The DOVES sponsor several days of Red Cross Disaster Response Training.
Within the Escapee RV club, there are many affinity groups. One group, the DOVES, are members of the Red Cross who specialize in Disaster Response volunteering and sometimes deploy to disaster sites in their RV’s – cheaper for the Red Cross, and much more comfortable for the volunteers. Working with the local Tucson chapter of the Red Cross, 3 days of disaster response training was provided. The Tucson Red Cross chapter was very nice with a great facility.
I signed up for the initial classes and am now certified to be a Shelter volunteer, which means I can set up a cot in an emergency dormitory, or help disaster victims get registered at the shelter, or help serve meals. Eventually, I’ll get more training and hopefully be able to use more of my technical skills in helping out at disasters.
Going to the training was a bit more of a sacrifice than I’d originally thought – I found that there was a dressage show at the fairgrounds that same weekend! I got to meet a couple of the trainers and see some horses – but missed the show. Drat.
Sounds very interesting, and is so useful as well!
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm retired, I've been looking for volunteer work and RedCross does a lot in Portland too. So I'll be able to continue trading and volunteering at home. Lots of the classes are on line now as well.
DeleteI had wondered how one qualified/applied for volunteer work like that.
ReplyDeleteI used to think that they mostly needed burly first responders and medical folk - but there's a lot to do, even for white-haired folk like me.
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