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By Michael Aiguier

An emergency plan is something every organization should have. Here in Maine, we generally have something in place for when we get snowed in, or the electricity goes out, and these are aspects of any good emergency plan. It is the unexpected emergencies that a good general plan covers.

Some things that need to be covered are phone trees, off-site back up of files and secondary suppliers. Phone trees are something that we often have in place already for snow days, and are really good for everyone to be well informed of. You might consider adding non-essential personal to your phone trees, since they sometimes show up out of concern, when safety would dictate that they stay home. Off-site back up of files is electronic and paper, because of the possibility of fires as well as flooding. Secondary suppliers are necessary to have in case your current supplier was not as prepared as you were for the emergency.

One great resource to keep in mind in times of emergency is 2-1-1. 2-1-1 Maine works with the Maine Emergency Management Agency on statewide disaster planning and with county emergency management agency directors for disaster planning on a localized basis. They are able to dispel rumors and guide people to the nearest resources (shelters, aid agencies, etc.) that can help. If you are interested in helping during natural disaster situations, Maine Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster is a partner with VolunteerMaine.org and has many different types of organizations with different types of positions and opportunities.

There are several places on-line that have basic fill in the blank plans for free, but one of the best I have found is the FEMA.gov website. The size of the organization is going to determine the size of the plan, but should not determine whether or not there is one.

Michael Aiguier is a VISTA serving at the United Way of Eastern Maine and a featured blogger.

By Martin J Cowling

In a few weeks time, the Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism will convene under the theme: Compassion-Action-Change.

As I prepare my presentations for the conference, I have been reflecting on these three words and particularly the word: Compassion. What is its meaning? What does it mean for our not for profits? For our communities? Our nations?

In Nick Hornby’s 2001 novel “How to Be Good”, he tells of a character who decides to be “good” to the utmost extent. His goodness becomes sickening and suffocating. This is not the sort of compassion we are looking for.

What is the compassion we are looking for?

Compassion is not a term we often hear in business or government. Even in the not for profit sector, it is not always welcome. The word seems to cut across much of how we are told that we “should” behave in these fields. We are told that we are supposed to be “tough, unyielding, undeterred, competitive and focused.” As a result, compassion, for many sounds like a soft or as passive word.

Compassion is the human emotion prompted by the pain of others. The feeling often gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another’s suffering and therefore ultimately to altruism. The basis of compassion is therefore: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”

This is a value therefore that is fundamental to our societies. Far from being a passive word, compassion implies strength, courage and determination to act. It is definitely neither a sickening or suffocating term.

There are many many volunteers across the globe who show compassion through their own lives.

I was recently visiting a couple who have taken in children into their home. Children abandoned by parents who are unable to care for them. This couple opened up their home and their lives to children who need love, care, good modeling and an education.

In the severe fires that swept Australia in early 2009, volunteers took in and protected Koalas that had been burnt by the fires. In New Orleans volunteers took in the cats and dogs that were stranded in that city.

Compassion drives “Doctors Without Borders” volunteers in Africa operate on people impacted by natural disasters and war, often under the most terrible of conditions. These examples are compassion in action.

When people come to us to volunteer, motivated by the compassion they feel to a person/people/cause or issue, how do we deal with this?

Do they find an organization motivated by compassion? Or do they experience something which undermines that compassion. When people hear about your board meetings, attend your internal meetings or read your internal emails, memos and notices, do they see an organization that’s very soul is one of compassion?

Do they find organizations that help people live out this compassion that they feel? I was working with a charitable organization where one volunteer said to me “I wish we treated each other as well so we treat the clients”. That’s an indictment on that not for profit and its culture.

Do incoming volunteers find organizations that reward compassion? In most volunteer based organizations we reward the volunteers for the number of hours, they complete or how many years they have served. Do we ever reward volunteers on how they live out the values of our organization? Is the “Volunteer of the Year” chosen because they turned up a lot or because their life exemplifies the values wee are seeking?

Our volunteer involving organizations were generally started by people with compassion. How do we maintain that compassion in the future legions of people who follow? Three simple ways?
1. Lets talk about our values including the compassion of the founders
2. Let us deliver our services with those values
3. Let us reward these values

I would be interested in your feedback on how you do this and how we can support each other to do this.

Martin J Cowling is the CEO of People First -Total Solutions and the Keynote Speaker at the 2009 Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism.

By Larry Ullian

I’ve read somewhere and have heard that salaried people consider volunteers more trouble than they’re worth. This seems to be an opinion most often expressed by people in emergency management and related professions – e.g., firefighters, emergency responders, disaster-response professionals. Is this true or this just a myth of volunteering similar to “volunteers are free?”

I’m certain that volunteers are totally committed to their assignment. But paid workers have several things to do – not just the assignment or task the volunteer is totally committed to and wants to ask questions about. Is this how a volunteer becomes a burden? Or is it the need to take time from a job to train someone who won’t be around for more than a year? Is it worth it the salaried employee’s limited time?

There are other issues and problems frequently identified with volunteers such as how to screen for and keep the good ones and get rid of the bad ones. That’s not what this blog is about. This one is about figuring out ways to “sell” the host agency that volunteers are actually useful and can substantively contribute to achieving their mission and vision and ultimately, to the targeted community. Are you in a position to do that?

Have you or someone you know had these types of experiences? What did you do about it? Let me know.

Larry Ullian is a Director of Program Development at USM’s Muskie School of Public Service and a featured blogger.

A very interesting article on gas, the economy, and philanthropy. How will the changing economic times effect Maine’s volunteer sector? Check it out.

