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United in Crisis establishes Spokane chapter to help with fire recovery
Formed by Spokane churches, new chapter aims on using goodwill, love and spirituality to create a customized guided path on the journey to a ‘new normal.’
By Rodric J. Hurdle-Bradford | FāVS News Columnist
In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that decimated north Spokane in August, the United in Crisis organization has established a Spokane chapter of regional churches to offer a wide variety of resources in support of wildfire survivor needs.
United in Crisis (UIC) is a national organization that quickly props up chapters in cities recently affected by disasters and tragedies. UIC has already provided training and networking tools to help Spokane churches organize in response to the Spokane Complex Fires.
On Aug. 22 UIC-Greater Spokane opened a resource center that is staffed by trained relief volunteers from participating churches to provide emotional and spiritual care, emergency financial assistance and help survivors connect with established recovery resources.
“It is our hope churches will join, and together, with our pooled resources and volunteers, we can do more to help people begin the healing process,” said Mosaic Church pastor, John Repsold, one of the partner churches in the new UIC-Greater Spokane chapter. “We are here for the holistic care of people, we recognize for some there is financial insurance and health insurance, and we like to think of ourselves as the spiritual insurance. The county did an amazing job with emergency management on the front end. Now we have to go back and help with our UIC resources to take a more in-depth case management approach.”
The speed of UIC’s infrastructure building amazed Repsold and his peers in the Spokane church community.
“It took us two to three weeks to build the infrastructure that would usually take two to three years,” Repsold said.
Teaching and training
The training UIC provides through almost two decades of experience is the “secret sauce” of their service. It begins from the top down as UIC Chief Executive Officer Daniel Geraci flew out to Spokane the second week of August. Then, he and other UIC leaders came onsite for 16-hour days of work for over two weeks.
“The first days after a disaster bring urgent needs, but recovery continues long after the crisis has passed,” said Geraci. “By bringing churches and trained volunteers together, we can help survivors address immediate challenges and know they will not have to navigate the recovery process alone. Our communications, resources and planning is the consistent presence in all of the cities that we serve.”
The UIC board begins all new city assignments in prayer, which follows a citywide presentation they usually give to a city’s spiritual leaders to achieve initial buy-in. The initial 24 hours on the ground is critical for UIC, as they launch a website, a crisis communications center and crisis management system and the establishment of an intake database to begin the process of setting both short-term and long-term appointments.
“We want people to make an appointment so we can identify their needs and create a customized recovery plan,” said Respold. “UIC makes all of this available free-of-charge through the use of their communications, operations and training. UIC also provides long-term client management and tracking tools, so people know we are here even after they are done operating in a daily crisis mode.”
UIC provides “shepherds” to families and individuals, who minister as long-term counselors to serve as a resource for any health, financial or spiritual issues that may arise during the recovery process. The UIC-Greater Spokane board is filled with local pastors, and the board will expand by adding professionals and leadership from local nonprofit organizations.
“Anyone who knows Spokane, knows that when there is a real need, the community is very generous,” said Respold. “From survivors to emergency personnel, everyone is surprised how willing people have been in helping, especially with clothing and food donations.”
Changing the church?
One of the early donation surprises the UIC-Greater Spokane chapter received was from a north Seattle church that raised nearly $150,000 in 10 days for the organization.
Geraci wants churches to be looked at as valuable resources during times of crisis, with the churches stepping up to do their part, and not merely acting as a referral agency for government programs to lead the rebuilding and recovery process.
“Churches need to be involved on the frontlines of all these crises because it is too hard for people to do it all on their own,” said Geraci. “The churches need to set the example, and we have long-term success stories that we want the new UIC-Greater Spokane chapter to follow. We already know what we want the chapter to look like in seven years, but right now it is most important that they get through the next seven weeks.”
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