Comments on: Disaster Relief: How to Get Hands-On and Volunteer

By: Betty

Betty — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:29:33 +0000

Hi, one of your female lurkers here.
Because of this article and the comment by Jake, I signed up for Chicago CERT. I trained at the Chicago Police Academy and meet some wonderful people with a strong sense of community. So far I’ve done crowd control at the Air and Water Show and this past weekend was part of the Runner Transport system assisting the medical unit at the Chicago Marathon. Though not disasters, it’s still good training on human behavior and communication skills. CERT has continuous free training like CPR, Search and Rescue, First Aid, Logistics, Command Center, etc, all of which I want to train on to be better prepared.
Thank you again for showing me another opportunity to be a better person.

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:42:45 +0000

This is hit or miss. As a national guardsmen while in college, it can a large burden when trying to restore order and organize individuals who fall under no ones authority. I understand the good intentions, however in execution it can be burdensome. My only advice is to wait out that initial blow as a civillian when things are going out of control. Finally, for god sakes leave your guns at home. This was a big issue in Katrina.

By: Sudsy

Sudsy — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:20:38 +0000

I saw CERT mentioned a lot! Wonderful to see, I took that course with my states State Defense Force http://dmva.alaska.gov/asdf/ (or in some states its State Guard which is the USC Title 32 DoD recognized State Militia). Great skills, along with my state level first responder registration (in AK that is Emergency Trauma Technician). I was able to also volunteer with my local fire department and start putting those skills to use right away. For many of us in AK, we end up responding to the massive forest fires on an annual basis, and obtaining a National Wild Fire Coordination Group Red Card is also a great nationally recognized certification that allows you to respond to a variety of emergencies (not just wildfires) as well.

I’d also encourage folks to really look up with their state National Guard if they have a State Guard or State Defense Force to volunteer for as well. Its not common, often times its overlooked, but a fantastic opportunity for veterans unable to serve in the National Guard or Reserves to continue serving the country through a State military force. Our State Guard Association of the United States (www.sgaus.org) maintains a list of the real State Militias (not the erroneously self proclaimed anti-government armed mobs) as well as the Military Emergency Management Specialist curriculum that consists of FEMA Emergency Management Institute course material (IS 100, IS 200, IS 700, and IS 800 are also required by many Fire, Police, EMS, and local government jobs). While incredibly boring and dull, knocking out these courses on your own before jumping in will save you paper work later (that, and go good on an application for joining a volunteer fire department).

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:37:40 +0000

This is great fun to do, been on a few volunteer trips myself and would recommend to anyone with the time and money. There are a lot of small organizations too, so see if you can do it through them (I recommend and suggest). I did it through the college I attended, they had a group. The bigger groups might have more restrictions.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:05:09 +0000

I’m a little surprised no one mentioned the Salvation Army or the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Services. I know they are religious affiliated, but they don’t go around proselytizing when they are out doing their thing. They also have chainsaw crews, Shelterbox crews, recovery groups, and volunteer around the world. SBDS and the Salvation Army are most often the two who do the work FEMA and Red Cross won’t touch or don’t have enough funding or people to deal with and they and CERT do support services for the National Guard when they are called up as well. To show the kind of effort and work they do and what scale, this is only a small example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dolhipQHlY as covered on the History Channel.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:59 +0000

I’d like to also recommend the American Red Cross. They maintain both local and national Disaster assistance teams, and provide training in many of the less glamorous skills including; feeding, shelter operations, disaster assessment (to help government and insurance understand the damage), case management (working with individuals to help them take advantage of available benefits), and other skills. They also offer a Wilderness First Aid course, which, while not is good as NOLS, is MUCH cheaper and more accessible. Lastly, the Red Cross has volunteers responding to “small scale” disasters everyday. In my county, the RC goes out Everytime there is a house fire to provide support for the victims and the fire fighters.
While I do have some concerns about the national Red Cross organization, in my experience the local chapters are a great resource. Go to redcross.org to find your local chapter and contact them about volunteering.

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:21:43 +0000

Will A: can I suggest getting in with an organization like “Habitat for Humanity”? They do good work for needy people, no need to wait for a disaster.

There are many opportunities to serve others.

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:19:15 +0000

I was doing my engineer officer course at Ft. Leonard Wood when the tornado went through Joplin. A bunch of us from our class spent some of our weekends down there helping with some of the recovery efforts, and the article is right: find an aid organization to fall in with. I ended up with Americorps, as they seemed to do the best job of rapidly turning on the spot volunteers around to get them to the field. Also: being a member of the National Guard is an excellent way to help find your “level 50″ and be relevent in a disaster, whether you’re activated for it or not – your skill set will be better for it.

Joplin was real bad.

By: Kade

Kade — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:20:13 +0000

As a Joplin MO native, I just wanted to say thank you for mentioning us specifically, and thank you for the suggestions. I had the distinct pleasure of assisting with several home moves immediately following the disaster. The article is most excellent. I started getting involved with the Red Cross, and I am still considering joining the National Guard if I can find the freedom in my work life. Thanks again!

By: Will A

Will A — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:33:13 +0000

Im 18 and all i have to offer is time and youth. im looking for a volunteer program to ship me off somewhere, but cant find one! I thought the willingness to help would be enough, but everything costs thousands of dollars! School starts in September and i wanted to help in that time but it looks its not happening.