Donations, Donations, Donations! “Uncoordinated, uncontrolled masses of donated goods (and volunteers) can interfere with disaster operations and cause a secondary disaster”
Alaska Donation Challenges
Who’s Who? NGO’s/Faith Based Org: The Salvation Army (TSA), Food Bank of Alaska (FBA), American Red Cross (ARC), Samaritan’s Purse Pets Groups: Humane Society, Alaska SPCA Alaska Voluntary Agencies Active in Disasters (Alaska VOAD, AKVOAD) FEMA (for federally declared events) State Agencies Local Jurisdictions (Municipality/Borough) Transportation Industry Retailers
Its all about timing
Points for Conversation Why are financial donations best? Used clothing is rarely useful during disaster response/relief Encourage people to have a yard sale or donate to charity who has capacity to manage the donations/determine what is useable Existing infrastructure in place to manage large volumes of donations
4 C’s of VOAD Communication Coordination Cooperation Collaboration
What Next? Know who to contact (Coordinate) State Volunteer & Donations Management Taskforce (Collaborate) Build into business response plan: set parameters, communicate internally, create culture of awareness (Communicate) What are your strengths that will enhance (support) response & recovery?(Cooperate)
Questions & Suggestions