Charities Crushed Under Soaring Demand
They are serving more and more needy people while donations dry up
By Bret Schulte

Guest Post by Mimi Mills

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three part series about Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SMCOAD). Part I focused on the mission and history of SMCOAD. Part II focused on the successes of SMCOAD, as well as lessons learned. Part III discusses how to get involved.

Start with just one of these suggestions to get prepared and get involved in SMCOAD!

Individual
• Volunteer! – register as an emergency volunteer at www.VolunteerMaine.org
• Attend a training to be a prepared volunteer.
• Share preparedness information with your family and neighbors
• Ask about the emergency plan at your child’s school or family member’s nursing home.
• Develop a family disaster kit and emergency plan. Remember, the first 72 (hours) are up to you!
• For information on developing a family emergency plan, go to: www.redcross.org or www.ready.gov.

Workplace
• Join a COAD group
• Start a call list for your organization.
• Network with other organizations in your area and in your field.
• Work with others in your organization to develop an internal emergency plan. For information and checklists, go to: www.redcross.org or www.ready.gov.
• Encourage employees to prepare their families and have back-up plans in place.

Community
• Learn what the needs are in the community and how your organization could help. (Can you offer meeting space? case management? food preparation/ delivery? emergency funding? generators? etc.)
• Participate in community emergency exercises.
• Start a COAD.
• Assist with community planning and response.

For Your Information:

SMCOAD meets every other month in various locations throughout York and Cumberland Counties. For more information contact:

York County:
Mimi Mills, Director of Volunteer! York County
United Way of York County

Mimi Mills has been Director of Volunteer! York County at the United Way of York County since May 2006.

Guest Blog by Mimi Mills

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three part series about Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SMCOAD). Part I focused on the mission and history of SMCOAD. Part II focuses on the successes of SMCOAD, as well as lessons learned. Part III discusses how to get involved.

SMCOAD, Two years later:

Successes:

SMCOAD is a viable, collaborative and highly function network that now supports County systems during times of disaster or emergency. 211Maine is the source to receive, refer and record all disaster related calls for both immediate help from volunteers and long term help in meeting essential unmet needs.

• • Hundred’s of individuals and families have been helped that otherwise would not have received help and perhaps may never had recovered.
• • SMCOAD network covers both York and Cumberland Counties.
• • SMCOAD supports another viable network, Long Term Disaster Recovery Committee (LTDR) that serves three counties, York Cumberland and Oxford.
• • United Way’s of York County and Greater Portland, SMCOAD partners, are in agreement with York County Emergency Management to provide a Volunteer Reception Center to recruit, screen and deploy “unaffiliated” disaster volunteers.
• • SMCOAD received grant funding from Maine Commission for Community Service to sustain SMCOAD activities and share this experience through a state-wide Americorp/VISTA grant.
• • SMCOAD article and manual in final draft. This work can be shared with others that wish to start a COAD in their town or region.
• • SMCOAD received national recognition for Project TAHS, Technical Assistance in Homeland Security.

Lessons Learned:

• • Networks make a lot of sense. They build capacity, they are a great source of information and a community can achieve more by working together.
• • Network partners trust each other and can be more creative as they understand that “give and take” is essential to any good network.
• • Networks take time. It is often difficult for potential partners to know how they may serve or benefit from a network.
• Network resources vary from time to time and event to event. It is a challenge to maintain a log of available resources.
• Networks should be dynamic, with many sources but also be comfortable with some uncertainty and changes.
• Finding leadership and a home for this network has been a challenge.

Guest Blog by Mimi Mills

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three part series about Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SMCOAD). Part I focuses on the mission and history of SMCOAD. Part II focuses on the successes of SMCOAD, as well as lessons learned. Part III discusses how to get involved.

As a result of the major flooding in northern Maine this spring, many organizations have expressed interest in Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SMCOAD). They want to know how they can prepare, respond, join or start a COAD in their community. These folks are more and more convinced that, as a community, they do need to have a viable and trusted network to address issues and are looking to SMCOAD for answers. SMCOAD advocates that community wide preparedness and participation is essential to a community’s ability to recover from a disaster.

What is Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster?

SMCOAD is a collaborative of community organizations or individuals representing businesses, organizations, agencies, schools, municipalities, and clubs that recognize the importance of being organized and able to respond in the event of an emergency or disaster. SMCOAD is not a “first responder” entity but SMCOAD does work in partnership with County and local Emergency Management Agencies. SMCOAD is a collective group of community organizations and individuals working together to help minimize the effects of an emergency or disaster on their local community.

SMCOAD has four primary objectives:

• To establish relationships and create trusted networks.

• To promote workplace, family and volunteer preparedness.

• Map the SMCOAD network; manpower (volunteermaine.org), materials (who have what & where) and money/ resources.

• Support Volunteer Reception Center and Long Term Recovery Committees

A Brief History of SMCOAD:

The SMCOAD began shortly following the Mother’s Day Flood in York County in 2006. Immediately after the flood, emergency response systems were activated and people were removed from harm’s way. First responders worked together to serve those in need. As first response subsided and recovery and long term needs became the priority, it was immediately apparent there was not a solid system in place to support the essential needs of those affected by the floods. Pre-planning and networking would have helped recovery efforts run more smoothly with more defined roles and resources. Volunteer networks with their abundant human and administrative resources as well as corporate/community networks are well positioned to organize and respond effectively. The first meeting of SMCOAD was held as a forum, Volunteer Response During Disaster: Preparation, Practice & Action, and served as informational and a call to action. More than 66 people from 45 organizations and businesses attended.

Mimi Mills has been Director of Volunteer! York County at the United Way of York County since May 2006.