VISTA Corridor Flood Recovery
August 11, Hands On
VISTAs at work:
Hands On Disaster Response
AmeriCorps VISTA summer associates Jeremey Horan and Tiffany Kelley check out work crew schedules in the Hands On Disaster Response Cedar Rapids office, which is a semi trailer painted, decorated and equipped for the group. Jeremey, Tiffany and a third summer associate, Andrew Kerr, work exclusively with Hands On.
Jeremey Horan shows off the organized office site of Hands On Disaster Relief, in a semi trailer parked outside of Cedar Hills Community Church in northwest Cedar Rapids.
Andrew Kerr painted the old semi trailer with Hands On's signature gray and volunteers decorate it with their own hand prints in blue paint.
Hands On Disaster Response
AmeriCorps VISTA summer associates Jeremey Horan and Tiffany Kelley check out work crew schedules in the Hands On Disaster Response Cedar Rapids office, which is a semi trailer painted, decorated and equipped for the group. Jeremey, Tiffany and a third summer associate, Andrew Kerr, work exclusively with Hands On.
Jeremey Horan shows off the organized office site of Hands On Disaster Relief, in a semi trailer parked outside of Cedar Hills Community Church in northwest Cedar Rapids.
Andrew Kerr painted the old semi trailer with Hands On's signature gray and volunteers decorate it with their own hand prints in blue paint.
As of August 11, 2008, Hands On Disaster Response crews Linn County:
- 190 homes mucked/gutted
- 1,147 volunteers
- 10,000+ volunteer hours
- $200,000+ labor savings
August 11, 2008, Hands On Disaster Response site at Cedar Hills Community Church, Cedar Rapids.
From a semi trailer converted into an office, three AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) summer associates help plan and coordinate groups of volunteers with the organization Hands on Disaster Response.
On this afternoon, Andrew Kerr is out with a cleanup crew while Jeremey Horan and Tiffany Kelley help to staff the office.
Tiffany, 27, of Branson, Missouri, has been in Cedar Rapids doing flood recovery with Hands on since June 19.
She plans to stay until October. Becoming a VISTA member seemed like a good opportunity to be part of both organizations, she said.
She has been coordinating volunteer groups, assessing potential work sites for clean up and going out into the field mucking and gutting. Eventually, the group will also coordinate drywall installation.
There's more work to be done than one organization can handle, said Jeremey Horan, explaining that Hands On and East Central Iowa Volunteer Reception Center are essentially doing the same type of work.
"We have an abundance of work going on," he said.
As of August 11, Hands On had helped coordinate local work groups and those from 33 states "and one from Paris, France," Tiffany said.
Jeremey, 27, of Buffalo, New York, had been a volunteer with Hands On during several previous projects and knew the organization would be in Iowa. Volunteering doesn't really pay all that well, he said, but through contacts he learned of the opportunity to be a VISTA member and receive a living allowance for two months.
"It worked out really well," he said.
Part of what he does is assessing needs.
"It's just a matter of talking to people," he said.
He talks to homeowners to learn if they need help or know of someone else who does.
"You also get some of the local stories behind the gutting and mucking," he said.
Tiffany said it was encouraging to note that when Hands On arrived in Cedar Rapids nearly two months earlier, people had already begun to clean out debris from flood-damaged homes and businesses. She never knows what to expect when arriving in a community just struck my disaster.
"We were really impressed with what a proactive community it was," she said. "A lot of homeowners are working side by side with us."
Jeremey agreed, noting the local "just get it done" attitude.
To stay connected with VISTA Corridor Flood Recovery, the Hands On VISTA members regularly talk with management and attend long-term recovery meetings.
"It's been a unique opportunity for both groups (VISTA and Hands On) to collaborate and get a little more done, from two different perspectives," Jeremey said.
Hands On cleanup crews stay at Cedar Hills Community Church, in northwest Cedar Rapids. One of Andrew's daily jobs it to cook breakfast for the entire crew.
Church members have done more than provide space for the group.
"There's even some ladies from the church who are doing our laundry," Tiffany said.
She is able to take time off to work with Hands On and VISTA because she is self employed as a business planning and marketing consultant.
"It gives me the freedom to set my own schedule. It's something I'm juggling on the side as I do this up here also," she said.
Prior to arriving in Cedar Rapids, Jeremy was a "ski bum" in Aspen, Colorado, having made the leap from the corporate world years before.
"This kind of is my real life."
From a semi trailer converted into an office, three AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) summer associates help plan and coordinate groups of volunteers with the organization Hands on Disaster Response.
On this afternoon, Andrew Kerr is out with a cleanup crew while Jeremey Horan and Tiffany Kelley help to staff the office.
Tiffany, 27, of Branson, Missouri, has been in Cedar Rapids doing flood recovery with Hands on since June 19.
She plans to stay until October. Becoming a VISTA member seemed like a good opportunity to be part of both organizations, she said.
She has been coordinating volunteer groups, assessing potential work sites for clean up and going out into the field mucking and gutting. Eventually, the group will also coordinate drywall installation.There's more work to be done than one organization can handle, said Jeremey Horan, explaining that Hands On and East Central Iowa Volunteer Reception Center are essentially doing the same type of work.
"We have an abundance of work going on," he said.
As of August 11, Hands On had helped coordinate local work groups and those from 33 states "and one from Paris, France," Tiffany said.
Jeremey, 27, of Buffalo, New York, had been a volunteer with Hands On during several previous projects and knew the organization would be in Iowa. Volunteering doesn't really pay all that well, he said, but through contacts he learned of the opportunity to be a VISTA member and receive a living allowance for two months.
"It worked out really well," he said.
Part of what he does is assessing needs.
"It's just a matter of talking to people," he said.
He talks to homeowners to learn if they need help or know of someone else who does.
"You also get some of the local stories behind the gutting and mucking," he said.
Tiffany said it was encouraging to note that when Hands On arrived in Cedar Rapids nearly two months earlier, people had already begun to clean out debris from flood-damaged homes and businesses. She never knows what to expect when arriving in a community just struck my disaster.
"We were really impressed with what a proactive community it was," she said. "A lot of homeowners are working side by side with us."
Jeremey agreed, noting the local "just get it done" attitude.
To stay connected with VISTA Corridor Flood Recovery, the Hands On VISTA members regularly talk with management and attend long-term recovery meetings.
"It's been a unique opportunity for both groups (VISTA and Hands On) to collaborate and get a little more done, from two different perspectives," Jeremey said.
Hands On cleanup crews stay at Cedar Hills Community Church, in northwest Cedar Rapids. One of Andrew's daily jobs it to cook breakfast for the entire crew.
Church members have done more than provide space for the group.
"There's even some ladies from the church who are doing our laundry," Tiffany said.
She is able to take time off to work with Hands On and VISTA because she is self employed as a business planning and marketing consultant.
"It gives me the freedom to set my own schedule. It's something I'm juggling on the side as I do this up here also," she said.
Prior to arriving in Cedar Rapids, Jeremy was a "ski bum" in Aspen, Colorado, having made the leap from the corporate world years before.
"This kind of is my real life."
