate about helping my own community. I feel like in this community we don’t have quite enough resources because we are a small town. … My town needs me here, so it’s not even about money; its about (how) I want to be someone that can help,” she said.

Money added that her reasons for helping included that she was always interested in becoming involved in the Healthy Communities Coalition. “I was interested in getting involved with it in any way I can. I just also enjoy doing things that are helpful; helping people.

“And I think that the (Strengthen ME) program is really important … I think that just having somebody to talk to about your experiences can be really helpful for people — providing emotional and mental support in that way,” Money said.

Recently the women have visited residents in the towns of Rumford, Mexico and Dixfield, but their work includes visiting with people in each of the nine towns of the River Valley area, including Hanover, Andover, Byron, Roxbury, Peru and Canton.

Area residents may also speak with both women at the Old School Pantry in Mexico at 3 Recreation Drive on the first Wednesday of every month, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., or they can find Money at the Good Samaritan Soup Kitchen in the Calvin Lyons Hall in Mexico at 134 Main Street, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Residents may also call the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition office at 207-364-7408 to schedule a meeting with Glover or Money. Other resources for help are the Maine Services Directory, call 211; the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990; and, for Crisis Support call 988.