Organizing Volunteers after Major Storms

After the devastation of the 2008 June floods, local groups are teaming up to create an organized effort in the case of another massive storm. The Health Department, Emergency Management, and United Way are among those working to put together a plan – and bring in volunteers willing to help. 

County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller tells us there is a lot of coordination necessary to make a volunteer response team possible. She tells us it’s “a lot of different entities getting together. You know, us all using our expert pieces in that and figuring out how to best utilize that volunteer, organizing the volunteers in the event of an emergency. The idea has been there for quite some time but I believe we’ve become more structured in the last 2-4 years.”

She adds that the structured volunteer base helps keep things in line after a crisis – preventing an area that’s in need of help from becoming chaotic in an already stressful time.