gary_wagner
10-03-2005, 06:58 PM
Some of the relief organizations are discouraging unskilled volunteers. Their fear is that unskilled and untrained volunteers will simply clog up the works and these well intentioned people will simply get in the way.
I travelled from northern Indiana to Kenner Louisiana with a group of 60 other volunteers. One man owns a tree trimming and removal service and the rest of the group was "unskilled volunteers".
We were in Kenner for a week and we made a significant contribution to the effort and were able to help a lot of people. We were based at the Vineyard Church in Kenner who coordinated the efforts of the volunteer group. While things didn't necessarily run like clockwork, they did run fairly well. We didn't have people standing around wondering what to do and we didn't get in anyone's way. While we may not have made a significant impact in the entire damaged area, we made a tremendous impact in the lives of those people who we directly helped.
If you want to volunteer and the big relief groups are not welcoming you in with open arms, go to your local church to see if their denomination is running a relief center in the hurricane damage area. Almost every one is and you can then coordinate your help through them.
While Fema and the Red Cross are coordinating much of the relief effort at a high level, they are depending on the churches in the affected area to distribute the donated goods and assist those who need help. The churches are the true heart of the volunteer effort. We heard the comment over and over from the people we were helping, "Thank God for the churches. If it wasn't for them, I don't know what we would have done."
I travelled from northern Indiana to Kenner Louisiana with a group of 60 other volunteers. One man owns a tree trimming and removal service and the rest of the group was "unskilled volunteers".
We were in Kenner for a week and we made a significant contribution to the effort and were able to help a lot of people. We were based at the Vineyard Church in Kenner who coordinated the efforts of the volunteer group. While things didn't necessarily run like clockwork, they did run fairly well. We didn't have people standing around wondering what to do and we didn't get in anyone's way. While we may not have made a significant impact in the entire damaged area, we made a tremendous impact in the lives of those people who we directly helped.
If you want to volunteer and the big relief groups are not welcoming you in with open arms, go to your local church to see if their denomination is running a relief center in the hurricane damage area. Almost every one is and you can then coordinate your help through them.
While Fema and the Red Cross are coordinating much of the relief effort at a high level, they are depending on the churches in the affected area to distribute the donated goods and assist those who need help. The churches are the true heart of the volunteer effort. We heard the comment over and over from the people we were helping, "Thank God for the churches. If it wasn't for them, I don't know what we would have done."