If you can get me his contact info, though, I’ll make sure we talk to them and if they aren’t on our list, they will be. Thanks for the heads up.

Have you had the chance to connect with Randy Shell from the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Team? The local group is based out of Florence and they’re amazing. We did their basic training a few years ago and then helped to evaluate a joint exercise with SC-1 DMAT. It wasn’t a competition or anything, but the SBC team ran circles around SC-1…which I was a member of. ;o)

Let me know if I can help get you guys together.

CJ

I certainly agree with your comments. Especially in this day and age where any “outside-the-box” effort from governmental responders can result in negative publicity and lawsuits (regardless of good intent), the faith-based NGOs are pretty much teflon coated in these cases. Who’s interested in suing volunteers who are in your neighborhood on a “mission from God”? Nobody sane, that’s who.

Furthermore, with their ability to reach out to other organizations, these groups often have more resources than you can ever bring to bear on the problem, especially when it comes to sheer manpower.

As far as witnessing, I’ve never been a fan of people “pushing” their religion on me (I just like to remain open-minded to all faiths and beliefs), in my experience, there has never been a case of anyone trying to do that. In fact, I’ve found the more open someone makes themselves to discussion, that’s where some of the “witnessing” occurs, but it has always been good-natured, non-judgemental, and mostly just helpful.

I don’t look for NGOs to be replacing me in the rescue field; they are part of the team, just as the military is. We all have our specialties and I think we just need to avoid any turf battles and work together to help others. Whenever that occurs, it always seems to work out for the best.

Thanks for reading and commenting,

Mick

I had the opportunity to serve as Logistics Section Chief for the first 2-1/2 months after the October-2006 surprise storm that struck the Buffalo and Western New York area, triggering a $150 million dollar federally disaster declaration.

It was my first experience as a LSC for such a large event and it was my first introduction to faith-based NGOs in that context. Simply put, my experience was tremendous.

I cannot say enough about the work of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Organization and their leadership. They were great people to work with and we were happy to support their efforts.

One of the greatest benefits of deploying NGOs in lieu of government agencies is that they can go where no government official will typically tread: over the curb. NGOs can go into front yards and backyards and everywhere in between. They can go on private property to cut down trees and haul the branches to the curb for the municipality to pick up.

Does that public interaction offer them the opportunity to witness at the same time? Perhaps. But in doing so, the affected party’s spirits are lifted and for a short while, their faith in humanity is restored. Where’s the bad in that?

NGOs are not just a Godsend in an emergency – they’re a necessity. Government, especially in these strained economic times, will be stretched to reach all of the victims in a timely manner to restore order to the chaos they endured.

While government is busy focusing on doing things right in a disaster, NGOs are about doing the right thing and for the right reasons. Their value cannot be overstated.