What about after disaster volunteers

As we move into a new world of volunteerism I find myself redefining how I view volunteers.  Don't get me wrong I love volunteers, and think they are a strong ally in the disaster response and recovery.  My need to have background checks is based on the sector I work in (Mass Care and/or Medical Facilities).  

But in Sandy there have been many wonderful examples of volunteers stepping up and helping.  After all that is what we all want; for people to step up and take responsibility for their recovery, but the issue is how to responsibly utilize them. There has to be a system in place to accomplish the mission.
Things a systematic plan will do:

·       utilize volunteers time well- limit the standing around doing nothing

·       Not doing double work - systematic coverage of the area, doing recovery in logical order

·       Working in a way that helps the most people - how can we get to the people who need help the most

So here is the problem, as I see it.
Organizations that have a mission and work with volunteers on a regular basis have a plan (for the most part).  The Red Cross for sheltering. MRC for medical care in shelters. CERT for community work.  But all of these organizations have a process for training and processing folks.

So who is responsible for the people who muck out houses? Who put furniture into dumpsters? Who set up feeding kitchens or coffee stops? Donation centers as in the article below.
And then how do we end and move back to normalcy?  I think that is a different article.  
So unanswered questions:

1. Should the government try to provide structure for volunteers in the settings of this article?
2. Should Local VOAD(COAD) take a more active role in the beginning of the recovery (being prepared to set up during the end of response? 
3. Is there another answer?  I don't think I have it, but someone does

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/staten-island-volunteers-fear-city-will-hamper-their-hurricane-relief-efforts/

Disaster_dave

The Unknown Volunteer

Sandy has provided us many lessons, in many different areas of disaster response, most of the lessons are not new, just reinforcement of the ones we know and are working on.  Lets look at one I have written about before and will again.  

As our climate changes (and it is) we will have more disasters caused by weather, with that knowledge, more people should join professional volunteer organizations and get trained BEFORE something happens.

As this article points out many people were turned away! Volunteers Flock to Disaster Areas, Overwhelming City Relief Centers Those people think why, I drove all the way here to help.  And bless you for wanting to help.

Now look at it from our side:

• We don't know who you are (background check, professional license) 
• We don't know what you are trained for (didn't get trained before hand)
• You don't know who we are

 We want to train you, and provide you and the people you are helping the best help we can.

"You can't afford the time to go to training before hand, because your too busy." But you aren't too busy to self deploy to a disaster zone? If you can't afford a weekend or two to train in advance, how committed are you really?  Now don't get me wrong, I think volunteers are wonderful and give greatly of their time and knowledge, but we need to get organized before.

Okay if that doesn't get your attention, think about this. In order to process & train volunteers during an event we have to take some of our most experienced volunteers off the line to do this.

Yes there are times and tasks that may not require huge sums of training, but help out all of the volunteer managers out there who are toiling nights and weekends to get volunteers signed up, checked and trained so we will be ready for the next Disaster.

Below is a place to start. Commit to being trained and ready before the next disaster strikes, and when will that be? We don't know that's why you need to do something Now!
Volunteermatch

PS: if you don't listen to me listen the President and Gov. Christie  //www.serve.gov/sandy/

 Disasterdave

Quitters?

 I have been too busy volunteering to write about volunteering last month!

 But upon my return I dug into a project that had been hanging over my head, which is the topic today.  

In January we moved our volunteer group from an Access Database (we did all the work) to an online State Database (volunteer has to do work).  And my Corps dropped from 470 to 300.  This didn't happen quickly, but the change required my volunteers to go online and build their profile, most did, many didn't.  We used a multi-pronged attack to get people to move; email, Facebook, Phone calls and a little cajoling.  

But in the end, some folks opted out.  For me this was sad on several levels:

·      The work they did to qualify (online IS 100 & 700)

·      The work we did to get them on board (Background checks, lots of paperwork)

·      The loss of their skills for little things and the “big one”

Yesterday I went into the cabinets and pulled the files of those people who left. (We color code the files based on type of volunteer – Red = Medical, Blue = EMT, Green = Behavioral Health and Yellow = support). Man, when I got done the stacks of colors was very depressing, and I moved between wanting to go knock on their doors and try to explain why they were making a mistake to a little bit of anger.

So what now? Well I am going to send them an invite to join ESAR VHP a lesser level of commitment, but a win for us if there is a big one. 

And I just have to move on, but take a few minutes to make sure I am doing everything in power to keep my volunteers involved and happy.

PS: I'm back up to 375!

What to do without disasters

 So you have a great program, great volunteers, they are all background checked and NIMS compliant, now what?
If you run a disaster volunteer (the title of this blog) program, you know that often you are left waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen.  I know its a bit of perverse thing to do; but thats a different blog post.
My co-workers and volunteers often hear me say "volunteers don't join us to sit on a database, they volunteer to do!"
 There are some certainties that having active volunteers will fulfill.The WHY!

