When was the last time you used your egg slicer?
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You have probably begun to see a line of thought running through the recent DRones. Preparedness is one of the key factors in doing Disaster Relief. From the preparation of your “Go Bag” to where to house volunteers, the Admins and the paperwork, housing and feeding volunteers, chainsaw and clean up trailers, to the final close out of a site… it all takes forethought and preparation. Personal preparation on your part will determine how impactful all of that other preparation will be.
Let’s start with the bigger picture: the deployment of a team, what about the resources necessary to facilitate response: Housing… what, if any, churches are available ( An “available church” means more than a building and a parking lot… more on this in future Drones). Are there sifting grids and chain oil? All those resources have to be thought about and collected before we can prepare.
And, now to the heart of the matter. How about you, yes you, sitting in that chair drinking coffee? YOU are CSBCDR’s greatest resource. But how available are you? How prepared are you? Is there toothpaste and socks in your Go Bag? Would you like to be used more? And if so, what kind of preparations need to be done?
In the chart below you will find what we are calling the Call-out Timeline for the Camp Fire. This is our best guesstimate of when different skill sets were needed and used in Paradise.
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Hopefully what you see is that if you are only certified for Mass Feeding or Chainsaw, your window of opportunity to participate in the Camp Fire response was very small. If you were busy during those periods, your ability to respond was ZERO.
One of our favorite chef’s is Alton Brown. He has “this thing” about what he calls Uni-taskers in his kitchen. They are utensils that can serve only one function and as such are rarely called upon. In the arena of Disaster Relief, there is sometimes only a small window of opportunity for a person with a single certification or skill set. And frankly, versatility and skills not normally associated with DR have become more important. We are now seeing “responses” on a much smaller scale. That’s not to say we won’t ever respond with massive kitchens and chainsaw teams with Chaplains constantly getting in the way (KIDDING, Naomi!!!). Those days are not gone. But there is so much more we can be doing under the umbrella of Disaster Relief. Over this and the next 2 DRones we are going to explore what that looks like. And perhaps we can start a discussion about what DR should look like in light of the world we live in today.
Thinking outside the box and expanding your approach to doing Disaster Relief:
- See the article in this DRone about Ham Radio
- Our good friend and DR volunteer Harry McDaniel shared a ministry that his church (Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield) is doing during COVID.
The
ASK. Sorry, I used to train salespeople for a living and one of the first rules of Sales is to know what you’re going to ask for before you start. This is no exception. There is ALWAYS a list of training opportunities listed in this publication. Please don’t skip over that. Please consider what additional roles you could play in our Disaster Relief efforts, and then prepare yourself. God has some amazing things for His kids to do when they are prepared to do them.
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Disaster Timeline - Who to Send and When
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In the early morning hours of November 8, 2018, a spark from a faulty electric transmission line ignited the deadliest and most destructive fire in the history of California. The heartbreaking stories of loss, grief and heroism spurred many to volunteer to assist, donations poured in, and once the fire was finally extinguished a long 17 days later, two towns were completely destroyed and the lives of thousands of people would never be the same.
As a CSBCDR volunteer, this is the very situation that God calls us to: to feed, to love, to pray with and to help in the recovery of these devastated places and the people that lost everything. If your spiritual gift is running towards the danger and the discomfort when everyone else is running away, it’s important to understand the timeline of disaster.
Embedded in the article entitled “When was the last time you used your egg slicer?”, there is a bar graph showing when each of CSBCDR responders were deployed. There are 6 categories, and it’s important to understand what each of them really are:
- Chaplains: Men and women who respond to God’s call upon their lives to provide care and compassion to hurting people during the crisis of disasters (N. Paget, Chaplain Training Manual, 2016; page 3)
- Mass Feeding: Utilizing existing facilities or deploying a mobile kitchen, the ability to serve disaster survivors with hot food 3 times a day.
- Chainsaw: Teams deployed to a disaster area to fell, buck, limb damaged or dangerous trees including chipping all organic debris.
- Personal Property Recovery: also know as “sifting” through the burned remains of a structure to recover lost property for the disaster survivors.
- Recovery Maintenance and Repair: This is not a formal job title, but rather the overwhelming need in a disaster area for people who can fix… everything. Water systems, lighting, electrical, heavy equipment, construction, painting, debris removal, rehabilitation of a damaged structure, truck engines, generators – the list goes on and on.
- Administration: (we have dubbed this the Laura Johnson corollary – the little appreciated but VERY necessary administrative component) The paperwork associated with disaster response, the logistical considerations, moving people and resources, where those resources are, are those people certified, health and safety of people and stuff… it’s never-ending.
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In the “Egg Slicer” article, the writer challenges the reader to consider broadening their skill base to be more prepared. In the next issue of our newsletter, we are going to drill down on the little known but all too important “Recovery Maintenance and Repair”. And the reason is this – the folks that have been doing this for a long time (and you know who you are)… we need you and we need your skill and your brilliance.
