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HandsOn Disasters

HandsOn Network can point proudly to their growing importance in the disaster volunteer arena over the last decade. Our HandsOn Action Centers and other volunteer connector organizations have become critical players in the field of emergency management and are designated as lead agencies for disaster volunteer coordination in many local communities and states.

Overview

HandsOn Action Centers can point proudly to their role in the disaster response support and the growing importance of volunteers in this arena over the last decade. HandsOn Action Centers and other volunteer connector organizations have become critical players in the field of emergency management and are designated as lead agencies for disaster volunteer coordination in many local communities and states.

From pre-Katrina hurricanes to Southern California wildfires HandsOn Network, Our Action Centers and our partners have learned a lot about managing volunteers in times of disaster;

  • If we didn’t know it before, we know it now . . . volunteers will come! And they will come, whether we are ready or not.
  • Many people have astrong psychological need to volunteer in a disaster. They find that acting on the desire to help, in what can feel like a hopeless situation, is empowering.
  • Volunteers who have not previously affiliated with a disaster response agency represent a tremendous resource for a communitythat’s been hit with a disaster. When volunteers are well-coordinated, everyone benefits.
  • A strong pre-disaster partnership between a HandsOn Action Center and local government for spontaneous volunteer coordination translates to more effective response and recovery.
  • More than ever, we have seen the importance of volunteers as a resource to serve the most vulnerable people in our communities.


HandsOn Network’s work focuses on the fact that “all disasters are local.” Our strength comes from the efforts of our Action Centers in three distinct areas:

  • Spontaneous unaffiliated volunteer management (SUVs) and in managing Volunteer Reception Centers (VRCs) in times of disaster
  • Defining non-profit needs in times of disaster and matching volunteers to those needs
  • Large-scale project execution as part of long-term recovery


MissionFish, another business unit of Points of Light Institute, is a social enterprise that provides people a vehicle to use their purchasing power to support causes that matter to them. In partnership with eBay, MissionFish enables people to designate a portion of their online sales and purchases to charity and has successfully generated funds to support organizations responding to disasters.  Over $3.5 million has been raised in response to the earthquakes in Haiti through eBay and MissionFish’s Haiti Relief and Recovery initiative.   .


Ready to Respond
HandsOn Network published Ready to Respond in 2009 that shared information and guidance to better prepare communities for emergencies and for the convergence of spontaneous volunteers.

This free resource is full of helpful information and guidance to make your community better prepared for emergencies and for the convergence of unaffiliated volunteers.

Download the PDF here

In the News

Gulf Oil Spill Update

"The best thing people can do right now for the region is to support tourism — travel to the Gulf or shop remotely from Gulf-area vendors."

Diana Brinson, Executive Director, HandsOn South Alabama

A request line has been set up for individuals who want to volunteer. Please call to register: 1-866-448-5816.

“Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion the night of April 20, federal authorities, both military and civilian, have been working onsite and around the clock to respond to and mitigate the impact of the resulting BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Response Team (NRT) has been activated and Unified and Area Commands (National Incident Center- NIC and Joint Information Center-JIC) have been established near New Orleans to coordinate search and rescue operations and oil spill response efforts. For more information from the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov.”

BP has hired a training company to design four levels of training in oil spill clean-up. It is hiring paid temporary contractors, called Qualified Community Responders, to handle all clean-up activity. Volunteers have mainly been engaged in beach clean-up activities, which is mostly done.  Volunteers will not be able to assist with clean-up efforts post impact, and any potential volunteers that want to assist oil clean-up efforts will have to become a Qualified Community Responder and get paid for their work.

For latest information about the response effort, visit the Deepwater Horizon Incident, Joint Information Center (JIC).

Follow the news on Twitter or on Facebook.  

 

 

State specific volunteer opportunities:

 

FEMA Update Current Situation and Operations (as of May 21, 2010)

The lead federal agencies responding to the incident are the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Interior. FEMA is providing the U.S. Coast Guard with radios for communications support for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT-1) is in place recovering an oil and gas mixture with no water at the separator. It is siphoning off approximately 147,000 gallons of oil and 12 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Siphoned oil is being stored on board the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship, with the capability to separate the oil, gas and water mixture, burn off the gas, and eventually store or offload the recovered oil onto another vessel. The Top Hat Containment System remains on the seabed and is standing-by pending the effectiveness of the RITT. Containment and sorbent booms and surface and subsurface disbursements and skimming operations resulted in the recovery of 7,873,992 gallons of oil-water mixture to date. Controlled burns were conducted for the last two days to remove oil from the open water. Monitored injection of subsea dispersants near the RITT continued overnight.

The National Park Service is deploying hydrocarbon sensors on beaches in the Dry Tortugas, Florida, to monitor for oil/tar balls. All shipping channels and ports remain open. No large commercial vessels have required cleaning at decontamination stations. The area closed to commercial and recreational fishing encompasses approximately 19 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority (81%) of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico remain open to commercial and recreational fishing. All inland Alabama waters, including Mobile Bay, Mississippi Sound, Perdido Bay, Wolf Bay, and Little Lagoon are closed to shrimping.

 

2010 Nashville FloodsUpdate

On May 2, 2010, the landscape of Nashville changed forever. After 36 hours of torrential downpours, most of the city was under water. Hands On Nashville was founded in 1991 to help people transform the world around them by volunteering. Hands On Nashville is a recognized leader in programs, partnerships and services that maximize volunteer impact for youth, adult, corporate, and nonprofit constituencies in the greater Nashville community. As of May 2nd, Hands On Nashville has coordinated almost 1,000 volunteer projects that have had an estimated impact of $1,414,818 on the community.

