LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Kelly Thompson, Director of Engagement Initiatives

As the saying goes, “It is not a question of IF, but WHEN.” When disasters strike a community, a county, a state, a nation, we all hope and pray that some kind of preparedness plan is in place. Very often, there is a plan, but it turns out to be a partial or uncompleted plan for action.

As a community we’ve watched as many disasters have affected our community in the past two years: the windstorm, the ice storm, and the flood of August 4^th, 2009. As a world we watched in horror the naturally occurring events that affected our brothers and sisters in Haiti this year and in 2009 our neighbors in Indonesia.

In all of these instances we’ve asked ourselves, “What can I do to help?” and “What can I do to protect myself and my family?” These questions are important to ask and even more important to contemplate as a part of a preparedness plan.

At Metro United Way we’ve witnessed first hand the overwhelming outpouring of caring, and volunteer time given by those in our community to help those in extreme need. This past fall we welcomed over 500 volunteers who came to aid of those needing flood clean-up assistance; these responders, and those participating in previous disasters were instrumental in creating the rapid action required to get help to people as soon as possible.

What we’ve learned from these experiences is that we would like to formally create a list of “Ready-Responders” joining an elite list of volunteers who agree to heed the call of duty when a disaster strikes.

Are you interested in becoming a member of this special group? Chances are if you have responded to our calls for flood volunteers, or windstorm volunteers we’ve got your name, but we want to hear from you just in case!

You can drop us a email at the Volunteer Engagement Center at patty.belden@metrounitedway.org or stopping by our Metro United Way booth at the upcoming Emergency Preparedness Fair on Saturday, February 29^th from Noon until 4pm.

Louisville Emergency Preparedness Fair

Saturday, February 27, 2010

11:30 am  Kickoff with Mayor Jerry Abramson

12:00 – 4:00 pm

The Salvation Army Male Campus

911 South Brook Street.

Free Admission

Bring a canned good for Dare to Care Collection

Door Prizes  –  Children’s Activities   –   Food & Drink

Come learn what you can do to be better prepared  – as an individual, a family, a block or street, a neighborhood,  suburban city,  subdivision,  condo association, church group, Scout group, service group, etc.

Education for Everyone! Take advantage of these free trainings at the Fair:

• Family Emergency Planning
• Power Line Safety
• Generator Safety
• Making a 72-hour survival kit
• Document storage – what documents do you need and storage options
• Red Cross Training
• Heating and cooking without power
• Caring for Pets in an emergency

Are You Ready for an Emergency?

Do your have ready for yourself, your family & your neighbors:

• A 72-hour survival kit
• An Evacuation plan
• Food & water for emergencies
• A plan for no electricity
• Know your neighbors

Events, Volunteering Disaster, emergency, emergency preparedness, Haiti

I was making my annual visit to a local summer picnic a couple of weekends ago, ready to gamble away my pocket full of dimes, when I spied a peculiar site.  Were my eyes playing tricks on me, or was that one of my “non-volunteering” type friends heartily serving up kiddie prizes at the duck pond booth? What strange collision of world events has brought this person into the realm of giving back, of service to his fellow man, of yelling like a crazed carnival barker when a kid wins a cartoon pencil?

The answer?  Free beer.

Was I shocked? No. Disappointed? Absolutely not. There are a thousand reasons why people volunteer, some may be nobler than others, but the bottom-line is that they are volunteering in the first place. Even better, I’d like to think that the free beer got him in the door and next year he might even think of doing it for the sheer enjoyment of a kid’s smile. He was obviously having a great time creating a fun environment for the kids and on top of all of that, raising money for a charitable cause. I think he was hooked.

Not too many days after the picnic our community was slammed by the August 4^th flash flood that destroyed or heavily damaged many homes in the hardest hit areas. In the days following the event I started to encounter another type of volunteer, the one motivated not by beer, but by hope. The member organizations of VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) http://www.nvoad.org/ are made up of thousands of volunteers who help with the response and recovery of disasters like the flood we had. These volunteers are helping clean-up raw sewage and black mold. They are ripping up ruined carpets and water-soaked furniture. What motivates them? I think it is their desire to restore hope.

What motivates you? Is it something other than beer or hope? It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you find a way to help another, support a cause you believe in, and do it as often as you can.

By K. Thompson

Advocacy, Giving Disaster, Hope, VOAD, Volunteering