If your church has been asked to host volunteers or plans to do so in the future this article will help you get started. One of the best things about hosting volunteers is your ability to play a vital role in the disaster relief process. One of the second-best things about hosting is how great they are to work with! Volunteers are known to be flexible, adaptable, and sometimes even bendable or fluid!
With things changing frequently volunteers are known for their ability to roll with the punches. You’ll find some outliers sure, but for the most part, this should be a breeze compared to that youth lock in your tried once! Anything in this article that you can provide will be above and beyond what many of them were prepared to work with.
Sleeping
If you are hosting overnight volunteers you’ll need a place for them to sleep. Some organizations may bring their own RV or sleeping trailer but most will sleep onsite in a room. Rooms that can be sectioned off by gender work best. Classrooms are ideal as they can be closed off. Gyms that can be divided in half with partitions work as well. That being said we can work with anything. I’ve slept on pews or a row of chairs on more than one occasion.
If every inch is going to count you may have to place cots or air mattresses side by side. A cot or twin air mattress averages about 6-7 feet long and about 2.8-3.5 feet wide.
Crawling out the foot of your bed isn’t the preferred method but it won’t be the first time if it does happened!
Sleep Schedule
If you have a command team there they will normally oversee room assignments. One thing to be aware of is that some jobs start at different times. Designating a room for people that get up at 3 AM away from the group that gets up at 6 AM can greatly improve how smoothly daily activities flow.
If you have day sleepers (volunteers in mass feeding may start the next days meal anywhere from 10 PM to 3 AM!) they will appreciate a dark room. An interior room without windows will work well. If that isn’t an option hanging a blanket over the windows can significantly cut down on the light too!
A Chair
A chair next to each cot can give the volunteers a small place to collect their items. We can lay out our clothes, toss a towel on the back, set our phone on it, or have a nice place to sit while catching up on some reading before calling it a night.
Power
Most rooms weren’t designed with outlets every 2.8 to 3.5 feet or even 6 feet for that matter. The locations closest to an outlet go quickly! Having a few extra extension chords around will be appreciated.
Don’t worry if the power is out though. We’ve dealt with that and know what we signed up for!
CPAP
A notable amount of volunteers have been told they should sleep with a CPAP machine. While this isn’t always a possibility these should be given priority for power. Having enough juice to power them can help the whole room sleep better! That being said volunteers need to know that power is never a guarantee in a disaster.
Fans
Most volunteers will bring a fan if they are used to the white noise or need it to sleep. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a couple available! They can be really handy in the room that the air-conditioning won’t keep up with. 10 people in a small classroom for 8 hours can really warm a room up!
Coffee
I think this one is self-explanatory.
Food
Snacks
If you’re looking to do a little extra for the volunteers having a few snacks or drinks lying around will always be appreciated. If the volunteers are doing a lot of manual labor some electrolyte replacement options are always a great idea.
A special treat
A special meal during the deployment can be a fun way to break up the normal meal rotation. As with most things in this article, this is not expected. It should only come after the frantic pace start to settle into somewhat of a routine.
This could be a home-cooked meal, pizza, a local restaurant, or just some ice cream and desserts.
MAPS
A map is an extremely essential item for the management team! It also happens to be one of the most challenging items to find after a disaster. Anything is an improvement over nothing. I once used a churches hand made map for their outreach program. It may have been made using permeant marker but it had the critical land marks and made my life easier!
The best case scenario is a large county map! Your local emergency management office, county court house, fire department, or police department are all good places to check. If you can grab a few perfect! Keep them in a safe spot to pull out should the need ever arise.
Unexpected wear and tear
I wanted to include this as just a heads up. When your building goes from being used a few times a week to 24/7 some problems are bound to appear. Some common issues arise from heavy vehicles parked in the parking lot, metal cot legs placed on the gym floor, or just a 1500% increase in the number of times the bathroom is used in a week.
While some of these are preventable additional problems are bound to pop up.
Upon arrival, the command staff will normally walk through the building with you. You can tell them what rooms they have access to and what rooms you want to be left alone. They can also note any damage to the building or rooms before the rest of the team arrives. The larger and well-respected organizations normally have plans in place if they damage your property. Be sure to ask about it if you’re worried about it!
Showers
Volunteers end up doing some extremely demanding and dirty jobs. They may be on the chainsaw team and come back smelling like wood and fuel. Others may be helping with flood relief and come back covered in mud and mold.
Any extra time saved between getting them cleaned up and on to the supper line will be greatly appreciated.
Adding a few showers to your building may be something you want to think about if you are planning on hosting volunteers in the future. Being set up for shower can make a huge impact on how seamlessly a team can operate from your location.
Laundry
An extra laundry machine or two can be a big help for long-term volunteers. You may have to set some ground rules on what type of laundry you let them wash depending on how much you like your machine.
Outdoor Water Source
Some organizations have their own setup specifically for providing laundry and shower services for their team. Sometimes they will provide these services for individuals affected by the disaster as well.
Having easy access to water can streamline the setup process. These shower or laundry trailers will need to be able to connect to water from the outside of your building. The higher the pressure the better!
WIFI
If the command staff hasn’t requested exclusive access to the internet the volunteers would love to be able to connect with your network.
Most importantly though Relax
While you’ll find a few exceptions in every group, volunteers are ready to adapt to whatever is thrown at them. Stress may be high, things may not go smoothly, in-fact they rarely will. Regardless, we’re happy to have a roof over our head and someone making our dream to serve others possible.
Most of the items mentioned on this list are just icing on the cake for volunteers. It’s great if you have them but we know how to make do without. Oh, except the coffee. Let’s just hope they brought some with them!
We know that you are going through just as much if not more stress than everyone else that has been affected in your community. We’re excited to be a part of your community. We love what we do and we love that you’re able to host us while we do it!
All of the points regarding sleep: I wouldn’t have expected any of those! SO glad I learned this and can help my church prepare in the event of hosting DR volunteers!