What Does Adventist Disaster Response Do?

Prepare

1. Training:  We offer Donations Operations, Forklift, Disaster Leadership, Warehouse Management Individual and Family Preparedness, Train-the-Trainer as well as many others.
2. Individual/Family Preparedness: We believe that every person should be prepared to take care of themselves for at least 3-5 days after a disaster strikes. We offer Individual/Family disaster preparedness seminars to help church members plan and prepare for any disaster.
3. Community Awareness Events:  ACS-DR is active in community events such as Vegfest (offering tastes of vegetarian disaster food), community/neighborhood fairs and Bumbershoot. Come join in the fun of meeting people in your community. All it takes is a smile and a few hours to make an impact.
4. Church & School Disaster Planning: We teach churches and schools how to plan and prepare before a disaster strikes. A church DR Liaison has recently been appointed to work specifically with individual Adventist Churches.

Respond

1. DR Readiness Teams: Volunteers are trained and ready to respond within 24 hours during a disaster. Teams consist of six people and are placed in strategic locations around western Washington.
2. Emergency Collection/Distribution Centers:  ACS DR works with the media, community organizations and the general public to gather donated goods when emergency needs exist. The donated goods are processed by ACS/DR volunteers and other partner organizations, and then distributed to meet the immediate needs of families in the impacted community.
3. Warehouse Operations: Facilities that accept truckloads of donated goods, are often managed by ACS DR under agreements with federal, state, and/or local governments in collaboration with other voluntary disaster response organizations responding to the current situation. Volunteers accept, sort, and enter the donation information into a computerized inventory database, and prepare them for shipment to local distribution sites.
4. Crises Care Counselors:  Emotional and spiritual care providers can help with the emotional needs of people, their relatives and communities in disaster crises.
5. Long Term Recovery:  After a disaster strikes, supervised volunteer teams are able to clean up the grounds, do repairs to homes, and give comfort to the occupants. This may be right after a disaster strikes but often may be months later.
6. “Rebuilding” Mission Trips:  At times there are opportunities to help communities rebuild homes after a disaster. Whether across the nation across the state, this is an opportunity to help others bounce back from disaster.

Disaster Response Partners

• Washington Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WAVOAD)
• Seattle Human Society (Pet Preparedness)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• North American Division Disaster Response (communityservices.org)
• Washington State Emergency Management Department
• American Red Cross

• Safeguard Your Valuables Checklist

• Family Financial Toolkit – Recovery After a Disaster

Adventist Disaster Response (ADR) is a volunteer network purposed to respond to the needs of people affected by natural and manmade disasters. ADR coaches churches, schools and families to help them develop emergency plans.