When disaster strikes, volunteers respond
Following the 2008 flood, individuals volunteered approximately 564,552 hours to help clean up and rebuild our community. We need volunteers in disaster situations like the flood.
VOLUNTEER NOW
We’re the unifying force. We’re here every day. We never give up. Create a Volunteer Now account to receive updates when our community needs volunteers during a disaster.
LAP-AID
Linn Area Partners Active in Disaster (LAP-AID) is the community organization that activates when a disaster occurs in Linn County. Through this team effort, UWECI works to maximize human resources in preparation, response, and recovery.
EMERGENCY VOLUNTEER CENTER
Each year, we train volunteers to set up and manage an Emergency Volunteer Center (EVC). This team will manage unaffiliated volunteers that often respond to disasters. We hold EVC trainings in the fall and winter, with an annual activation in the spring.
2016 FLOOD STORIES
“A father and son received sandbags from our station. As they finished loading up, I heard the dad say to the son, “How many bags do you thing we have in the truck? About 30? We need to fill at least 60 before we leave to pay back what we got.”
It was such a shining example of people helping people, even when those people were the ones who needed help.”
—Sheryl C.
“I wanted to help with flood efforts, even though we didn’t experience flooding in our residence. Since our children didn’t have school for the week, we wanted to show them how we could help our community since we were not directly affected.
Each day, we helped different walks of life. Our children made a comment about how good they felt after helping all of these people.”
—Kristina C.
“After taking 13 hauls of sandbags, the final house I visited belonged to a single mother. Since she couldn’t find a babysitter, she wasn’t able to go out to get sandbags. I pulled up to her house, and asked if she needed help. She came out to my truck, and was so thankful.
Knowing that my actions had such a positive reaction for someone made all of the time, sweat, pain, and tears worth it.”
—Amanda T.