Hopefully, you remember the article from last month entitled “Who is your Joshua?”. This is the next part of your own Joshua! So next month, watch for the call. Because CSBCDR will not be successful and cannot continue without your valuable input.
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Why Ham Radio? We’ve got cell phones - isn’t that good enough?
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Well, Brothers and Sisters, good questions, but first, some history. The telecommunications infrastructure land line system in the United States was developed during the cold war and as such, is pretty robust. The cellular systems were developed during the 1990’s after the Cold War was over, as a luxury service for the consumer and has continued to be refined in the arena of the consumerism, with little thought to a worst case scenario.
Do cellular systems fail? Do phone systems fail in hurricanes? Do they fail in earthquakes? Will they fail in a large solar flare? Fires? The answer is yes. So do they recover? Usually yes, anywhere from 1 week to 1 month… right about the time we’re leaving.
So, if you think about the last disaster you were deployed to, was communication important? We simply can’t do our jobs well if we can’t communicate… locally and over distances. Kitchens have to communicate to each other, to Red Cross, suppliers, field warehouses, etc. Chaplains have to communicate to each other and to leadership. Clean-up teams need to communicate to leadership. Admin needs to communicate to corporations, NAMB and other organizations.
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A simple solution is the tried and true Ham Radio network. But to be part of the recognized, licensed network of Ham Radio operators, users must be licensed, or they are in violation of the law! We encourage you to go to the
National Association of Amateur Radio website
to learn more.
If we have licensed Ham Radio operators we can bring radio equipment with us. By bringing a communications system with us when CSBCDR deploys, we can facilitate communication between our own resources and help the impacted areas to reach resources outside the disaster area. We can even send Red Cross and FEMA forms and PDFs through the airwaves, too.
Ezra and Nehemiah did not rebuild without tools. Ezra rebuilt the temple; Nehemiah rebuilt the wall. They did not do this work without 1) being called by God to do it, and 2) having the knowledge on how and what, and finally having tools and workers to do the job Please consider becoming a licensed Ham Radio operator now when things are quiet.
For further information about equipment, online classes or anything related to Ham Radios, please contact Patrick Dougherty at
N6OPS@protonmail.com
, 818-403-7972.
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4th of July Celebrations - On Our Own
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As the country celebrates our Independence Day this weekend, we are not able to gather and view the large fireworks displays as we once were. Here are some ways you can celebrate in your own home by viewing fireworks live as well as some recorded awesome shows!
Live on July 4 at 8/7c (5 pm pacific time):
Prerecorded:
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DR Calendar
Chaplaincy (2 days, 16 hours total)
7/10-11 Online
Operational Stress First Aid (OSFA)*
8/15 Online
Operational Stress First Aid (OSFA)*
9/5 TBD Northern CA
Courses Sponsored by K-LOVE, taught by Naomi Paget:
CISM: Spiritual Psychological First Aid (TSA and ICISF)
9/1-2 Concord, CA
CISM: Advanced Individual Crisis Intervention
10/6-7 San Pedro, CA
CISM: Advanced Group Crisis Intervention
10/8-9 San Pedro, CA
*Meets requirement for NAMB DR Chaplain Endorsement
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Contest Winner
We had one winner of the contest in the May edition of DRone. She submitted the locations of all the items in the Scavenger Hunt, completed the Word Search, and found the hidden loaves and fishes scattered throughout the newsletter.
A brand spanking new DR shirt was signed by DR Director Mike Bivins and sent on its way to... Evelyn Wiedner!
Congratulations, Evelyn, on going the extra mile and joining in the fun!!
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Help with DRone!
DRone newsletter is for us all, and benefits from your input and perspectives. We need your stories, your photos and your experiences.
Please consider sending your stories, articles, thoughts, suggestions and LOTS OF PHOTOS to Jayne Bauer at
jbauer@csbc.com
. This is a team effort! Won’t you join with us?!
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Disaster Relief Contributions
are gratefully accepted and help underwrite CSBC's current or future response to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc., in California, nearby states or mission partnership countries.
Response services include the preparation of hot meals for disaster victims who are without basic utility services, recovery assistance to victims without insurance resources, cleanup of homes, and transportation for volunteers to affected areas.
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Please share this newsletter with your friends and churches - help spread the word about CSBC Disaster Relief work in California!
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DRone
is a monthly publication of California Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief to inform and encourage DR team members and friends as we serve together to bring help, hope and healing to a hurting world during a time of crisis. Questions/comments about
DRone should be directed to Jayne McClung Bauer,
jbauer@csbc.com.
Please
sign up here
to receive this newsletter in your inbox.
DR Director:
Mike Bivins, 916-673-7622
Editor:
Jayne McClung Bauer, DR Communications Coordinator, 707-689-4501
Contributors:
Patrick Dougherty, Dawn Fulkerson, Neils Johnson
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