Columbia, S.C. (Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 9:45 a.m.) – For those who want to help with disaster efforts, the best way is to make a monetary contribution to one of the many Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs). The agencies are listed on South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division’s website: http://www.scemd.org/recovery-section/donations-and-volunteers. Cash, which can be used immediately in response to a crisis, allows organizations to purchase or provide exactly what is needed, when it is needed and to procure supplies near the affected area. Organized donations, cut down on transportation time and costs. Those offering resources needed for response or recovery efforts, and those who can offer transportation for donations may contact Emergency Support Function (ESF)18 at (803) 737–8518 or (803) 737-8875. A list of needed and not needed items is available at http://www.scemd.org.
The Mississippi State Department of Health has enhanced the Mississippi Responder Management Network at https://signupms.org. Volunteers, both medical and non-medical responders such as construction workers, ham radio operators and others who could assist during disasters both large and small can register on their site.
The official website portal for people or groups who want to volunteer in Fairdale Illinois is
As needs are presented to our volunteer and construction sub-committees, we will work through the database to call and schedule help.
The database allows people to list their special skills--and their is a note section where they could put in a desired week to come up and serve (i.e., a mission trip). As needs are presented to our volunteer and construction sub-committees, we will work through the database to call and schedule help.
The database allows people to list their special skills - and their is a note section where they could put in a desired week to come up and serve (i.e., a mission trip).
From the Salvation Army:
SITUATION
As you are most likely aware, on May 20, 2015 and extending beyond Memorial Day, a string of tornadoes followed by severe storms and flooding events of record proportions occurred in Wichita Falls, Gainesville, and continued throughout other parts of Texas, especially Houston. The Salvation Army (TSA) monitored operations from Dallas and was represented at the State Operations Center by a Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster SOC Representative.
· 150+ homes were evacuated from Wichita Falls · Threat of dam breach in Ellis County, near Midlothian, TX · Road closures and flooding throughout TX · 11 Rivers at or above flood stage, including o Guadalupe o Red River o Trinity o Nueces o Colorado o Neches
As of June 5, 2015, the following needs have been provided: · 2,119 cleanup kits · 2,543 comfort kits · 31,872 meals · 54,248 drinks · 26,105 snacks · 102 persons sheltered · Emotional and Spiritual Care to 940 individuals
Provided by: · 16 Mobile Feeding Units · 5,244 hours of employee and volunteer service
SHELTERS
· The Wichita Falls Corps · Austin Area Command and New Braunfels stood up response operations to support shelters in their areas. · Laredo supported shelters in Crystal City and Cotulla.
CANTEENS & FOOD SERVICE
· Wichita Falls - two canteens · San Angelo Canteen - additional meals and assistance in Wichita Falls · Tyler Corps Canteen, Corpus Christi Corps Canteen, Dallas-Fort Worth Area Command responded with Canteen Service · Assisted the American Red Cross Shelter (Lone Star Community Center, 2500 Lone Star Parkway, Montgomery, TX 77356) · Assisted the American Red Cross Shelter (San Marcos Activity Center, 501 E. Hopkins St., Austin)
SUPPLIES/RESOURCES
· North-South Carolina (NSC) Division shipped clean-up kits out of Ridgelend, SC to TSA in Texas and Oklahoma City to support flood relief efforts in the Texas Arkansas Oklahoma (AOL) Divisions. · The clean-ups kits were part of the materials transferred from the Trade Department to THQ EDS. · Thanks to UPS for delivering one tractor-trailer to Texas. · Thanks to FedEx for picking-up two (2) tractor trailers loads of clean-up kits for AOK. · Thanks to NSC EDS Director Mike Patterson for coordinating. · The Salvation Army deployed a laundry unit to Wimberley, Texas, giving flood survivors the welcome opportunity to wash their clothes, in addition to providing emergency assistance: http://disaster.salvationarmyusa.org/media/?ID=366ac26dd89adc2b6833a4a1447af7ab · Provided insect repellent (for responders and survivors) as requested - Walker County Office of Emergency Management · The following Texas Division Area Commands, Corps and Service Units responded: o Abilene Corps o Arlington Corps o Austin Area Command o Big Spring Corps o Cleburne Service Unit o Conroe Corps o Corpus Christi Corps o Corsicana Corps o Dallas Temple Corps o DFW Area Command o Fort Worth Lancaster Corps o Grand Saline Service Unit o Houston Area Command o Kaufman Service Unit o Midland Corps o New Braunfels Outpost o San Angelo Corps o San Antonio Area Command o San Marcos Service Unit o Service Extension Region 1 o Service Extension Region 2 o Service Extension Region 3 o Stephenville Service Unit o Sulphur Springs Service Unit o Texas Division EDS o Tyler Corps o Waco Corps o Wichita Falls Corps o Williamson County Disaster Team (Austin AC)
The Salvation Army Houston Area Command served alongside a number of community agencies to assist the residents of the Rockport Apartment Homes, which during the height of the flooding, were hit by a small tornado, causing damage and power outages. The Salvation Army was there with food boxes, helping residents locate new housing, and connecting them to other services (financial, medical, etc.). The effort received extensive local media coverage. Midwest Food Bank provided these boxes and many more like them to disaster impacted families not just on this disaster but every major disaster The Salvation Army has responded to since Hurricane Katrina. See: http://bit.ly/1Aurm7b
MULTIPLE AGENCY RESOURCE CENTERS (MARC's)
· Wimberley MARC – Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Rd 12, Wimberley, Texas – Open 5/29/15-5/30/15 (8AM-8PM) · San Marcos MARC - St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Claretian Hall, 624 East Hopkins St., San Marcos, Texas - Open 5/31/15-6/1/15 (8AM-8PM · Blancho, Texas
STORIES AND NEWS UPDATES
As of June 5, the Salvation Army Texas Division is beginning to shift its focus from disaster response to long-term recovery. Food services continue at two fixed sites in San Marcos, Texas, and the Laundry unit remains operational in Wimberly.
