Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Blog-Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Ocean Spr. MS

Hurricane Recovery

Critical Need for Long-Term Volunteers

Multiply Your Efforts

“If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” – Isaiah 58:10

Tens of thousands of homes were flooded on the gulf coast. Many were uninsured and have minor structural damage but are currently uninhabitable because of mold. These houses need to be cleaned out to the studs, dried, and rebuilt to make them habitable. Surveys of flooded neighborhoods indicate 10-40% of the houses are not cleaned out as of mid-October. At some point, the clean-out work will transition to rebuilding. Lutheran Disaster Response has a multi-year commitment in the Gulf area to help with the clean-out and rebuilding effort. Thousands, possibly tens of thousands, are interested in volunteering to help with this process.

Most volunteers are short-term, working a long weekend or a week. To recruit a greater number of these short-term volunteers, and effectively put them to work, long-term volunteers are needed. We are asking long-term volunteers to commit for four weeks. If you can stay longer, that is even better.

Here are the critical work areas that need long-term volunteers:

·  Volunteer Coordination (communicate with interested volunteer groups to answer questions, and determine: dates; number of people; skills; housing arrangements).

·  Work Request Coordination (communicate with clients to determine dates and work details, assign work locations to weekly work crews, manage work request open/closed files).

·  Case Management (talk to clients in person both at church and through home visits to counsel and determine magnitude of needs. This job requires a unique blend of compassion and sensibility, as well as on-site training).

·  Requirements for the above positions: Must be proficient in Word, Excel, email, and internet. A big plus but not required – bring your cell phone with ample anytime minutes.

·  Internet Publicizing (update website to reflect current needs/information, publicize organization’s efforts/needs on internet, create/update postings for volunteer opportunities on internet).

·  Equipment Management (distribute, store, maintain, and inventory work crew equipment).

·  Work Crew Management. Must have vehicle and construction knowledge. (determine if a house is salvageable, estimate labor hours and equipment to gut a flooded home; estimate labor hours and material to repair gutted or damaged homes; orient, train, and manage volunteer work crews).

·  Reconstruction Management. Must have vehicle, construction knowledge, and commit to three months. (manage the functions described above, find replacement reconstruction manager).

Food, shelter (on cots in tent cities with showers), and opportunities to help those in need, are provided to all volunteers. If you have an RV or a trailer, we have locations to park them without hook-ups. There are also sites that may be available with hookups.

Interested? Contact:

Volunteer Coordination:  228-282-3754, cvlcvolunteer@cableone.net

See www.christusvictordisasterresponse.org for volunteer information.    

Christus Victor Lutheran Church / Lutheran Disaster Response

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