• Active volunteers are happier and stay with programs longer
• Active volunteers tell their friend what they do (think free advertising)
• Active volunteers get noticed when they are doing (Think free advertising)
• Active volunteers can help move your mission/program forward

Another certainty is you will have to work more to keep volunteers busy; it takes work to find, schedule, supervise and get things for them to do.  So now for some ideas:

MRC (Medical Reserve Corps)

• Providing health checks at community fairs (tailor what you check to the audience)
• Augmenting the Public Health mission - whatever you can do to help
• Preparedness training for vulnerable populations in your area
• Training
• Red Cross shelter training
• First Aid training
• AED training
• Cultural competency training
• Radiological training/briefing
• HAM radio (for warning and notifications)

CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)

• Teaching Preparedness training for the community (vulnerable pops, kids, etc.)
• First Aid
• Shelter Training
•  Community education (excuse me, did you know you live in a flood plain?)
• Other ideas - Here
• Pet sheltering training

Volunteer Fire Fighters

• Teach Fire education in schools
• Teach Fire education with vulnerable populations
• Inspection and education (while they may not be able to do official inspections, they can augment your current program)

I know that some of these suggestions may not work (cost, law/rules/unions, interest, etc.)
I know I missed some ideas (please give me input and I'll add to the list allowing everyone to benefit from our collective wisdom)
And most of all I listed only three types of disaster volunteers, you are welcome to add to my list.

Thanks for reading
Disaster_Dave

Volunteer your way into a job

The article below highlights points that work in volunteering your way into a job.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryhannon/2012/06/30/six-reasons-you-should-volunteer-your-way-to-a-job/


I am often asked how I got into Emergency Management (and I think its the most often answer given by others).  I volunteered !

I began volunteering with the American Red Cross to give back to my community, the more I volunteered, the more I became very interested in the Emergency Management field.  After about a year and a half, A job came open and I was encouraged to interview for it; and as they say "everything else is history' But how!

Was I already trained in emergency management ? Nope? What did I do?

1. I asked what did they need! And then did it!
2. I showed up when I said I would/on time (like a job)!
3. I asked to take on leadership and help!
4. When I saw a need I spoke up and offered help!
5. And once I got the position I dove in and made sure they knew they made a good choice.

I love my field of Emergency Management and enjoy talking to folks making the change and trying to figure out how to get in.




disaster dave

Volunteering - From Russia with Love

(please excuse all the hyperlinks, but this is very interesting)

Earlier this month their was a little blip in the news about a flood in Russia that killed over 170 folks .  While that is a terrible event (and I'm not going to get involved in what the government knew/did).  But I do want to say a few things about Russian volunteerism in the wake of this flood.
As I have read the stories over the last week and looked at the pictures, I see the same issues we have here and see encouraging movement from the government to recognize and protect the volunteers.

First the donation management- see here:
Unlike in the US,  the volunteers seem to have a shortage of cars to transport the donations.  they are  staging the donations on the street.  Wow! Just take a stroll through the pictures then come back; I'll wait. In some pictures you see trash bags of clothes? In others neatly wrapped food and items in boxes.  Do I think they ended up with stuff they didn't need ? Yes, its part of the response. Where are the trucks? Why are they talking only about cars? Is there no business involvement?

And now the volunteer response - watch here:
This is a true spontaneous volunteer response, notice the tents in the background set up with care and some thought.  Someone is in charge.  Why have all of these volunteers showed up to help? Remember regardless of what we think Russia is not a totally free country.  But it seems that the internet has given rise to allowing volunteers to coordinate a response.  So things I can't tell from the news clippings; feeding plans?  Latrine facilities ? Fuel for all the vehicles - who paid? Can the volunteers keep their political messages out of it while helping? 
Some volunteers have been jailed for breaking into meetings to charge the government with a cover up (not a good thing to do in Russia).

Help from the Government read here
There is a plan making it through the Federation Council to help volunteers with transport, meals and accommodations; but only if decided in advance.  Sounds like time for some Non Profits to step in and organize.

So what can we learn, or is this just interesting to watch?  Both :)
Even with all the years we have in volunteers in disasters we still have the same problems with donation management and spontaneous volunteers. Wedding dresses and people who show up without any support.

How can he help ourselves? Plan. Read. Learn from others mistakes.

Thanks for reading,keep your eye on this story as it continues to unfold

Last one:  Russia, Shifting From Soviet Ways, Hesitantly Welcomes Volunteers in Flood Zone

Mentorship = program survivability

(Note to my boss when you read this- no I am not interviewing :) ) 


As your program grows you have the responsibility to make sure it survives & thrives.  If you don't the program will probably fail since you are the only one to know how to run it.
So two things you should be doing:

1. Internal mentor- You should have someone internal to your organization (Boss, employee, ??) you can train on the processes that make your program run effectively.  And of course you have an internal document written that lists and explains all of the processes (with passwords & ID) that make your program run.
2. Internal Volunteer Leadership- You should also be developing a few volunteers from your program who can help keep things running effectively should you move on to another job.  Maybe they understand how you run events, training & recruiting (all external facing) and can help the person in #1 above keep the program moving forward.

If you have not done either of these things you are short changing your volunteers who are depending on the you & the program.  And if you are in the disaster space, that means you are letting down the community you support. Take these steps today to make sure your program survives & thrives:

• Map out your processes- list steps & who the connection is at that step
• List all website links utilized with sign in information
• Take these two documents to you boss and talk about succession planning (he/she will thank you)
• Look at volunteers in your organization wanting to help - plan how to utilize them more fully

These steps will make you and your boss sleep better

Questions?
disaster_dave