5/31 VOAD TTX – HURREX 2019

Group 4
 American Red Cross
 Good360
 Second Harvest
 Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FOAC)
MODULE 1 | H – 96
1. Activities/Services
a. Red Cross
i. Set up leadership calls/get organized/identify volunteer capacity
ii. Pre-state mass care sheltering (availability of tarps is huge)
b. Second Harvest
i. No direct distribution out of warehouse – mobile trucks
ii. Poverty/hunger relief/shelter/abuse victims are priority
iii. Identifying special needs & coordinating w/other agencies
iv. 38-40 ppl on staff  begin by collecting primary and secondary contacts
for each to maintain an up-to-date list and to distribute printed copies
v. Recommends applying for GEMA disaster re-entry permit for preparation
ahead of storm
vi. As PIO she compares a hard copy list of all media contacts in order to get
information out if (when) power is lost
c. FOAC
i. Based in stone mountain
ii. Have trucks that drive out to state
iii. State contracts w/different counties to fulfill requests
iv. Supply Triple AAA, SW GA Council of Aging, etc. (support 8 diff
agencies)
v. Transportation is weakest link (contracts are fulfilled quarterly so getting
equipment out on an as-needed basis is difficult)
d. Good360
i. Gather needs of nonprofits on ground – beginning discussions
w/nonprofits
ii. Pre-staging (main warehouse in Omaha but can set up warehouses in diff.
places when needed or by coordinating w/nonprofit)
iii. Supplies are available to any interested nonprofit (red cross, second
harvest, etc.)
iv. Taking care of product side so that nonprofits can use their funding
elsewhere (rebuild/recovery)
2. Activation Trigger
a. Red Cross
i. Similar process to GEMA when tracking landfall (pre-120 hours)
ii. As soon as it becomes named or numbered – it’s being tracked
b. Second Harvest
i. Similar to Red Cross & GEMA -- as soon as it becomes named or
numbered – it’s being tracked
3. Pre-staged Resources
a. Essentially answered in number one so they skipped over
4. Unmet needs
a. Good360
i. Getting all the information
ii. Becoming aware of unmet needs
b. Red Cross
i. Gathering of personnel/staffing (can always get it but an initial struggle)
c. Second Harvest
i. Serve 13000 sq mi – generators were hard to come by during Hurricane
Michael; installed transfer switch and generator was paid for by Thomas
County since FEMA could not get them one
ii. Continuity of services well in advance is concern
5. Communicating/coordinating
a. Second Harvest
i. Communicate w/public using press or social media (Facebook has been
the best) – doesn’t always reach everyone but it’s helpful
ii. Recommended going through Sarah to get that state level assistance
(because she is liaison)
b. Red Cross
i. WebEOC is monitored through conversations w/GEMA (but access needs
to be requested)
ii. When VOAD is activated – daily calls
MODULE 1: REFLECTIONS
1. Capacity/Resource Gap
a. Plenty of resources/capacity it’s just the tying it together (number 2)
2. Communication/Coordination Gap
a. Interdepartmental issues – crosstraining or understanding depth/capability of role
b. Communication w/public (letting them know best ways to help)
c. Everyone is throwing in all the operational needs but there is less planning and
coordination on how to run it smoothly (maybe it should be someone in GEMA or
trained VOAD workers)
i. Taking info from local areas and planning for disability integration and
then letting the VOAD partners know what the need is rather than opening
the floor for what they have (not all organizations are local level – they are
state and not always in touch with what counties are looking for)
3. Biggest Aha! Moment
a. Moving from fundraising to disaster – becoming aware of organizations like
Good360 (interdepartmental issue) and then taking it back to their team
b. Attending an exercise like this opens the door to networking with other agencies
that they weren’t previously aware of and can redistribute/assist with resources
c. Your organization doesn’t have to do everything and that collaboration is as
necessary as it is vital
** Multi – warehouse (7th day Adventists) to accept all random donations and go through at that
point is maybe something to take note of/simulate
MODULE 2 | H - 48 | INJECT
1. Response
a. Second Harvest
i. Call all EMAs and go through availability and needs of resources (they
know their counties needs best so they are priority for contact)
b. Red Cross
i. Has a communication team to push out information through social
media/news for individuals/communities to prepare and know where to go
ii. Look for partnerships
2. If you can’t fulfill – Who
a. Good360
i. Has resources (warehouse basing, supplies, etc) it’s a matter of other
agencies being able to get in contact and coordinate needs
ii. 3-5 days is roughly time it takes to get supplies
b. Second Harvest
i. Needs cots to keep on hand (or other resources to keep at facility for
activated staff or others to shelter) – maybe Good 360?
c. Red Cross
i. Concern is fuel shortages (esp for evacuees)
3. Communication/Coordination w/External Partners (VOAD, EMA, FEMA, GEMA)
a. Second harvest
i. Coordinates w/ organization in Chicago bc they can solicitate big donors

