Hands On Disaster Response is now All Hands Volunteers

May 19 – June 16, 2008

Project Newton County (PNC), HODR’s second micro-deployment, was launched in response to an F-4 tornado on May 10, 2008 that spanned the entire 30-mile length of Newton County, Missouri. The storm cut a 1/4-mile wide swath of destruction through parts of the towns of Newtonia, Granby, Racine, and Neosho. Approximately 460 houses were affected by the tornado, 200 of which were completely destroyed or left uninhabitable having suffered major damage.

Chainsaws, Pliers and Home Demo

Twenty-one HODR alums and first-time volunteers traveled to rural Missouri and lent a hand to area residents trying to salvage their homes and move forward. Volunteers were engaged in a range of projects including debris cleanup, tree removal, home demolition, repairing and re-roofing a house and farm fence repair. Over the month-long project volunteers contributed 3,960 hours of service and assisted 200 households in the recovery process.

In addition to destroyed or damaged homes, many farmers in the area were overwhelmed by the damage done to trees and the fences they landed on. Many fields used for grazing were also littered with fiberglass insulation and other debris harmful to animals. Volunteers were quick studies at the art of properly repairing barbed wire fences so farmers could return livestock to their fields and begin a normal life again.

Teamwork

During PNC HODR collaborated closely with AmeriCorps St. Louis (AC-STL). Together we lived and worked out of the Newton County Operations Center and joined our administrative and field teams almost everyday. PNC continued this successful partnership that originally formed during Project Gassville when we transitioned the Gassville Coordination Center over to AC-STL.

One of our largest contributions to the recovery of Newton County came in the form of our database that was used to track work requests from those affected. The utilization of our database resulted in a more organized and effective response.

The Newton County Emergency Management Agency was also a major part of PNC’s success. They opened their doors to HODR and let us set up our volunteer housing in their building for the duration of the project.

Back-to-back Projects

By project’s end we accomplished all that we had set out to do. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of HODR volunteers, AC-STL members, and other response groups Newton County’s progress was ahead of schedule by the second week in June.  The accelerated progress allowed us to comfortably exit a few days earlier than planned to head to Iowa where we quickly began Project Cedar Rapids in response to a major flooding event.

Project Newton County was a small but effective HODR project. The efforts of volunteers helped restore normalcy and speed up the recovery and rebuilding process for a number of local farmers and families that were in need, having a major impact on the lives of those that we assisted. PNC would not have been possible if it were not for our dedicated volunteers and donors who make helping others possible.

Bill Driscoll Jr.
US Operation Director
Hands On Disaster response