Gold hearts and red tape I just finished reading an article (see below) about 3 women in Dunkerton who have been helping those affected the tornadoes in the mid-west. It seems from the article that the got busy after the disaster and prepared hot meals and got supplies of food, water and clothing collected to help neighbors in need. They have accomplished a great service. It is frankly incredible to see the amount of help they have been able t offer in such a short amount of time under challenging conditions.
In the midst of helping they were told to stop giving out food to the needy etc by local emergency response agency. It seems very harsh that aid agencies are battling over a disaster turf. Yet the reality is that this sort of situation is very common ask anyone that was in NYC after 9-11!
Unfortunately egos, publicity and donation opportunities are all part of the turf issue. It’s a shame.
When we look at the issues from one perspective we see private citizens helping neighbors in need. I applaud that a billion percent. We need to be doing more of this in our communities.
Yet I can also see the other side as well. When a disaster occurs there are armies of persons most with good and generous hearts that are willing to help but have at times gotten over their heads in complex and complicated disaster situations. Disasters brings out the best and the worst in people and people have been hurt.
I agree that delivering hot meals for those in need is fantastic yet I can also see that these women were possibly not protected from the potential of legal lawsuits. What IF a meal had for some strange unforeseen reason had say peanut oil in it and the person who received it is allergic to peanuts. Say the recipient has a reaction to the peanut oil and tehn later the person (if they are alive after the reaction) or their loved ones go and sue the women who gave the meal out of a compassionate heart.
I’m no lawyer so I have no idea of the legal issues that may be able to protect or harm these women of compassion and mercy, but I know just walking into a lawyer’s office can cost big bucks. In our legal age of law suits it is a shame tht such compassion could be twisted.
Another issue that is not seen on the surface but a very real concern is the possibility that some sick-evil minded folks like to do MORE harm in a disaster situation. Remember the Tylenol pain pills that were tampered with and resulted in some people dying? To my knowledge no one was ever caught or convicted, and innocent lives were taken. Disaster specialists try to insure that disaster victims are not inflicted more pain by sick and evil minded people in times of distress.
Then there is the greedy onslaught of ‘disaster helpers’. These ‘disaster helpers’ are only out to help themselves to the money of desperate families in need of everything from tree removal from a roof to emergency electric issues, etc. These so-called ‘helpers’ are scam artist of the purest form who demands huge upfront money and then never show up for the work to be done and there is no recourse for the disaster victims. There have been cases of disaster necessities enticements to get the confidence of the disaster victim and family. These emergencies necessities like water, ice or food are suppose to be with no strings attached. Yet later the ‘do-gooders’ sock it to the victims’ with sky high bills for every little thing they do INCLUDING the initial enticements.
Oh lets not also forget that there are those who are collecting for the widows of the unknown soldiers campaigns. Many a kind-hearted person will quickly open up their checkbook and donate erroneously to shysters stating it is widows of someone who has died that no one can identify to know if they were even ever married!. In disasters this happens more times than you can ever imagine!
Emergency aid agencies and organizations have cross swords with these unscrupulous types in every disaster that has ever hits anywhere. So I can see that they want to protect the disaster victims as well as protect their own self interests as well when it comes to spontaneous aid services.
As with everything in life, there has got to be a balance. Balance in a disaster venue is most vital - more so than even in ordinary life where it is important. One way to do this is for local organizations such as the Lion’s Club and faith centers to train their own members so when a disaster occurs in a region, these local groups can go out under some form of helper protection as well as to protect the disaster victims who are already hurting beyond general endurance.
One of the best ways for individuals not to become the compounded disaster victims is to take responsibility for their own lives and that of their loved ones. This means taking responsibility for your own life by getting prepared with your own emergency preparedness necessities to help sustain your self. By having low cost emergency survival kits fortified by disaster preparedness information, individuals, families and businesses will be much better prepared to take care of their own needs and the neighbor next door with the tree on the roof. They can do al this while not becoming a victim of the emergency aid distribution disaster that can sometimes occur ( remember Hurricane Katrina). I want to say up front that the not for profit aid organizations such as the Salvation Army are less red tape political nightmares than the government bureaucratic agencies are at times Yet all have guidelines in place for specific reasons and many of those reasons when really examined are very sound reasons.
There is one strong suggestion I will make that I hope is heard loud and clear. No mater how stressed the disaster venue officials are there MUST be sensitive selection of vocabulary -- especially within official leadership. Calling a generous ad hoc group of civilian support a “rogue outfit’ was a very poor choice of words. In a disaster event, feelings are raw on all insides and poor sense of appreciation. Understanding of intentions and description of actions can be inciting at worst and misunderstood at the least. See the below article for what I mean. In the case of the chairperson of the Black Hawk County Board Of Supervisors the consequences of such poor actions and words has caused more damage, pain and victimization on top of the initial disaster.
COMMENTS WELCOMED!
Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.
All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.
Be Safe – Be Prepared – Help Others!