Unsolicited donations?
 Not good – swarmed and can become issue for groups like Second Harvest & Red Cross
because then it takes away from storage availability or can’t be used if not up to standard
for distribution
o Creates a secondary crisis (well-intended but not needed so ends up getting
thrown away)
o Money/funding is way more useful
 Good 360 can’t take donations from individuals but can take excess donations that were
donated to organizations like Red Cross (can be redistributed from there)
MODULE 2 | H +30
1. Activities/Services/Needs?
a. Second Harvest
i. Water, snacks, meals, diapers are biggest short-term needs
b. Red Cross
i. Decisions on where to place headquarters (central to impacted area but far
away enough that you’re still safe + have power)
c. FOAC
d. 360
2. What is your activation trigger?
3. Timeline for activation?
4. Biggest unmet needs?
a. Second Harvest
i. Transportation + staffing (people to drive forklift, having enough forklifts)
ii. Warehousing capacity (logistical)
iii. Concern for when smaller partners are incapacitated by disaster (causes
them to look outward to distribute resources) -- non-traditional partners
b. Red Cross
i. Transportation/Supplies for pets – have instances of owners refusing to
leave their house because they won’t leave their pet
5. How do you communicate? (w/own organization, local EMAs, VOAD, GEMA,
public)
a. Red Cross
i. Plenty and often w/in the organization and all other groups
ii. Utilize public affairs to disseminate information
iii. Has a facebook group for one of their programs (access to 2000 teachers
that they can push-out info to rather than general public)
b. 360
i. Email, phone calls, personal phone (text)
ii. Have a package w/donors to streamline communication
iii. *** Liked the idea of GEMA compiling the contact information + what
each group was said in a google doc after every VOAD call (especially for
people not being able to attend calls) so that they can better get in touch
with organizations afterward ***
6. How are you tracking volunteer hours/donations?
a. Red Cross
i. Have a formal tracking system operated by a paid staff that goes into
GEMA matching of funds (mentioned by Charlie Dawson, GEMA)
b. Second Harvest
i. No one has yet contacted them about their hourly contributions – not sure
where to give that for Hurricane Michael
 7. Do you conduct or help conduct damage/needs assessment? How do you share that
info?

DONATIONS
1. Are you aware of donations warehouse space?
a. Good360
i. Recommended warehouse space + team + transportation provided by
American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) – Kathy Fulton is normally on
VOAD calls and she is a point of contact
b. Second Harvest
i. Has warehouse space (carry perishable + nonperishable food items along
with supplies (utensils, school supplies)) – it’s a food bank and much
more
2. Can you provide personnel/equipment?
3. Transport donations?
4. Top 3 donations you see?
MODULE 2 | H +5 DAYS | INJECT
1. Response
2. If you can’t fulfill needs, who?
a. Water – Atlanta Community Food Bank
b. Transportation – ALAN
c. Home Deport – Generator
d. Diapers – Good360
e. Mucking & Gutting
i. Team Rubicon (demolition is a need of Red Cross in crisis clean-up)
ii. Crisis Clean-up
iii. Methodist Church
3. Communication/Coordination w/External Partners
a. Second Harvest
i. Media, social media
ii. Sharing posts from partners to amplify message
iii. With a small area and trusted staff, at one point with tornadoes in Albany,
went door-to-door to deliver supplies (boots on the ground effort)
b. Red Cross
i. Utilize ambassadors
ii. Monitoring VOAD emails to see what teams are available to deploy

** Crisis Clean-up – individuals call to explain a need and they respond with a team to deploy
 Recommended as a method to coordinate efforts so there is no duplication and you can
better understand where exact needs are
o Management system – good starting point to provide training (still a local
decision however as to what is used)
 Website that an organization can sign-up for and input houses that they need Crisis
Clean-up to respond to
 Internet is an issue in places where power is out (cell phones too) so needing a point of
contact to get that message out is a concern
 Getting the word out is also a concern – how will families know who to contact or that
this is something made available to them?
MODULE 2: GROUP 4 REFLECTION
1. Capacity/Resource Gap
a. Transportation – transporting supplies for distribution to individual/community
from warehouse (whether 2 mi or 200) esp when traditional partners are offline
2. Communication/Coordination Gap
a. Duplicated efforts (overwhelmed EMAs and lack of information creates
confusion and multiple organizations responding when not needed)
b. Lack of cell phone service – VOAD calls informative but it’s hard to sift through
where to actually respond to or who said what
i. Recommended live chat or google group (introduced earlier rather than
late)
c. Hitting that Yo-Yo period (you’re on your own)
3. Aha! Moment
a. American Logistics Aid Network

