McRae: Help Thy Neighbor
By Treasurer David McRae
Mississippi is no stranger to storm damage. We have endured hurricanes, heat waves, and tornadoes. But the storms that tore through our state in recent days leveled communities and uprooted lives. My heart truly goes out to these families and their neighborhoods.
Like many Mississippians, I was raised to “Help Thy Neighbor,” so just hours after the winds died down and families came up from basements and shelters to view the damage, our team went to work, leveraging the best tool the Treasury has in these situations; we tried to find these families money.
Normally, to find unclaimed money, families must log in to our website, search their name, and submit a claim. While that process has gotten easier in the last couple of years, it still takes time – and those that lost their homes and businesses simply don’t have time. For the first time in state history, our team did the work proactively on behalf of the counties that saw the worst damage, finding any unclaimed money and returning it to its rightful owner before month’s end.
What this means is that over the next week, more than 5,000 families across the storm-affected area will be receiving a check in the mail worth anywhere from $50 to $5,600. This is their money that had been lost to the past (perhaps an old tax refund or funds that had been left in a long-forgotten savings account) that I’m hopeful will be useful during the recovery effort. In total, $1.3 million will be returned.
While the ability to prioritize a money match like this is still new to Mississippi, your State Treasury now has the technology to return money proactively, and I’m not hesitating to use it. In my view, “Help Thy Neighbor” takes on a whole new meaning and urgency at times of suffering.
I do want to note that these funds do not replace state or federal disaster aid. If you receive a check, this is your money being returned to you. Please cash it immediately.
Of course, if you do not live in one of the affected areas and would still like to see if there is unclaimed money in your name, please visit treasury.ms.gov/search.
Once again, I want to let those affected know that my thoughts are with you during this difficult time. I do believe we will eventually recover stronger than before because, like me, we were all taught from a young age to “Help Thy Neighbor.”
Mississippi Treasurer David McRae is the 55th Treasurer for the State of Mississippi. In this role, he helps manage the state’s cash flow, oversees College and Career Savings Mississippi, and has returned more than $100 million in unclaimed money to Mississippians. For more information, visit Treasury.MS.gov.