Terrie
www.trainforahurricane.com
Thursday, June 5, 2008 1:32 PM CDT
Dunkerton moms clash with emergency officials
By MATTHEW WILDE, Courier Staff Writer
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/06/06/news/top_story/10384330.txt
DUNKERTON --- Three Dunkerton moms just wanted to help friends and neighbors cope with the aftermath of last month's destructive and deadly tornado.
They delivered hot meals, gathered supplies and helped storm victims find storage for belongings. Recognition for their efforts was the last thing on the minds of Jenifer Cooper, Lisa Wells and Breann Comer, the women say.
The trio are being noticed all right, but for a different reason. County and disaster relief officials say the women are hampering official relief efforts, and their form of vigilante volunteerism isn't needed. During the past week, a controversy has erupted in the community, pitting the Dunkerton moms and people grateful for their service against county and emergency officials.
John Miller, chairman of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, said the ladies didn't coordinate their efforts with the city, county and Red Cross. He said volunteers trained to handle hot food should be delivering meals to keep people safe. Plus, Miller wants to avoid duplication of services that have occurred. He said that wastes time, which only hinders the relief effort.
Wells, a 42-year-old mother of two and stepmother of two, said the three got involved because the city and other agencies didn't do enough initially --- though she said that has since changed --- to help people without power or who lost homes due to the tornado. She said many residents in the Woodland Estates mobile home park just north of town, where she and Cooper live, and outlying areas were without nutritious hot meals and supplies initially.
The moms think neighbors need to jump right in and help when a disaster strikes. That's why they called the Red Cross and Northeast Iowa Food Bank for food and then helped collect items such as clothes, rakes, diapers and other necessities.
For several days after the disaster, Wells said a Red Cross emergency response vehicle came to Woodland Estates with hot food. Red Cross workers would dish up meals and the Dunkerton Moms, along with others, would deliver the food to tornado victims and cleanup crews.
Wells said they offered to help because locals knew where to go, which would speed up the process. Black Hawk County supervisors, she said, didn't see it that way.
"All I know is they tried shutting us down," Wells said, referring to county officials telling them to stop. "I said 'you'll have to come out and arrest us.' To get that call really shot down our morale."
The volunteers stopped delivering hot food earlier this week.
Miller said the intentions of the women are sincere. However, he said they went about the relief effort in the wrong way.
The supervisor, himself a former Federal Emergency Management Agency regional official, said they should have worked with Dunkerton and Black Hawk County's Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross. Miller believes the relief effort from the city and county was more than adequate.
Many problems arose from the uncoordinated relief efforts, Miller said.
He cited a few examples:
--- It has caused confusion on where people should call to volunteer, donate goods or get items. Relief supplies are available at the Dunkerton Community Center and Cooper's residence at 322 Woodland Drive.
--- Clothes and other donations should go through St. Vincent de Paul and Goodwill. But some are sending them to the Dunkerton Moms.
--- The county and the Dunkerton Moms both called transportation companies, arranging for semi trailers to store personal belongings.
"We have two concerns: not coordinating and delivering meals that could pose health concerns. We checked with the Red Cross; they and EMA would have done it (delivered all meals) if people contacted them," Miller said.
"We don't know who has been served and who hasn't," he added. "From my perspective they're a rogue outfit."
To Cooper, a 35-year-old mother of three, and her friends, helping with the relief effort are anything but rogue. They were only trying to help.
When the group offered to deliver hot meals, which she says were supplied by the Red Cross, to hundreds of cleanup workers at 20 sites, they thought they were doing a good thing. Since the local volunteers know the area, Cooper said they were able to deliver meals in five to 10 minutes in most cases. The food never got cold, she said.
Cooper said she did ride in a Red Cross vehicle to deliver meals as well, and it took 3 1/2 hours.
But there times as well when they said the Red Cross dropped off meals and the moms delivered them.
"They would dish out the meals and we would deliver," Cooper said, adding the county threatened action against them if they didn't stop.
"This is not about three moms, it's about 20 families that lost their houses," she continued. "It's shouldn't be a political tug of war. When politics get involved, people suffer."
The Dunkerton Moms have been critical of Dunkerton and the county's response to the disaster. Other volunteers in Dunkerton, like Cathy Rigdon, said both entities have done a wonderful job helping tornado victims and are upset the ladies would bash them.
She said city and county officials care about the tornado victims and have been constantly trying to help.
Red Cross spokeswoman Maryann Sinkler , who's based in Des Moines but is working out of Cedar Falls during the disaster, doesn't think the Dunkerton Moms were delivering Red Cross meals. She said it's against policy to have anyone that's not a Red Cross-trained volunteer handle and deliver hot food.
"That's not something we would do," Sinkler said. "I'm not sure why (Cooper and Wells) are saying that."
Delyle Russell, of 7035 N. Pilot Grove Road, said he doesn't care how hot food arrived to feed hungry volunteers at his acreage after the tornado wiped out buildings and trees; he's just glad it did.
Russell assumed the food was from the Red Cross. He thanked the Dunkerton Moms for their help.
"I can't testify where it came from, just thank God we got the food," he said. "It was a blessing."
Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.
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