MODULE 2: OPEN FLOOR REFLECTION

1. Group 1
a. Spontaneous stuff can be good but hard to manage (labor + donation)
2. Group 2
a. Finding intermediates to drop-off stuff when storage is limited is a communication
concern
b. Having a coordination point or team to direct volunteers (that is vetted) is a resource
gap; quick background checks – are they possible?
c. Recognized that these are real scenarios and they can respond was an Aha!
3. Group 3
a. Challenge has been vetting information that volunteer groups are getting (level of
need was not consistent with what had been relayed to them) – maybe sending
pictures to know if that’s something that their organization should respond to
b. Vetting (finding out who has authority to give orders – combative landlords)
c. Responding to undeclared counties is a challenge
d. Stressed that presidential declarations aren’t free and not every county/community
can match or meet that criteria – suggested VOAD offered training for compiling
volunteer hours
4. Group 5
a. Need for more coordination b/w organizations (not just national but local too)
b. Getting the right message out about donations – putting it out before not during a
disaster
c. Suggested work teams planning meeting as something to think about
processes/procedures, vetting organizations, and what to do for next disaster instead
of entire VOAD meeting so that the work can actually get accomplished in a select
time frame
d. Volunteer hours really impact everything (usage, tracking, COADS, gov office)
MODULE 3 | TRANSITION TO LONG-TERM RECOVERY
1. What are your activities? What do you need to operate?
2. What are your biggest needs during this phase?
3. How are you coordinating/communicating w/ organization, EMAs, VOAD, GEMA,
public?
4. How are you tracking your volunteer hours/donations/services?
a. Second Harvest
i. Doesn’t think that the small communities she works with know how to
match funds or how to do that process
b. Red Cross
i. Whole process for that
ii. Log sign-in sheets (some personal accountability but not always reliable)
5. If you deactivate – what is trigger for deactivation?
a. Second Harvest
i. Response support extends for 2 weeks and then after they start to pull back
and shift to long-term recovery
b. Red Cross
i. Shelter casework – to determine if each family’s needs are met
ii. Depends on size of response but once the casework ends, then normally
deactivation will shift towards LTR
DONATIONS
1. How long do you maintain donation warehouse?
a. Red Cross
i. Until the immediate needs are met (when distributing emergency supplies)
b. Second Harvest
i. We’re there all the time – it’s not a pod distribution site
2. What are top 3 donation needs you see?
a. Red Cross
i. Money assistance (determined based on standardized pricing of each
disaster and fundraising available)
b. Second Harvest
i. Money
ii. Replenishing food pantries/groceries
c. Good360
i. Personal hygiene
ii. Diapers
iii. PPE
iv. Paper products
3. Will you send or transport donations into long-term recovery?
a. Second Harvest
i. Still doing it
 ii. Mobile food pantry events for all 13 counties in declaration for last
disaster (~8,000 meals)
b. Good360
i. Still working on Harvey

**Stressed media coverage and how some citizens don’t take each disaster seriously
MODULE 3 TRANSITION INTO LTR | 1 MONTH + | INJECT
1. How would your organization respond?
a. Second Harvest
i. Continued food support if food bank is engaged
ii. Their job is more about supplying their partner agencies with resource
rather than the focus being on direct response
iii. Suggested letting families tell their stories to feel like people are listening
b. Red Cross
i. Has Client Assistance system to see who’s been served (but not on mass
relief basis) but it’s not shared
ii. Casework will continue for 30-45 days for each individual/family (a way
of staying in contact until needs are met)
2. If you can’t fulfill the needs, who?
a. Red Cross
i. This is where they feel VOAD would make a big difference bc as they
continue LTR they do casework (Red Cross more about immediate relief
than mass LTR)
ii. Utilize ATL Furniture Bank or Salvation Army (supply w/vouchers)
b. Good360
i. Can connect families’ w/furniture
c. Short-term housing – Red Cross can connect them (but not always able to find)
d. Emotional & Spiritual Care – connected to agencies through Red Cross + Second
Harvest
3. How are you communicating w/external partners?

** Better managing of a database of needs/actions to track team and resources (or having one at
all) is a suggestion – akin to Crisis Clean-up
MODULE 3: TRASITION INTO LTR REFLECTIONS | GROUP 4
1. Capacity/Resource Gaps
a. Not a lot of formalized long-term recovery groups
b. Teach preparedness so communities aren’t as devastated or as a case for
mitigation $$
2. Communication/Coordination Gaps
a. Not knowing who’s left or still working an area
b. Suggests VOAD doing a recovery call to see who is left
i. National VOAD employs Yammer as a communication tool
3. Aha!
a. That there have been many aha moments
b. Yammer – National VOAD
4. Biggest lesson learned overall today
a. What a big need transportation is
b. That there is a Logistics Aid Network (ALAN)
c. There are so many different agencies but there is a common desire for
improvement + collaboration

MODULE 3: TRANSITION INTO LTR REFLECTIONS | OPEN FLOOR

1. Group 2
a. Not knowing when things are ending/when to leave
b. Better communication between COADS
c. Maybe not a good job connecting local agencies to LTR partner after leaving
d. Maybe include monthly report out during meetings
2. Group 5
a. Difficult to secure funding and know which agencies to turn to for funding
b. Volunteer fatigue (people tend to drop off after day 30 so good to check on clients
AND volunteers even during the first 2 weeks – before fatigue hits)
c. We all need to communicate more effectively and establish working groups
3. Group 3
a. Emotional + spiritual care is very necessary – even for staff
b. This is a transitional time (some are decompressing where as others are just
getting started)
c. Recommends cross-training
4. Group 1
a. Consensus that maybe after 21 days is still w/in recovery (not necessarily long-
term)
b. Better communication is always needed
c. Demobilization but will still work on incomplete work orders (if we pull together
there’s nothing we can’t do – will still work to make sure every individual is
taken care of)