BATON ROUGE, La. — More than 2,000 volunteers from 41 states and three countries converged in Acadiana last week to help survivors still struggling to recover from the August 2016 flood.
FEMA’s Voluntary Agency Liaison (VAL) and Louisiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) helped faith-based organization, Eight Days of Hope, turn a dream into the reality of a massive rebuilding effort.
“We take a whole-community approach” says FEMA’s VAL Supervisor, Angele Rogers. “Our goal is to identify resources and find residents who have unmet needs. We provide extra-handholding to make sure they have reached out to the proper organizations for help.”
Volunteers completed over $4 million of work on flood damaged homes and completed more than 300 repair and rebuild jobs. Also accomplished during this eight-day project, from June 4-11:
Worked on more than 130 homes80 homes received new furnitureWorked on four community projectsMore than 100 tons of debris was removedMore than 70,000 volunteer hours were completedThis is the 13th recovery operation for Eight Days of Hope according to the organization’s president and co-founder Steve Tybor, III, who said “We can help somebody with their flooring, dry wall, or hang their kitchen cabinets that they haven’t had for seven or eight months. We just want to encourage people to let them know they haven’t been forgotten, and that’s what Eight Days of Hope is all about.”
While Eight Days of Hope provided the voluntary manpower, the construction materials and appliances were provided through donations from the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, Cox Communications, the American Red Cross and United Way.
Jessica Vermilyea with LA VOAD says most of the projects during the Eight Days of Hope were completed, but some will need additional assistance. “Recovery is a local event. It starts local and ends local. It’s the local community’s responsibility to complete the recovery,” said Vermilyea, “Recovery could take one year or five years, or like with Katrina, 10-20 years.”
FEMA VALs work closely with the National Disaster Recovery Support framework to help with community outreach after a disaster. Rogers says “Communities don’t exist without people staying, so we participate in town halls and other discussions about infrastructure, economics, housing and social services.”
FEMA’s philanthropy team under NDRS became aware of the Eight Days of Hope initiative working with the support of Louisiana Disaster Recovery Alliance. The philanthropy team identified needs for furniture and household items, which were donated to the recovery group. Elaborate furniture displays were also set up in the Cajundome where flood survivors selected items for their newly repaired homes.
“This is a great example of collaboration among all the partners to help provide these survivors with the household items they need to get back into their homes and complete their recovery,” said FEMA’s Philanthropy Advisor Denise Gilliam.
Responsibility for coordinating volunteers and non-governmental agencies falls on the shoulders of the state. Louisiana is a member of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD). This national association of voluntary and non-profit groups is dedicated to providing critical help to survivors and their communities in all phases of a disaster. They play an important role in assisting families with unmet needs and, at times, helping repair or rebuild homes. The VALs coordinate information and resources with the Louisiana VOAD to work as effectively as possible.
