September 13, 2008
Relief Groups Shelter Thousands of Texas Residents Displaced by Ike
By Brennen Jensen
San Antonio
As the path of Hurricane Ike shifted northward over the past two days to pose a greater threat to Galveston and Houston, this city’s role as disaster-relief staging area and evacuation center has grown.
“All roads lead to San Antonio — we are a hub for responding to disasters on the Texas coast,” says Julie Martinez, citizen corps council coordinator for Bexar, County, who overseas the recruiting and dispatching of disaster-relief volunteers.
As of late Friday, some 360 local volunteers have been put into place, well short of the goal of at least 500 that will be needed to assist relief charities working in the city, including the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Humane Society.
Calls for volunteers have been made in the new media and through area churches.
“The response has been steady, but we are not seeing nearly the numbers of volunteers that we are needing,” Ms. Martinez says. “I know people work, so perhaps this weekend folks will have more time.”
Avoiding Duplication
Ike is the first major test of the new Joint Volunteer Command Center, established in warehouse space behind the city coliseum. The center serves as a single screening, processing, and training facility for all area charities seeking help.
The need for such a one-stop volunteer hub was a lesson from Hurricane Katrina, when, Ms Martinez says, many charities ran their own centers and efforts were often duplicated and volunteers confused.
The center was breifly activated for Hurricane Gustav, though that recent storm did not impact Texas severly.
Volunteers are processed by the center — itself run by about 20 volunteers — in about an hour, which includes a brief back ground check and an orientation class. Volunteers have the option to request which agency or type of work they would like to perform.
Kassandra Zuniga, an 18-year-old San Antonian who will be enlisting in the Navy this fall, emerges from the volunteer center signed up to work as a Red Cross receptionist at one of the city’s evacuation centers. She has never volunteered before, but heard about the need on the news.
“I haven’t been through a hurricane and can’t imagine loosing my home,” Ms. Zuniga says. “They want us to put in 12-hour shifts, but knowing me, I’ll probably go past that.
Pending the storm’s outcome, Ms. Martinez says, the Center may remain open into next week, though it will have to relocate Tuesday; a traveling circus is slated to take over its space.
The city’s Kelly Air Force base is the scene of the largest relief activity here, as hundreds of trucks, field kitchens, ambulances and other relief vehicles assemble in orderly rows.
Buses, also among the vehicles arrayed here, have already brought about 3,000 Ike evacuees to city-run shelters across the city.
‘It’s Major’
On a scale from one to 10 in terms of the magnitude of the response, Captain Edward Alonzo, incident commander for the Salvation Army, rates this build up “a nine or even a 10 — it’s major.”
Presently, the Salvation Army is serving about 8,000 meals a day here, largely to the responders themselves, including drivers, police, military personnel, and fellow volunteers.
“On Sunday we will be deploying,” Mr. Alonzo says. “We have about 60 mobile feeding units and 250 personnel ready to move into damaged areas as soon as it is safe to go.”
Like the Red Cross, where disaster relief coffers are already drained, Mr. Alonzo says the Salvation Army is in need of cash donations to support its work.
“Yes, everybody is low on funds, but it is absolutely not going to impact our response,” he says. “We operate on faith and people expect us to respond.”
Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Senator Hatch Elaborates on Plans for National-Service Bill
Next: Charities Anticipate Major Damages From Hurricane Ike
I would like to volunteer to help in SA. Please advise.
I’m a 74 year old male.
— Bill Holmes Sep 14, 06:44 PM #