Waves of Volunteers Lift D'Iberville Residents Out of the Debris
Release Date: April 4, 2006
Release Number: 1604-303
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BILOXI, Miss. - From the highway, the D'Iberville Volunteer Village looks like a cross between a military installation and a summer camp. There are tents, refrigerated food trucks, storage sheds, striped carnival-like tents, FEMA travel trailers, military tents and portable toilets from end to end. E.W. "Ed" Cake Jr., Ph.D., is the vice-president of the D'Iberville Volunteers Foundation and the associate director of volunteers and services at the village. He's an environmental consultant for public and private clients. His specialty is oyster biology. Because Katrina temporarily wiped out coastal oyster beds, Ed's consulting business is on hiatus. He was looking for an opportunity to serve the community and he found one. He works 18-20 hours a day assigning daily jobs to the volunteers. He has been doing this for over six months since Katrina hit town. He has a title, a business card and no paycheck.
Located on the grounds of three contiguous baseball fields owned by Harrison County, the camp originally housed displaced and evacuated storm victims. Today the tents are used for volunteers who have access to a kitchen, showers, laundry facilities, a dining area, a meeting/gathering space, and shelter for donated supplies.
Irene McIntosh has a doctorate in counseling psychology and teaches at the University of South Alabama. She is the president of the foundation and the director of volunteers and services at the village, both volunteer positions. Irene spends much of her time building relationships, researching grants and expanding the network that keeps the whole venture running. She and Ed reached out to friends and colleagues to secure the $30,000 needed to keep the volunteer village operating. Though the foundation uses the city's tax-exempt status, they receive no direct funding from the city. But they both give credit to D'Iberville Mayor Rusty Quave for his unwavering support and resourcefulness which have made the challenging project possible on every level.
Ed's cell phone rings constantly. Staff and volunteers continually wander in and out with issues needing Ed's guidance. They post a new "wish list" on the office door every week. They have rarely had to solicit donations. People simply show up and drop off much needed items like chain saws, pick-up trucks, flatbed trailers, power tools, nail guns and compressors.
Sometimes help comes from unexpected sources: on day 19 after the storm, Korea sent 100 brand new, top-end mattresses (complete with therapeutic magnets) to the site. The People's Republic of China sent dozens of tents and cots, which are still in use. Additional help has come from Spain, Finland, Mexico and Canada. Help from the United States includes the many communities that have adopted the city: Avon, Ind.; Normal, Ill.; Cayuga, Ohio; Southwick, N.J., Pagosa Springs, Colo. and La Grange County, Ind. The adopters, like their international counterparts, have been generous: a huge refrigerated tractor trailer for food storage, a recent check for $8,000, and an ongoing and diverse mother lode of tools and supplies.
They've had a total of 2,200 volunteers from all over the nation in the six months since the storm contributing a total of 90,000 hours of service. Irene points out that they all pay their own way to the site and recently a policy decision was made to ask volunteers to pay $10 daily to help defray the cost of utilities and food. Their accomplishments include completing two door-to-door needs assessments for all 8,000 residents of the city. They are about to undertake a third survey. They also muck out houses, tarp and shingle roofs, remove debris and trees and rehab houses. They have a database that is updated every night so they always know exactly where they are in terms of needs and progress.
The assessments that the volunteers have conducted have helped the operation run like a very well-oiled machine. With the cooperation of city and county partners, and the help of the Interfaith Disaster Task Force, volunteers have rehabbed 358 homes, enabling folks to get out of FEMA trailers and tents and get back into their homes. Another 268 houses are in process and yet another 1,100 are scheduled for the next phase of rehab.
Irene and Ed send out postcards to thank every volunteer. The last paragraph reads, "Your physical presence put a 'body' to the face of compassion; your expressions of love and caring renewed our spirits. You have lifted us from the debris physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually." That sense of compassionate spirit is palpable everywhere at the D'Iberville Volunteer Village.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Thursday, 06-Apr-2006 11:23:01