(please circulate widely)
Help for Managers of Volunteers-Katrina
Volunteer Today, a free online newsletter for managers of volunteers
(www.volunteertoday.com) has launched a special edition to provide
assistance to managers of volunteers around the country related to the
Hurricane Katrina Disaster. The purpose of the site is to:
Provide access to information and resources to assist volunteer
managers in the disaster area.
Provide information to volunteer managers outside the area with
information related to what is happening in the area in the context of
volunteer management and how to mobilize volunteer efforts in their own
area.
Provide information related to volunteer management that is occurring in
the affected area.
There are more than a dozen managers of volunteers, trainers, and
consultants contributing to this endeavor. These volunteers are from across
the US, Canada, and Europe.
The Volunteer Today Katrina page has links to Web sites on a wide variety of
topics, articles by experts on managing volunteers who just "show up,"
requests for assistance, information on where displaced college students
might go, to requests for food and hygiene products from a small church in
LA. One of the group of volunteers writing for this page is in Houston and
should have something to share early in the week, another member is a
survivor of Hurricane Andrew and is going to share information on her
experiences (she is also a manager of volunteers).
We are in the process of setting up an interactive site where people can
share information, ask questions, post information, get help from their
colleagues. The technical team is working on this and it should be up soon!
If you have questions or needs now, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
We will forward your information to our panel of experts and get you
immediate answers.
The information on our Katrina page is changing frequently. For example,
did you know that the Department of Health and Human Services is creating a
corps of volunteers from medical professions and relief organizations, aside
from Red Cross, Salvation Army and the rest! Yep, and we have the link.
Our experience with getting this page going is that American's want
desperately to "do something." Most of them are smart enough to know that
getting in your car and driving to Mississippi is not a good idea, but
volunteer managers in Alaska, Altoona, Alberta, and other places can help
people who want to contribute.
---Be well informed yourself
---Let people know you are a resource for how to find family, donate goods,
provide support in other ways.
---Check out ways to use your communication network to get this information
out to volunteers (in a hospital--get volunteers to create a flyer to hand
out to patients and staff, in a youth agency--get kids to help figure a way
to get information directly to other children through parents or email, in
an arts organization---provide information to visitors, volunteers, and
staff on how people in your area can help.
Not everyone can donate money, although that is important, but everyone
probably can find a way to help. And the manager of volunteers is key to
that effort. Create a Katrina committee and get them engaged.
As a manager of volunteers in the affected area. . .if this message reaches
you. . .we would be happy to try to find managers of volunteers in other
states who could come for a few days and spell you from your duties, so you
can deal with what is likely a disaster in your own backyard. Volunteer
Today could serve as a clearinghouse for this type of exchange. What would
a an extra pair of hands do to help you? Those of you near the disaster
area need to spread the word! And anyone willing to volunteer to help, who
is an experienced manager of volunteers and wants to help a professional
colleague, let us know. We'll establish a volunteer managers bank and see
what we can do. For more information write to- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Volunteer Centers. Please spread this information through your network, so
that local organizations might learn of this resource.
Questions? Suggestions? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Nancy Macduff, Publisher of Volunteer Today www.volunteertoday.com
-- posted by --
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Jayne Cravens
Bonn, Germany
Services for Mission-Based Orgs
www.coyotecommunications.com
Open University Development Studies
www.coyotecommunications.com/development
Contact me
www.coyotecommunications.com/contact.html
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