To help survivors of recent disasters donate to the Governor's Emergency Relief Fund
Alabama Governor's Office of Volunteer Services
INCREASING THE ETHIC OF SERVICE AND VOLUNTEERISM ACROSS ALABAMA
Hurricane Helene Response
This page will be updated as new information is received.
FEMA
Disaster Assistance - www.DisasterAssistance.gov or 800-621-3362.
For TTY call 800-462-7585. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) can call 800-621-3362.
Persons with a smartphone can download the FEMA app at https://www.fema.gov/mobile-app and register.
Insurance Claim and Recovery Help: Rental, Home, Business
ALABAMA
The Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) is assessing the impact from Hurricane Helene for Alabama. Thank you for your interest in volunteering to assist those affected by state disasters. Assistance will be needed for years to come to fully recover from all types of disasters. The Governor’s Office of Volunteer Services is asking volunteers to never SELF-DEPLOY, as unexpectedly showing up to any of the communities that have been impacted by a disaster will create an additional burden for first responders.
For information about donating or volunteering please visit the links below.
If you are interested in helping, please visit the links below. You can also follow these groups on their social media for updates.
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American Red Cross: www.redcross.org
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Salvation Army: www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org
Florida
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Donate or Volunteer: www.volunteerflorida.org
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Florida Disaster Fund: https://www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf/
Georgia
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Individual Volunteer Survey: Individuals wishing to volunteer in recovery efforts: https://forms.office.com/g/wu90BNWPhh
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Donations Survey: For organizations and agencies that are interested in providing in-kind donations: https://forms.office.com/g/fih30v8WGV
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Partnerships Update - https://forms.office.com/g/UHu4h0dStD
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Feeding Survey - https://forms.office.com/g/PVpLaG6D8d
North Carolina
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Donate or Volunteer: NCvoad.org
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North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund - nc.gov/donate
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Visit ReadyNC.org for state information
South Carolina
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Volunteer or Donate: https://scemd.org/recover/volunteer-and-donate/
Tennessee
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Volunteer, Donation and Resources: https://www.tn.gov/tema/updates/hurricane-helene
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Call 1-800-TBI-FIND – to report a missing person in affected areas
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) members and partners are assisting communities in need. They will serve these communities as long as necessary. For a list of organizations involved in disaster response in the affected areas, visit their websites. Visit the social media sites of disaster relief organizations for more information.
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Alabama - Alabama VOAD (alvoad.org)
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Florida - FLVOAD (wpengine.com)
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Georgia - Georgia VOAD (gavoad.org)
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North Carolina - North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (ncvoad.org)
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South Carolina - SCemd.org/recover/volunteer-and-donate/
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Tennessee - Tennessee VOAD (tnvoad.org)
Home Clean Up Hotline: If you need assistance with damage from Hurricane Helene, call 844-965-1386. You will be connected to volunteers from local relief organizations, community groups and faith communities who may be able to assist. Services include: Muck Out, Chainsaw work, Tarping and Debris Removal. Services are free, but not guaranteed due to overwhelming need.
PHONE VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED
There is a need for volunteers to take calls for the Crisis Cleanup disaster hotline (www.crisiscleanup.org). Crisis Cleanup is the website tool that volunteer organizations use to find disaster survivors needing help with property cleanup after disasters. Survivors call the hotline, a volunteer takes the call and enters the information on the website. All requests show up on a map on the website. Volunteer organizations doing property cleanup use the map to find, claim, and close cases. This reduces duplication of effort and vastly improves volunteers’ efficiency and time.
An organization wishing to provide phone volunteers assigns a point-of-contact (POC) to oversee their phone volunteers. The organization registers for an account with Crisis Cleanup. They send email invitations through the Crisis Cleanup website to volunteers within their organization to set up individual user accounts. These volunteers watch training videos and can then take calls for the Crisis Cleanup hotline.
CRISIS CLEANUP VOLUNTEER CONTACT: GINA NEWBY – 406-461-2388 – gina@crisiscleanup.org
RELIEF AND VOLUNTEER ORGANZATIONS
Relief and Volunteer organizations who are responding, may request access by logging into crisiscleanup.org and clicking "Request Redeploy" on the Dashboard. If your organization plans to help for the first time with muck outs, chainsaw work, tarping, etc., you may click the "Register" button on the login page.
2-1-1
2-1-1 is a free, easy to remember number to dial for information about health and human service organizations in your community. Are you facing difficult times and don’t know where to turn? Are you looking for help with everyday needs? Do you want to volunteer? By dialing 2-1-1, information is much easier to find. Dial 2-1-1 or text or call 1-888-421-1266 from anywhere in Alabama, or visit http://www.211connectsalabama.org/. If you are an organization providing resources, please call 2-1-1 or call 1-888-421-1266.
