VOLUNTEER : Domestic Disaster Recovery
Volunteering in disaster-affected communities is a powerful way to help our neighbors recover and bring hope in the midst of struggle. We have seen Disciples make the greatest impact by volunteering where recovery efforts are ongoing, once the community has had a chance to identify their unmet needs and get organized. While there is often an abundance of donations and volunteers in the first days and weeks following a disaster, there is great need of willing hands for months and years as communities rebuild. Week of Compassion works to support local congregations to provide relief in the early days and to coordinate resources and volunteers from across the church for long-term recovery.
Current Volunteer Opportunities
In response to several spring storms, Week of Compassion is working with our partner, CRISIS CLEANUP, to help remotely staff a call center to connect disaster survivors with clean-up assistance.
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Volunteers receive calls from survivors through a web-based platform and enter their needs on an interactive map to coordinate volunteer cleanup teams. Volunteers need access to a computer with internet and a phone to receive calls.
Crisis Cleanup does not require volunteers to fill quotas or work predetermined shifts, but the recommendation is for volunteers to aim for 5-8 hours per week. The call center operates 7 days a week, 9am - 8pm Eastern. Self-paced training is available in English, and in Spanish. |
Week of Compassion has active volunteer sites in Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
For details and registration information see the map or fill out a Volunteer Interest Form below.
For informationa bout other ongoing responses, visit our Domestic Disaster Response page.
For details and registration information see the map or fill out a Volunteer Interest Form below.
For informationa bout other ongoing responses, visit our Domestic Disaster Response page.
Disaster Volunteering Map
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Click the map pin:
active volunteer opportunity volunteer opportunity in development |
For more information about volunteering, registering your group, or identifying disaster response opportunities in your area, complete the Volunteer Interest Form.
Connect with current volunteer opportunities & be notified of future options.
Prepare for future mission opportunities by
1) becoming more disaster-ready as a household or congregation; 2) developing skills in home repair; and 3) advocating for local, state, and federal policies that promote adequate and equitable disaster recovery. Your congregation can be ready to provide relief
in your community when disasters strike. |
We continue working with our partners to mitigate risks of COVID-19 for our volunteers and the communities we serve.
Week of Compassion requires all in-person volunteers who are eligible to receive the vaccine do so before serving.
Each partner has site-specific protocols as well.
Week of Compassion requires all in-person volunteers who are eligible to receive the vaccine do so before serving.
Each partner has site-specific protocols as well.
Children's Disaster Services Volunteer Training
Children’s Disaster Services is a Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministry that involves volunteers from many faith communities who provide a calm, safe and reassuring presence in the midst of the chaos that follows disaster by setting up and operating special childcare centers in disaster locations. Parents are then able to apply for assistance and begin to put their lives back together, knowing their children are safe.
The training will allow you to understand and respond to children who have experienced a disaster, and the information learned at this training can be beneficial to anyone working with children.
CDS provides specialized training for all its volunteers. The CDS Volunteer Training is a comprehensive 25-hour event that uses applied, experiential activities to help the participants integrate their learning.
The training will allow you to understand and respond to children who have experienced a disaster, and the information learned at this training can be beneficial to anyone working with children.
CDS provides specialized training for all its volunteers. The CDS Volunteer Training is a comprehensive 25-hour event that uses applied, experiential activities to help the participants integrate their learning.
Upcoming CDS Volunteer Trainings
Watch this page for future dates,
or reach out if your church or region is interested in hosting a training.
or reach out if your church or region is interested in hosting a training.
Give Time & Treasure
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Money is the best donation you can make following a disaster. The very thing that can make cash unsatisfying for the donor - that it lacks specificity - is what makes it useful for the affected communities! The vast majority of donations (up to two-thirds, according to some experts) come in during the first two months following a disaster, but needs continue for years as communities rebuild. Monetary donations can be put to use in the first few days of a disaster response, or they can be held to meet longer term needs.
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