Chapter Appendix B - What Went Right
Section Non-governmental Organizations
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Non-governmental Organizations
The number of volunteer and non-profit organizations providing support to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort was truly extraordinary. Virtually every national, regional and local charitable organization in the U.S., and many from abroad, contributed aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. To assist in the coordination of these offers of assistance, the USA Freedom Corps (Freedom Corps) and the Governor's State Service Commissions rallied non-profit organizations to list volunteer opportunities in the Freedom Corps volunteer search engine. The Freedom Corps also worked with the Corporation for National and Community Service to create a Katrina Resource Center that helped groups of volunteers connect their resources with needs on the ground.2
The Citizen Corps coordinated volunteer efforts throughout the country, with more than 14,000 Citizen Corps volunteers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia actively involved in response and recovery efforts across America. The Harris County, Texas, Citizen Corps Council brought together an enormous number of volunteers to support the American Red Cross and staffed evacuation centers throughout Houston. They processed over 8,000 volunteers in one day, and an average of 3,500 per day overall. These volunteers allowed for the creation of an actual city (with its own zip code) for nearly 25,000 Louisiana evacuees sheltering in the Houston Reliant Astrodome. They were successful because they had coordinated ahead of time with local businesses and volunteer groups, and because they were familiar with and implemented elements of the Incident Command System.3
Faith-based organizations supported the relief effort as well. For example, 6,000 Southern Baptist Relief volunteers from 36 state conventions served in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas following the hurricane and flood. These volunteers ran mobile kitchens, and recovery sites.4 They also established hundreds of "pop-up" shelters created by churches or other agencies.5 Operation Blessing, comprised of a network of faith-based partners and resources, provided food and shelter to help those in need and transported food and other supplies with their own fleet of trucks.6 They also made over $4 million in Fast Cash Grants available to church and smaller relief groups throughout the affected region.7 Members of the Salvation Army came from across the nation and served over one million meals, sheltered more than 31,000 people in seven states, and provided aid to displaced citizens in thirty states.8 The Salvation Army not only strengthened the social service infrastructure in those states directly impacted by the hurricane and flood - they did so nationwide. The Salvation Army's network alone fielded more than 60,000 health and welfare inquiries and helped to locate 25,508 people to date.9 These and many other faith-based organizations filled the gaps that other private and public sector organizations could not. Christ in Action, an inter-denominational non-profit organization from Manassas, Virginia deployed volunteers and mobile kitchens to Gulfport, MS and began feeding people on September 1. After 115 days of operations, Christ in Action served over 420,000 meals and repaired over 500 houses in time for families to reoccupy their homes by Christmas. Based upon lessons learned from this experience, Dr. Denny Nissley, the Director of Christ in Action, is organizing a Coalition of Faith-Based First Responders from around the Nation to be prepared for the next major disaster. This Coalition will perform disaster relief training for volunteers and will maintain a current roster of thousands of volunteers who can be quickly called upon to provide support during the next major disaster.
Private citizens also provided assistance and resources in the aftermath of the storm. Dr. Carrie Oliver from Texas, operating independently, arrived with three RVs pulling 16-foot trailers driven by herself, her husband and friends to Baton Rouge shortly after the storm hit. The RVs were full of medical supplies, food, and water. Back in Texas, Dr. Oliver runs a large clinic, and she had brought all available medical supplies and had purchased the vehicles, trailers, and other supplies with her own money.
Dr. Oliver initially planned on heading directly to New Orleans, but officials in Livingston Parish did not think it was safe. Instead Dr. Oliver was incorporated into responding to other parishes. The supplies and personnel were divided into three teams, and with the assistance of a helicopter procured from the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Dr. Oliver flew ahead to different parish localities, and had the three teams follow by ground. Besides initially helping in Livingston Parish shelters, the teams visited different areas in Washington, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Jefferson Parishes, and set up walk-in clinics operating out of the RVs.
Later, the RVs were used to set up a mobile hospital unit and decontamination clinic at the Children's Hospital in the City of New Orleans 2nd Precinct to take care of injured soldiers, police, and other responders who could not otherwise get medical care.
After three days, Dr. Oliver returned to Texas, but left everything she had brought with her. She signed over the titles to the vehicles, trailers and supplies. Livingston Parish officials continued to use the RVs and supplies for relief missions to surrounding parishes and New Orleans, as well as for longer trips, such as one to distribute equipment to police officers in Mississippi.10
Other organizations worked tirelessly to assist emergency responders that, due to the storm, did not have the equipment and means to effectively carry out their duties. Amateur Radio Operators from both the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the American Radio Relay League, monitored distress calls and rerouted emergency requests for assistance throughout the U.S. until messages were received by emergency response personnel. A distress call made from a cell phone on a rooftop in New Orleans to Baton Rouge was relayed, via ham radio, from Louisiana to Oregon, then Utah, and finally back to emergency personnel in Louisiana, who rescued the 15 stranded victims.11 Ham radio operators voluntarily manned the amateur radio stations at sites such as the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Watch Net, Waterway Net, Skywarn and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network.12
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