Disaster Distress Helpline: Call or Text 1-800-985-5990 DisasterDistress.samhsa.gov
Español: Llama o envía un mensaje de texto 1-800-985-5990 presiona “2”
For Deaf and Hard of Hearing ASL Callers: To connect directly to an agent in American Sign Language, click ASL Now or call 1-800-985-5990 from your videophone. ASL Support is available 24/7.
Text. Don’t Call. Texting leaves lines open for emergencies.
Locating Loved Ones. Family and friends are encouraged to check social network sites for information about your loved ones. American Red Cross is helping find loved ones through their helpline 1-800-RED-CROSS or complete this form online: https://rdcrss.org/3TQPblL. If someone is missing a child related to this disaster or any other incident, they need to call 9-1-1 and then 1-800-THE-LOST to receive assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
DONATE
The Governor's Emergency Relief Fund (GERF)
DISASTER VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
If you are already affiliated with a response organization, please contact them directly. They will let you know when conditions are safe and when they will begin deploying volunteers.
Not affiliated with a response organization? You can pre-register to volunteer for Hurricane Helene: https://forms.office.com/g/vZPiSa6pTR, call 334-242-1549 or email info@servelabama.gov. For additional volunteer opportunities visit https://serveal.galaxydigital.com/.
We will keep you updated on volunteer opportunities and let you know when response organizations are accepting additional volunteers.
IMPORTANT: Volunteers must affiliate with an organization. Under no circumstances should a volunteer self-deploy to an affected area! Unaffiliated, self-deployed volunteers can create additional burdens on affected communities and can pull resources away from survivors.
KEEPING VOLUNTEERS SAFE AND HEALTHY
Preparedness for Volunteers and Volunteer Organizations: If you are feeling sick, or displaying any symptoms of illness, please stay home. We love our volunteers, but we need you to be healthy and operating at 100% to make that happen. Our first priority is to keep all volunteers and their families’ safe.
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) VOAD is a coalition of non-profit and faith-based, public and public and private organizations and agencies that respond to disasters by bringing all available resources together to assist those impacted by disasters. VAODS provide a forum promoting cooperation, communication, coordination and collaboration that fosters a more effective delivery of services to disaster affected communities.
Alabama Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (ALVOAD)
Support those who help survivors and respond to disasters. Consider one of the following ALVOAD member agencies:
Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief
Calhoun County VOAD
Civil Air Patrol Alabama Wing
Coffee County ROCC/VOAD
Compassion Coalition of Tuscaloosa County
Covington County VOAD
Cullman County VOAD
Elmore County VOAD
Etowah County VOAD
Family Guidance Center of Alabama
Friendship Mission
Good Shepherd UMC
Hope Animal Assisted Crisis Response
Houston County VOAD
Jefferson/Shelby County VOAD
Legal Services of Alabama
Madison County VOAD
Marshall County Commission
Morgan County VOAD
North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church
Operation Blessing International
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
The Alabama-West Florida Conference United Methodist Church
Tuscaloosa VOAD
United Way of East Central Alabama/1st Call for Help
United Way of Northwest Alabama
United Way of Selma & Dallas County
United Way of Southwest Alabama
Walker County VOAD
FOR VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS
Volunteer Toolbox: Resources for non-profits utilizing volunteers in times of disaster.
Volunteer Hours Tracking: Please see link below to download form to track volunteer hours.
Helpful tips for Donating
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Cash is best! –This allows relief organizations to purchase exactly what items are needed to assist in the response and recovery efforts. Funds will also provide direct victim assistance.
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Confirm the Need Before Collecting – Donors should be wary of anyone who claims that “everything is needed.” Many groups have been disappointed that their efforts and the goods they collected were not appreciated. A community hit by disaster, however, does not have the time, manpower or money to sort and dispose of unneeded donations. Get precise information and confirm the need before collecting any donated goods.
Helpful tips for Volunteering
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Call 2-1-1 to register to volunteer.
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Affiliate with existing non-profit organizations before coming to the disaster area. Immediately following a disaster, a community can become easily overwhelmed by the amount of generous people who want to help. Contacting and affiliating with an established organization will help to ensure that you are appropriately trained to respond in the most effective way.
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Be safe: Do not self-deploy until a need has been identified and the local community impacted has requested support. Wait until it is safe to travel to volunteer sites and opportunities have been identified. Once assigned a position, make sure you have been given an assignment and are wearing proper safety gear for the task.
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Be patient: Recovery lasts a lot longer than the media attention. There will be volunteer needs for many months, often years, after the disaster - especially when the community enters the long-term recovery period.