Prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery: five areas of need, five missions, one goal. When disasters strike, we tend to look toward an authority figure: someone who makes us feel safe. Upon impact, we may look to first responders, firemen, policemen, and neighbors willing to lend a helping hand. We think about friends and family and pray that they made it out okay. We feel a range of emotions: grief, anger, guilt. But who's left standing by your side when the disaster has died down and you're standing in the wreckage? Who's left to pay for the damages? Who's left to pick up the pieces?
As discussed in my post about Hurricane Harvey, more than three months after Harvey's initial downfall more than half of the state's residents were not receiving the assistance they required. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only has so much money allocated to disaster cleanup, and what happens when the money runs out? Do we return to crossing our fingers and hoping for a miracle? Should we just give up? If the federal government doesn't have enough funds to help these people, who does?
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| Hurricane Sandy survivors - photo by the Canadian Red Cross |
Although I believe that the federal government should be taking a larger role in response and recovery after natural disasters, there is more than one way to help those who are suffering among the wreckage. Sarah Breitenbach, reporter for the Pew Charitable Trusts, claims that nonprofit organizations will need to be ready to take a larger role in disaster recovery as our global climate continues to polarize. Reporting from the flood zone of Baton Rouge, LA, Breitenbach discussed a local nonprofit organization that has aided the area in disaster relief: Rebuilding Together Baton Rouge. Chris Andrews, the executive director, and his team have raised over $800,000 and have refurbished eighteen houses in ten months.
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| Brave men and women of Rebuilding Together Baton Rouge - photo by Rebuilding Together Baton Rouge |
The brave volunteers of this organization have filled in the gaps where the federal government couldn't. Private charities and philanthropies simply aren't capable of providing the capital that the federal government can, but these generous men and women are filling in the gaps and support those who are grieving, recovering, and rebuilding.
Nonprofits are not only filling the gaps, but they are expanding, growing, and truly making a difference in people's lives. One of my favorite disaster relief nonprofit organizations has truly stepped up and taken an enormously large role in disaster response and recovery. Fun fact, their work isn't only good for the disaster victims, but it's good for them too. This group of brave men and women come from backgrounds much too familiar with the post-disaster landscape they have run straight toward.
Team Rubicon is a disaster relief nonprofit organization run by military veterans (roughly 70 percent of the volunteers), firefighters, teachers, emergency medicine technicians, and mental health professionals. So far, this team has supported over 230 disaster responses worldwide, and they're just getting started.
Veterans often feel a gap once they separate from the military, and through Team Rubicon, they are able to reconnect with the shared sense of purpose, camaraderie, and sacrifice that they were built from. Once, the team encountered a Vietnam veteran, who chose to remain at home amid the wreckage to care for his dogs. They found a tattered American flag on the floor of his home, took it back to their camp where they washed, cared for, and refolded it. They returned it to him along with handshakes, hugs, and definitely some tears (I mean, I cried reading the story).
In addition to being heroes, Team Rubicon has taken their work beyond the boundaries of small communities. Since their foundation, they have gathered 73,000 volunteers and $1.8 million. Team Rubicon has teamed up with Microsoft for technology, services, and training. Justin Spelhaug, General Manager for Microsoft Philanthropies' Tech for Social Impact Group explained, "There are many amazing organizations doing disaster response work, but what's unique about Team Rubicon is that they are mobilizing an incredibly important and powerful resource in our country -- our veterans -- to address humanitarian issues."
Nonprofits are not only filling the gaps, but they are expanding, growing, and truly making a difference in people's lives. One of my favorite disaster relief nonprofit organizations has truly stepped up and taken an enormously large role in disaster response and recovery. Fun fact, their work isn't only good for the disaster victims, but it's good for them too. This group of brave men and women come from backgrounds much too familiar with the post-disaster landscape they have run straight toward.
Team Rubicon is a disaster relief nonprofit organization run by military veterans (roughly 70 percent of the volunteers), firefighters, teachers, emergency medicine technicians, and mental health professionals. So far, this team has supported over 230 disaster responses worldwide, and they're just getting started.
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| Team Rubicon looking fierce - photo by Microsoft |
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| Team Rubicon caring for the American Flag - photo by Microsoft |
This small group truly started from the bottom to make it to the very top. Team Rubicon creates important, emotional, and personal connections with the victims they help, but they also are using their resources wisely to do the work of a Fortune 500 company. I couldn't help but share their story and share the love that they have shared through their volunteerism and generosity.
Nonprofit organizations are not only capable of filling in the gaps where assistance from the federal government just isn't cutting it, but they are going above and beyond the expectations of any traditional nonprofit organization. With the technology and resources in today's world, we are capable of expanding our philanthropies far beyond the walls of our communities. Team Rubicon stands as an example of where our charities are headed.
There are so many opportunities to help those who are suffering, and we are capable of helping them. It shouldn't fall into the hands of one governmental body or organization, but rather we should come together, hand-in-hand, as neighbors in this world because truly, one day it could be you. You could be the one standing alone among the wreckage wondering why you deserved this and who was going to be by your side through the storm.
It's truly unfortunate that the government doesn't give enough money to support disaster relief efforts. As you mentioned, Hurricane Harvey was a perfect example of this with FEMA lacking the necessary funds needed to provide aid to everyone that was affected. We saw J.J. Watt come in and raise an unimaginable amount of money to help these disaster victims. If this is the reality that we have to live in, with the government not spending its money in the right places, then organizations like Team Rubicon and many others will need to step up. Seeing organizations and individuals spend their resources to help others is heartwarming, but it shouldn't need to be done - the government should provide the necessary relief funds in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea behind Team Rubicon that they are actively helping others in need after probably one of the greatest hardships of their lives. But at the same time these veterans are going through hardships themselves more mental (most of the time). It's like a cause for a cause and I think that's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of respect for what Team Rubicon and many other nonprofit organizations are doing. Instead of solely focusing on the economic aspects of these sad, environmental disasters, they are also working to improve mental, emotional, and other valuable connections. I love this idea and this effort made by these non-profit organizations. It is truly inspiring and something that even I look up to and want to become a part of in the future. Nice blog - truly insightful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a powerful piece, Lucy! I have not heard of Team Rubicon until this post, and I am so touched by the lives they have helped through the lives they want and choose to live. What an incredible group of people who find purpose to their lives by aiding those in great distress and disaster. I also find it truly inspiring that war veterans are a part of this nonprofit organization. As I think of all of the veterans who come home and choose to stay home, this organization provides them a chance to regain that heroic and selfless lifestyle they lived in the service.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for all the work that non profits have done to alleviate the damage from natural disasters. But I find it outrageous that the government does not allocate more resources, even if they are scarce. One thing I find disconcerting about non profits is that they provide a lot of aid to individual families and groups while others are left with nothing. I do not mean to discredit non profits because the work they do is important, but the success of their help in bringing some families and individuals back to where they were shows that every person is deserving of the same help.
ReplyDeleteNonprofits truly are a saving grace. It's amazing what they are able to do with their resources to really help the victims of natural disasters recover. Personally I have never heard of Team Rubicon, but I am touched by how many lives they have touched both in natural disasters themselves and helping veterans who come home reintegrate into life.
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