Home fires and other disasters can occur any time, any place. As a Disaster Action Team volunteer, you’ll provide emotional support, financial assistance, and information to help families begin the process of recovery. After your initial training, your shifts will include responding to emergencies within 2 hours, night or day, rain or shine, either on the scene or coordinating remotely to provide immediate compassion and care. With experience and further training you can take on leadership and response coordination roles to have a wider impact. At the same time, you’ll be developing skills that you may choose to apply to larger-scale disaster response efforts with the Red Cross.
Many disaster action team volunteers share these life experiences and skills:
- Team-oriented
- Availability and flexibility for at least 4-6 hours per week
- Bilingual (English/Spanish)
- Comfortable with ambiguity
- Empathetic and compassionate
- Disaster response experience
- Can remain calm and patient during stressful situations
