Groups Urged to Formalize Partnerships Prior to Disaster
National VOAD Members Will be Available for Interviews and Photos Wednesday
May 10 - Friday May 12, 2006 at the 14th Annual National VOAD Conference
RALEIGH, N.C., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The damage caused by the 2005
Hurricane season demonstrated that only the collaborative effort of
governmental and non-profit organizations brings the capacity to
comprehensively and effectively respond to the massive human needs and
sweeping public demand for service. As a result, more than 70 National VOAD
members and other organizations that responded to last year's hurricane
season met in October to discuss roles, responsibilities, and capabilities
of each organization.
"This was a tremendous opportunity for groups to actively prepare to
respond to disasters," says Ande Miller, Executive Director of National
VOAD. "The significant increase of interest in our diversity and
inclusiveness workshop tract at our national conference this year is a
confirmation of the importance of the recommendations."
The recommendations are being finalized for presentation at the
National VOAD annual conference this week in Raleigh, NC. More than 300
individuals representing agencies from around the country and even as far
away as Japan will participate in panel discussions, workshops, and
trainings. Many of these sessions will also focus on high risk populations.
"As we all saw again last year, age, income, and health as examples,
were all issues that impacted the response and recovery," says Tom
Hazelwood, United Methodist Committee on Relief and current Vice President
of National VOAD. "Our goal is to assure that partner agencies are prepared
to meet the needs of high risk groups when responding to disasters."
National VOAD is not a service delivery organization. Instead, it
upholds the privilege of its members to independently provide relief and
recovery services while supporting their efforts to do so by providing a
forum where national voluntary organizations active in disaster can:
Cooperate, Coordinate, Communicate, and Collaborate. National VOAD also
provides its members with a strong liaison and a common voice at the
federal level of government. National VOAD is one of only two non-profit
organizations that is a signatory to the National Response Plan, has a
Memorandum of Understanding with FEMA and Citizen Corps and a seat in
FEMA's National Resource Coordination Center.
SOURCE National VOAD; American Red Cross
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Related links:
http://www.redcross.org
CONTACT:
Charlie Moeller of National VOAD,
+1-828-439-1914; or Scott Snyder of American Red Cross,
+1-202-438-4243
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