PNW Seventh-day Adventist team sets up donation hub for hurricane disaster relief in Georgia
News Story by Emma Maple | FāVS News
Volunteers in the Pacific Northwest are stepping up to help victims of the recent hurricanes that have ravaged the southeast United States.
Last week, seven Seventh-day Adventists flew from Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon to Augusta, Georgia, to run a warehouse to allocate donations between various distribution centers.
Over the last week, the team has worked on setting up the multi-agency warehouse and distribution center, according to Patty Marsh, director of Adventist Community Services (ACS) and Disaster Response for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church Upper Columbia Conference (UCCSDA).
Marsh said the warehouse has been receiving semi-truck loads of donations from all over. Once the donations are unloaded, the volunteers help coordinate, sort and send them where they are most needed. They will also distribute some of the donations onsite.
“We tell you to wear the most comfortable shoes you possibly can,” Marsh said. “You will be on your feet all the time.”
Four of the individuals have agreed to stay there for at least a month, potentially longer. The other three will stay for at least two weeks.
Volunteers don’t work for the Adventist Church
The volunteers know they answer to whoever they’re working for, usually a state or a county.
“We teach them about the chain of command, and we are not at the top,” Marsh said.
The volunteers will stay in an AirBnB while they’re there. Often, during disaster response, volunteers will just put up cots in the warehouse, she added.
“[The AirBnB] is probably a step up from a warehouse,” Marsh said.
The seven volunteers were already trained on how to run a warehouse and ready to jump in at a moment’s notice for a local or national disaster.
Marsh, who coordinates the training for the UCCSDA, said learning how to run a warehouse requires at least one six-hour course covering the basics, as well as training about the rules, safety, how to give dignity to survivors, insurance and more.
“All the nuts and bolts,” she added.
How volunteers are chosen
Before individuals are sent to volunteer, Marsh said they are also vetted and go through a background check.
Once they are needed, volunteers are chosen based on the skills they can offer the group. The group that was sent to Georgia includes a “very successful contractor,” three directors and individuals who can run equipment or offer computer skills, Marsh said.
“The list of things they could do is what was needed,” Marsh said.
In addition to the seven that have been sent, at least 30 other volunteers are on standby and ready to go within the next six weeks, if needed.
At this point, Marsh said they just have to “wait and see” if other volunteers need to be sent in.
“A cardinal rule of disaster responsing is flexibility,” Marsh said.
Another area where the ACS needs to remain flexible is how long the warehouse will be needed, which is up to the state of Georgia. Marsh said there’s a good chance it will go through at least December, although local ACS volunteers will likely step in to run it within the next month.
