DISASTER
RESPONSE
Bringing Hope into Disaster
What does disaster recovery look like?
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Hurricanes, Fires, Tornadoes, Floods— when a disaster strikes, our US Disaster Team is ready to respond! As soon we get new of a disaster (or impending disaster) our Disaster Coordinators will reach out to Church of Christ churches in areas affected to find a partner to work with. Once they’ve identified who we’re working with, they head down and set up a base camp at our partner church and start bringing in volunteers.
By working with local pastors who know the community and the people, we’re able to more effectively identify families who need help. Then, we deploy teams of volunteers! Our volunteers are all ages and from all over the US! Whether mucking out basements, sorting through rubble, cutting down fallen trees, moving branches, tarping broken roofs, or cleaning up yards, our volunteers do whatever they can to be the hands and feet of Jesus to families in desperate need.
After cleanup is done, we stick around to help with rebuilding efforts. This time our volunteers help with everything from building home to painting walls. When we are finally done, we hope to leave the local churches with stronger relationships and better preparation to serve their community moving forward.
Logistics for Site Volunteers:
Deployment dates will be from Sunday to Saturday, with an arrival time frame listed, if you cannot arrive during that time frame we ask that you reach out to either the point of contact for that site or our Volunteer Coordinator.
Work will be provided Monday through Friday with exceptions made for weather. IDES partnering church will provide housing for volunteers, you will need to provide bedding.
Your group will be responsible for their own food, but we will provide ways to prepare the food (stove, microwave) as well as some refrigeration. We do ask that each group bring a cooler if possible.
After the work week (M-F), your group will be free to leave on Friday. However, housing will be provided until noon on Saturday.
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Sheds as Disaster Relief
Why Sheds?
After the initial clean up and recovery, it still might take families months to begin repairing or rebuilding their homes. In the meantime, any belongings they managed to recover have to be shoved into the garages of friends and family, stored in expensive storage containers, or, at worst, left exposed to the elements and looters.
During the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, we realized the severity of this need and came up with a solution. Volunteers pre-assemble shed components at our headquarters in Noblesville, IN. Then, when disaster strikes, we’re able to quickly ship and build sheds, providing homeowners with safe places to store their belongings.
Recovery from a disaster is always a slow process. But sheds can give homeowners a sense of safety and security as they start to put their lives back together.
How You Can Participate
After the first phase of our disaster response, IDES will work with local churches to assess if more needs to be done which could include home damage repair, home builds, and sheds.
You can get involved ​by going to Volunteer Opportunities and signing up to get notifications when we are looking for volunteers to serve on disaster sites. You can also connect with our Volunteer Coordinator and disaster staff to learn more about how to get plugged in and what the logistics of these projects might look like for your group!