|
|
||
|
When disaster strikes, agencies need volunteers with training Local Red Cross and United Way officials train area faith groups, social services departments, schools, businesses and nonprofits on the importance of preparation for emergencies Date published: 1/16/2010
BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE
The morning after a massive earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, many area residents called the local Red Cross office offering to help. They wanted to give money, goods and themselves. Caller after caller offered to go to Haiti to help with rescue and relief efforts. The volunteers mean well, but for relief workers untrained and uninvited volunteers are often more of a liability than an asset. An area training session yesterday offered tips for making the most of these volunteers--called SUVs, for "spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers"--in the emergency response field. Representatives of area faith groups, social services departments, schools, businesses and nonprofits attended the training session, hosted by Rappahannock Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. After a few hours of classroom instruction, the 50 participants learned from experience just how troublesome SUVs can be. Organizers set up a mock volunteer command center, and many of the participants manned the various stations. About 15 in the group pretended to be volunteers. Some played capable helpers with impressive resumes. But the group included a drunken woman, a man suffering from depression and carrying a handgun, a thief, a reporter pretending to volunteer to get a story, and a man who would volunteer only if he could use a chain saw, even though he'd never touched one before. Trainer Carolyn Kincaid, who works for The Volunteer Center of the Virginia Peninsula, praised RRVOAD and the Rappahannock United Way for sponsoring the training. "You need to have the system in place and you need trained people to staff the volunteer reception centers," she said. Kincaid helped the participants through the sticky situations, such as rejecting a volunteer without offending him. "You don't want to discriminate," Kincaid said. "You're making decisions that could impact the community in a tremendous way." The workshop was part of regular community training programs offered by RRVOAD, said Shelby Beck, volunteer services coordinator for the Rappahannock United Way. But given the earthquake in Haiti, she felt the seminar was especially important. "The timing was a little creepy, though," she said. But disasters do renew interest in volunteering, and those who lead volunteers urge interested people to sign up now for training. Trained volunteers can help with local disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and house fires. They can also travel to help at incidents elsewhere such as wildfires and earthquakes. But relief workers emphasized that the best volunteer is one who has already been trained. Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Date published: 1/16/2010
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||