 

Hands On Nashville Volunteer Report Card

Flood Response Volunteerism - June 9, 2010

67,857 - The approximate number of volunteer hours donated to flood recovery by Hands On Nashville volunteers between May 2 and June 8.

16,422 - Number of volunteers who donated their time to participate in flood-related volunteer programming coordinated by Hands On Nashville between May 2 and June 9.

$1,414,818 - The projected economic impact of Hands On Nashville flood volunteerism, according to Independent Sector research, between May 2 and June 8.

925 - The number of project sites coordinated by Hands On Nashville between May 2 and June 9.

19 - The number of years Hands On Nashville volunteers have been making a difference in their community.

 

* Please note these numbers only account for verified service contributed by volunteers registered via www.hon.org.  They do not include the hundreds of volunteer referrals made each day by Hands On Nashville staff to facilitate grassroots efforts lead by faith and community groups.

Action Center Updates

According to HandsOn Network’s 2009 Annual Affiliate Report, 166 HandsOn Action Centers offer courses and trainings to partners.  There were 339 courses/trainings on disaster preparedness and/or relief and 1,131 courses/trainings on volunteer leadership and management. 143 Action Centers utilize volunteer leaders and management to help mobilize volunteers in disaster situations (NOTE: This number reflects the number of Action Centers that engage volunteer leaders overall, not necessarily for disaster exclusively).  There are currently 12,349 trained volunteers in disaster preparedness and/or relief and 17,236 trained in volunteer leadership and management. Our network also consists of 5,499 corporations to whom we may turn to initiate nationwide fundraisers in times of disaster.  We continue our commitment to training and leadership development and plan to grow the number and type of trainings over the next year.

 

Gulf Oil Spill

 

HandsOn South Alabama

Oil has not hit Alabama’s shore yet. HandsOn South Alabama is awaiting messaging from the governor’s office to open a Volunteer Reception Center if it is needed. BP has arranged a location and contracted directly with a community center to host the VRC. HOSA would open and operate the center. HandsOn is encouraging volunteers to visit their website or call (251) 433-4456 to register to volunteer. In the meantime, volunteers who live along the coast are   being encouraged to sign up as observers to take photos of the coast and catalog changes. The governor’s office and state service commission are directing volunteers to signal their interest in volunteering through 211.

Hands On Greater Huntsville

In northern Alabama, Hands On Greater Huntsville is working with the Volunteer Center of Morgan County to coordinate volunteers in Marshall County and DeKalb County.  HOGH is referring the skilled volunteers to projects in the affected and Volunteer Center of Morgan County is managing unaffiliated volunteers.  Volunteers are being asked to register through 211. 

Hands On Mississippi (formerly Hands On Gulf Coast)

Hands On Mississippi is searching for low- or no-cost space to stand up a Volunteer Reception Center. It will be staffed by an AmeriCorps NCCC team, Audubon Society, and MCVS staff.

Volunteer Gulf Coast

Volunteer Gulf Coast has been attending meetings, working with MS VOAD.  They hosted a 3-county beach cleanup on Saturday, May 9th.  Additionally, they are working with BP and State organizations as they prepare for an impact to their coastal waters.

Volunteer Florida

This HandsOn Network partner organization is coordinating volunteer centers throughout the state of Florida in beach cleanup and preparedness efforts for the oil spill. Volunteer Florida helped to create a unified/core volunteer engagement message.  This includes possible roles for volunteers, localized information for each state and appreciation of interest to help.  Other information about opportunities for volunteers is available at National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association. CERT and beach cleanups are being coordinated through Volunteer Florida, which has drafted an FAQ document for volunteers. So far there have been 135 miles of beach cleanups. Volunteer Florida’s website provides links to organizations by county, and the BP hotline will remain the main line for volunteer information for now.

Friendship Volunteer Center

Florida affiliates are participating in weekly, sometimes daily, conference calls regarding projected work and possible volunteer roles.

Volunteer Louisiana

There are no volunteer opportunities other than a few support roles (water distribution, etc).  Hands On New Orleans is posting these support roles through its website and has created an Oil Response Calendar, which lists specific dates and times for volunteers interested in registering   for the cleanup. All oil response efforts in Louisiana are being handled by paid personnel.  Volunteers in Louisiana are still being directed to the statewide volunteer center, Volunteer Louisiana.  BP and the state have established a volunteer hotline for volunteers and created a website with up-to-date information.

HandsOn New Orleans

Hands On New Orleans will be the main volunteer center coordinating volunteer opportunities related to the oil spill. They have posted projects on their website and are in communication with Coastal Restoration Coalition of Louisiana to partner to provide more volunteer opportunities. HandOn New Orleans is communicating regularly with LA VOAD and the LA Volunteer Center Directors Association.

United Way of Acadiana’s Volunteer Center

As the need for unaffiliated volunteers arises, Acadiana will be posting opportunities on the Louisiana Serve Commission’s website, which is a partner of the Louisiana Association of Volunteer Center Directors.  

 

Nashville Floods

 

Hands On Nashville

Hands On Nashville continues to be the lead on managing unaffiliated volunteers searching for projects in the city.  Between May 2nd and June 9th, Hands On Nashville coordinated 925 projects and 16,422 volunteers in 67,857 hours of service, worth a projected $1.4 million.  HandsOn Nashville has had 118,551 unique users visit their web site since May 1st.

Tools/Resources

HandsOn Resources

Ready to Respond

Top 15 Things to Know When Managing Volunteers in Times of Disaster

 

National Resources

 

Community Resources

Relevant/Related Media