Behind-the-scenes group links volunteers with disaster relief
Brian Walker | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 10 months AGO
COEUR d'ALENE - When disaster strikes, a group of local volunteers stands ready to be that key link between government agencies and the people swinging hammers on new homes for victims.
They also ensure that 10,000 teddy bears don't flood a warehouse for, say, 15 victim families and muddy the real needs in recovery.
The quiet nonprofit that ensures all of the disaster volunteer organizations are on the same page is Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).
"I find it very fulfilling," said Mike Bullard, a former pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Coeur d'Alene who has served as chairman of VOAD's Inland Northwest Chapter for two years.
"When I first became aware of VOAD, I realized its potential as a nexus, or center, for a certain kind of communication between government agencies and volunteer workers. I know how critical it is that good intentions be matched with effective organization. After a disaster, do-gooders without connection or training who just start giving money or coming to help can often cause far more trouble than help."
Richard Dance of Hayden - who is involved with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has assisted with other regional relief efforts that included Mount St. Helens erupting - said he's involved because the group serves people in need. VOAD steps in, when called upon, after first responders and insurance personnel perform their duties.
"There's long-term needs that otherwise wouldn't be addressed," Dance said. "We're a small cog in a big wheel that turns and helps people. This is a great community for service, and this was a way that I felt that I could assist."
Busy summer
With the wildfires in the region, it's been a busy summer for VOAD.
The group is assisting in the Kamiah area where 60 homes that were mostly uninsured were destroyed. VOAD set up an Unmet Needs Committee there and provided training for four part-time case managers.
"Case management is the key to long-term recovery," Bullard said. "These people work family by family, ensuring confidentiality for clients, identifying resources for getting through the winter and identifying families for whom there might be volunteer building projects next spring."
Later this year, VOAD will help seek building materials and arrange volunteer building projects.
"There are many national resources which VOAD calls upon, and in this case, because there are several Presbyterian churches in the immediate area, the resources of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has given particular assistance, including funding two part-time positions in case management and emotional and spiritual care," Bullard said.
"Many other denominational and non-denominational groups will be involved before it's over."
The group also has assisted in Stevens County, Wash., where 18 homes were destroyed. It discussed with community leaders how to work together, distribute donations and set up relief procedures.
"We continue to give consolation and advice, communicate with and through Washington VOAD to steer resources their way and alert them to potential problems," Bullard said.
Last summer VOAD organized a long-term recovery effort for 40 homeowners in the Riverside Park mobile home park in Washington where the structures were destroyed by a microburst.
"About $40,000 was raised and a case manager was hired to work through a plan with each family," Bullard said. "After one year, each family had been assisted in achieving a new normal in which they could go forward in a manner providing safety, sanitation and security. It is up to the client to take it from there."
Focused efforts
VOAD does not respond to every disaster in the region.
For example, the group was not activated with the fire near Bayview this summer because VOAD's work is with uninsured, unmet long-term needs for which there is not government funds.
"Firefighters and the American Red Cross were the ones working in Bayview," Bullard said. "Though that fire was closer to us and is an example of the fire season in general, what we address are the many, many uninsured homes lost across Washington and Idaho where vulnerable people, farmers and the working poor live where insurance is not even available due to distance from fire departments.
"Red Cross does critical work in the first few days, but long-term recovery that we do can take years. The need is huge across the Inland Northwest, including Idaho. Bayview fires were in our area, but focusing on them too much can really confuse what we do and the much bigger Idaho picture."
VOAD holds quarterly meetings that alternate on each side of the border to get all of the region's volunteer organizations coordinated.
"We try to coordinate efforts so that we're not stepping n each others toes," Dance said. "VOAD is an excellent place to take all the volunteer organizations and figure out how to coordinate them."
VOAD has been involved in several disaster trainings and scenarios in Kootenai County in recent years, including a tanker truck "spill" on Interstate 90 that resulted in deaths and an incident involving the gondola in Kellogg.
Bullard said one of the most-likely major disasters for this area could be along the railroad tracks with oil cars traveling through.
"Trains go through Sandpoint and Rathdrum and, as those things develop, we have potential for disaster," he said. "It's a matter of knowing it can happen and how to be ready."
Floods and earthquakes on the coast are also on the minds of planners in addition to wildfires.
"If there's a major earthquake in Seattle, you better believe it will affect us here with the hospitals (assisting victims)," Bullard said.
Sandy Von Behren, Kootenai County's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) director, said VOAD is a vital emergency management partner to the communities.
"If individuals or families in need are not eligible for local, state or federal assistance following a disaster, they can fall through the cracks," Von Behren said. "Kootenai County OEM understands VOAD's importance and that we can call upon them to tie the individual in need to the organization that can assist them.
"VOAD is always welcome to have a seat in our Emergency Operations Center so we can work together to coordinate those in need with those who can fill the need."
About 90 volunteers are serving with the Inland Northwest Chapter of VOAD with about the same number serving on both sides of the border.
"VOAD is the hub of a lot of spokes," Bullard said. "Without it, things don't work."
VOAD contact information
Volunteer groups interested in participating in the Inland Northwest Chapter of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster can email Chairman Mike Bullard at mabullard@gmail.com.
MORE IMPORTED STORIES
ARTICLES BY BRIAN WALKER

Two arrests made in heroin trafficking case
POST FALLS — Two Shoshone County men were arrested in a heroin trafficking case during a traffic stop on Interstate 90 at Post Falls last week.

Ingraham charged with first-degree murder
The 20-year-old nephew of a Post Falls man found dead in Boundary County in September has been charged with first-degree murder of his uncle.
Is arming teachers a good idea or over-reaction?
No movement in region to go that route to enhance school safety
While the idea of arming teachers, as a means to increase school safety, is catching on in some areas, there’s no such momentum in Kootenai County.