Tips from a specialist

At last, why follow my disaster relief tips? To answer your question, I have over a decade of experience working in this field. In addition, I have applied my skills in construction, home health, advocacy, and remediation to weather disasters. Thus I have become a specialist in helping when conditions are worst.

Helping you help others

On this site, my goal is provide you with useful, unique and reliable advice. Ideally, when you make your decision, you will feel confident and ready to jump off on a disaster relief adventure. With good preparation, I guarantee that  you will have one of the most exciting, memorable experiences of your life.

Tip#17 Tour the town

During your stay, don’t leave without learning more about where you are. Surrounding you  is the community, so take a tour of the town. Without much trouble, you should be able to find a place to start. As you drive,  check out side roads and landmarks.

Meet the locals

A particular favorite of mine is learning first hand from locals I meet . Entering a distribution site,  I gravitated to this wise coworker.   Without hesitation, she welcomed me like an old friend. Like this woman,  many locals  know the area from history and highlights to “how-to’s”.

Disaster relief, Tip#18: You are number 1

When it comes down to it, you are only as effective as a disaster relief agent as your constitution allows. As an example from my own experience, I flew from New Mexico to New Jersey after hurricane Sandy in winter weather.  For hours each day I stood knee deep tidal water.  So it didn’t take long for me to contract a full bore cold.

Healthy is happy

With this in mind, take care of yourself.  After all, you are number one. Unless you are healthy, rested and ready to go, you won’t be fit to rebuild and revive hope for those who suffer.  By the same token, if you don’t stoke yourself with nourishing food and liquids during the day, you will dehydrate and soon be dragging your feet.

Disaster relief resources, Tip#19

To summarize, my tips for you would not be complete without a list of resources I have used for disaster relief work. Below are a few of the organizations I have worked with on sites. Individually, each offers a unique program for attacking a landscape of destruction.

SBP

One of my favorite teams to work with, SBP helps rebuild, share, prepare, advise and advocate for disaster recovery. Since 2006, they have rebuilt over 1660 homes, using over 180,000 volunteers. On several trips, I have run into them working on sites. More than any other group, SBP taught me quality standards for all my work.

Team Rubicon

By chance, I discovered Team Rubicon in Panama City after hurricane Michael and appreciated their welcome. Although this is primarily a veterans group,  they were happy to let me fill out an application, explain my skills and put me to work.  Rarely will you find a more diverse, dedicated group that never neglects the joy of working together.

Samaritan’s Purse

In contrast to Team Rubicon, this is a serious, evangelical Christian organization and I was surprised they invited me to work with them. In Panama City they trained me thoroughly in local conditions, their mission and policies.  At a fast pace, we covered several sites a day for demolition, clearing and weatherproofing homes.

Habitat for Humanity

Although Habitat is more focused on longer term sustainable shelter, education and technical assistance, they do have teams working in places hit by sudden weather extremes. For your information, they are a Christian ministry.

Volunteer Match

In the process of browsing, I found this non-profit with a broad range of opportunities available. However, don’t get sidetracked! Although a program five blocks away may seem tempting, I advise you not to use this assistance work as a substitute for the real thing.

Disaster relief, Local resources:

Wherever you are, there are a number of resources that can help.  Depending on whether they are operational, the local newspaper, library, town hall churches, United Way are all good leads.

Disaster relief last tips, Tip#20 Go solo

Although it is often a temptation, it is very important to be in the moment when you work.  First of all, you may be injured or harm someone else while you are sidetracked with your phone.  Whenever emotions take over, we all are tempted to retreat into the normality of home.

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