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VOADs: Facing Disasters Together

The meeting's roll call went like this: Presbyterian Church, Church of Scientology, Adventist Church, Lutheran Social Services, Tzu Chi Buddhist Society, Humane Society, American Red Cross, Baptist Churches Coalition, Save the Children, Catholic Charities, the local chaplains' corps for the fire department ... we're talking ecumenism on steroids!

These meetings take place in every state of the U.S.A., but they operate under the radar of most parish ministers. Groups like this are part of a network of nonprofit groups called Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters — VOADs.

No, I had never heard of them, either, until I was pulled into the amazing world of disaster response after Hurricane Katrina. I have learned a lot about the inner workings of responding to a disaster and even more about the powerful and unsung work being done cooperatively by people of faith.

Before Katrina, my disaster resume was pretty limited: ministering with grieving teens after the suicide of a classmate, developing shelter-in-place plans for our metro-D.C. congregation after the terrorist attacks of September 11, and dealing with the skunk that visited Vacation Bible School.

But then there came the Midwest floods of 1993. I remember drawing the short straw to represent my Iowa congregation's staff at a contentious meeting of ELCA and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod clergy convened by an Aid Association for Lutherans representative with a checkbook. That pretty much summed up our ecumenical activity at the time. Locally, none of us was prepared to respond to the disaster, but each of us thought we had the perfect ad hoc plan. None of our plans involved cooperating or communicating with anybody else, though!

I hope we've come a long way since then. Lutheran Disaster Response took a leadership role in '93 and made a big difference, in spite of our local shortcomings. As I reflect back on those times, I can't help but hope that our attitudes — and skills — have improved. There is a reason why our Lutheran organization is called "Disaster Response" and not "Disaster Relief." I have learned that true, compassionate leadership takes the form of a coordinated response, involving many skills and resources, over a lengthy period of time.

First Responders — Rescue
There is an allure to working on adrenaline. When a disaster happens, brave and trained personnel enter the fray to save lives. Every congregation has some: EMTs, firefighters, doctors and nurses on call, the retiree who volunteers for the Red Cross tending to victim needs at the scene of a house fire. Others who may not be pictured on the evening news include utility workers, snowplow drivers, and sanitation workers. All of these individuals put themselves in harm's way and work mightily to overcome or reduce the damage and get lifesaving services through to those who need them.

Second Responders — Relief
Displaced persons need relief: food, shelter, health care, replacement of necessities. When flood waters contaminated the Des Moines Water Works, bottled water appeared by the truckload from all over the country. So did boxes and boxes of used clothing and volunteer workers with no place to stay. Have you ever tried to unload a tractor-trailer full of palletized canned food without a forklift? Have you ever had groups of people sleep and eat in your church building and stretch its sanitation capacity to the breaking point?

The Salvation Army and American Red Cross are well-known relief organizations. But behind and next to them are many more partners. The quiet, unsung ministry of the Adventists, for example, involves warehousing. They support the Red Cross by storing all those cots and blankets and shelter supplies in warehouses around the country. Planning and logistics "second responders" keep spreadsheets with inventories and lists of truck drivers, forklift equipment, and shelter locations so that when the cry goes out they can equip relief centers as well as receive and distribute donations.

The Baptists organize cooking for mass-care shelters. Save the Children, mostly known as an international relief organization, sets up child-care facilities in shelters and also helps communities rebuild damaged or destroyed children's programs. The Humane Society gets feed out to stranded livestock and helps communities shelter pets and wildlife. Other groups specialize in doing initial damage assessments and others in canvassing victims for spiritual and mental health needs.

When this work comes together well, it usually is through the coordination of the local VOAD. Arrangements have been made in advance of a disaster to organize services. Lines of communication have already been established. The best gifts of all are shared for the common good.

Third Responders — Recovery
After the television cameras leave, the third responders begin to pick up the workload. Disaster victims need to rebuild — their homes, their livelihoods, their health, their communities. Often this recovery work takes years. I attended a disaster-response training event in the spring of 2006 and sat next to several workers who were still helping victims of the multiple hurricanes in Florida of 2004. Conservative estimates of the recovery period for Hurricane Katrina take us past the year 2012.

While Lutherans, Catholics, and some others certainly help with direct relief efforts, our specialized third-responder ministry is perhaps our best gift to individuals recovering after a disaster. We have developed a national network of social service organizations with combined expertise in case management, mental health counseling, employment, and youth and elder care services. We regularly network with congregations and community volunteers. When a disaster response is needed, we have the capacity to redirect or expand our programs to walk with survivors through the long recovery process.

Seven Lutheran social service agencies are currently active in Katrina recovery, involving more than three hundred paid and volunteer case managers and many other volunteers. Because of our national reach, we are able to work with thousands of survivors and evacuees who continue to struggle in fifteen states. They may be living in a trailer in southern Mississippi, a homeless shelter in Detroit, or cramped shared quarters with weary family members in Baton Rouge. They have dealt with nameless 1-800 information operators, temporary service center staff, and the constantly shifting sands of the federal bureaucracy. Lutheran social service agencies are a fixture in the community and committed to recovery, not just short-term relief.

Local Networking
Katrina was, and is, a national disaster. Unlike previous disasters, it is affecting communities far from the impact zone. We have developed a newfound fellowship among these seven Lutheran agencies. Even more, we have developed a strengthened network and all new levels of cooperation with many other faith-based and nonprofit organizations. We are talking with one another, sharing and supporting each other in a project that is far too big for any of us to tackle on our own. (For more information about this program, visit Katrina Aid Today's website, www.katrinaaidtoday.org).

Ultimately, though, the work is local; hence there are regular VOAD meetings, phone calls, and e-mails. Most disasters are local events. Some locales seem to be more prone to disaster than others, but all communities need to be prepared with first, second, and third responders.

The good news is that most of us do not need to invest in a police scanner or go to more meetings. The structure is in place, and there are many possible points to connect. The best place to start is with Lutheran Disaster Response (www.ldr.org). LDR has established formal "affiliate" relationships with Lutheran social ministry organizations all over the country. When you connect with the coordinator closest to you, you will be in immediate contact with a wonderful resource person and an amazing support network. You will get access to training events, published materials, and plenty of very practical advice for using your ministry skills in a disaster context.

I have been to some local ministerial association meetings that were great and others that were a crashing bore. Still, I encourage colleagues to keep up their attendance. Those relationships could become real sources of strength for your community in the case of a disaster.

If you feel moved to share your gifts for leadership, check out your state's VOAD (www.nvoad.org) and see where you might become involved. Chances are, an LDR affiliate is a formal member, but the meetings I have attended were very open and welcoming of newcomers. And you'll meet some of your ministerial association representatives at the table, too.

As I attended my VOAD meeting recently, with an Animist Shaman chaplain on my right and a Southern Baptist Convention minister on my left, St. Paul's words came alive at a depth I had never before experienced: "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone" (1 Corinthians 12: 4-6).

Katherine Miller-Holland is a consecrated diaconal minister on the staff of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area. She is on temporary assignment to manage the agency's local program for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, in partnership with Lutheran Disaster Response.