Guiding Principles of a Faithful Disaster Response (part 4)

Still, these questions remain: What do you need? How can we help? Whether the answers to these questions are readily forthcoming or are simply unclear, four guiding principles can direct our individual and collective response (with apologies for the para-phrasing of others’ advice): Prepare. Care. Share. Be in prayer.

Prepare: It may sound odd to say that an appropriate way to respond to a disaster is to prepare. Yet consider that most “spontaneous volunteers” who jump in their car and drive to a community hit by disaster are ill-prepared for what they will experience and do. These well-meaning people often create an added burden because, for example, they were unaware that a large portion of the community was without power, or that the entire community was under a boil-water advisory. Yet training programs are offered for a wide variety of responses that prepare people to be a part of relief, response, and recovery efforts (Disciples Volunteering offers one such training). Use the desire to jump into action in the face of the latest desire as a motivation to prepare for the next one. Good preparations also lead to good mitigation, making a community more resilient should they be affected by disaster. Also, many organizations that provide immediate relief are better able to respond because of support they receive year round. Giving to Week of Compassion’s Compassion Response Fund enables immediate solidarity grants to be sent to those impacted. Church World Service sends truckloads of emergency clean-up buckets and hygiene kits to communities beset by disaster, yet their supplies are running low. Preparing for the next disaster is just as important as responding to the current crisis.

Care: Care enough to ask what help is really needed before jumping into action. A recent article revealed one recovery operation in Alabama is shipping truckloads of donated goods to Missouri. This may be a positive sign that the local recovery received more than they had need; however, some of what they are shipping probably was just not helpful (read: worn out clothes, dirty underwear, broken toys, and patio lights). Care enough to follow a community’s progress long after the headlines have faded; long after everyone else’s attention has moved on to the next disaster. Communities responding to recent disasters are often overwhelmed by offers for assistance while those who were affected just a few months prior find their support quickly drying up. It takes several months for communities to organize a full-scale recovery – and that is when mission teams are most needed. Before planning a mission trip, care enough to make sure your desire to serve best matches the opportunities available.

Share: It cannot be said enough, financial gifts are critical to both immediate relief and long term recovery. Financial gifts, as to Week of Compassion’s Compassion Response Fund, allow the immediate response to be flexible and best meet needs as they emerge. Financial gifts also enable realistic planning for the long term recovery. For a community to know whether they will have the resources to staff a recovery organization or rely on volunteers is critical for appropriate planning. It enables the difficult decisions regarding the distribution of aid to be made. It is always more popular to donate materials or designate gifts for those materials, but without some basic infrastructure there will be no one to see that the nails get pounded and the sheetrock hung. Material gifts and gifts-in-kind are always needed, of course, as are gifts of water, clothing, non-perishable food items, toiletries, and more. As the recovery progresses, more specific needs for goods (like furniture and appliances) and materials (like paint, sheetrock, and two-by-fours) will be known. Again, care enough to make sure that any gift will meet a need before it is sent. And share by preparing, as has already been mentioned, through the donation of kits like emergency clean-up buckets and hygiene kits through Church World Service. By sharing in advance of a disaster, Church World Service and other relief organizations can have much needed supplies on the ground before the dust settles or the waters fully recede.

Be in prayer: Prayer is needed throughout the long recovery. People in the thick of a disaster are buoyed by the prayers of others and long term responders are sustained. Any reaction or response should begin with a prayer that invites our steps to be led by the One who knows all needs rather than by our desire to help. Pray that as we respond we may truly be servants, putting aside our own egos and agendas to be present to those we meet. Pray for hope and healing for individuals, families, and communities affected. Above all, pray for the endurance of compassion that faithful servants will continue to prepare, share, care, and be in prayer in ways that extend God’s grace as we seek to serve as the hands, the feet, the heart of Christ.