The following links may be viewed for a glimpse of the support rendered and as updates are available:
MANY thanks to our PIOs: Phil Burns, Sybil Sanchez, and Ashley Carter for capturing stories and sending back these amazing images.
(12 May 2015) - NASEDoVoC continues to monitor the impacts of recent severe weather across the US. We stand ready to assist if requested and will post any relevant updates on the relief and recovery operation. Check our website regularly as well as our Twitter (@NASEDoVoC) and Facebook pages.
The Salvation Army in Nepal Continues Response & Considers New Services
The Salvation Army working in Nepal.
IHQ, London (05/06/2015) - THE Salvation Army's emergency team in Nepal is planning a number of distributions, working in camps that have been set up for people who have lost their homes and also in previously unreached communities.
Some of the main initial work is taking place in and around the capital, Kathmandu. The team has received official permission from the Chief District Officer to work in Durbar Square Camp, which currently hosts approximately 1,200 people (100 families). The camp is in Bhaktapur, next to an ancient city – listed as a World Heritage Centre by UNESCO – which used to have beautiful palace courtyards, temples, wood, metal and stone artwork.
The Salvation Army has been asked by the CCCM (camp coordination and camp management) cluster if it would consider taking on camp management responsibilities for one or more camps. The cluster lead knows some International Emergency Services team members who worked in Haiti and remembers their involvement in the management of a large camp in Port-au-Prince.
The team provided food and water packets to 70 families who had lived in a camp since the earthquake but were leaving and going back home if their houses were not too badly damaged or to friends and relatives. The packets were intentionally kept fairly small (2 kilos of rice, 0.5kg dhal, 250ml oil, 50g salt, 10 packets of noodles and 5 litres of water) in order for them to be portable. An assessment team has now returned from Sindhupalchok, visting eight villages in three days, none of which were accessible by road. During the trip they walked almost 70 km, sometimes reaching an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet!
The team reported that around 90 per cent of the houses in the areas are damaged, and the potato harvest is still a couple of months away, so the most urgent needs are for food and shelter. With this knowledge in hand, a distribution is planned for Friday 8 May. A total of 225 families from four villages in Sindhupalchok will be given food (rice, dhaal, oil and salt), tarpaulins and ropes. The distribution will take place at a central resort, meaning that some of the families will have to walk for up to three hours to claim their goods before carrying them home. The only way to reach the remaining four villages is by helicopter, which the team is now trying to arrange.
Assessment visits are still taking place in the outskirts of Kathmandu. The difficult process of obtaining quality goods is also continuing, with a new source of hard-wearing tarpaulins, for temporary shelters, now found in Kolkata, India. An initial load of the tarpaulins is on its way to Nepal.
Support for The Salvation Army's response continues to pour in from around the world. FedEx has donated US$50,000 to The Salvation Army's disaster response in Nepal. FedEx has a 14-year history of supporting The Salvation Army in the USA during national and international disasters. “During times of disaster, it is crucial for our response teams to provide relief as quickly as possible, and supporters like FedEx ensure that we have the means to do so,” says Lt. Colonel William Mockabee, Executive Director of The Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO). “Monetary support of this kind not only goes toward providing relief immediately following a disaster, but allows us to serve long after to make sure that communities are rebuilt. Our efforts in Nepal will likely span the coming months and even years.”
Also helping The Salvation Army's fund-raising efforts is the provision, for free, of advertising on a group of signs in New York's Times Square. The Salvation Army's appeal for donations towards its efforts in Nepal is featured for a minute every hour. Times Square, known as the Crossroads of the World, is passed through by a third of a million people every day.
One piece of particularly good news from Nepal is that The Salvation Army's cafe/beauty salon, 'Sisters', has been able to reopen. The cafe and beauty salon provides training and income to women who might otherwise not be able to find employment. The reopening of the venture is seen as a great answer to prayer, after Salvationists and friends from around the world prayed for the project during last week's Worldwide Prayer Meeting.
The disaster and response in Nepal will again be the focus of this week's Worldwide Prayer Meeting. Go to http://sar.my/wwpm for more details, then follow @TSA_WWPM on Twitter and tweet using the #WWPM hashtag.