NECHAMA –Jewish Response to Disaster, The Jewish Disaster Response Corps along with the Bronfman Center at NYU and in conjunction with Knesseth Israel Congregation will be opening up a volunteer project in Birmingham Alabama to help the communities of Alabama recovering from the tornados that devastated the state. We will be helping in the cleanup and rebuilding in many communities around the area. People or groups who are interested in joining us in this work should contact the effort by e mail at recovery@kicong.org or by phone at (205) 259-6986. Please join us in this effort.
Sincerely,
NECHAMA-Jewish Response to Disaster The JDRC, and Rabbi Yammer
Archive for the ‘Deployments’ Category
Partnership in Alabama
Thursday, May 12th, 2011NECHAMA & JDRC DEPLOYING TO THE SOUTH
Monday, May 9th, 2011After scouting the areas around Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of record-breaking tornadoes and floods, and being mindful of the horrible flooding on the Mississippi in Memphis, NECHAMA-Jewish Response to Disaster and the Jewish Disaster Response Corps. (JDRC) have jointly committed to a minimum four-month deployment in the south. Experts are comparing the devastation stemming from these disasters to Hurricane Katrina.
If we have a sufficient number of volunteers and financial resources, we plan to deploy up to three teams that can spread out across the region and provide help to underserved areas and to people in the greatest need of help.
NECHAMA is recruiting volunteers for our southern deployments beginning the week of May 15th. We will initially be working in the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Alabama areas. We are also in the process of making housing and food arrangements for our volunteers. Our goal is to set up volunteer groups that arrive on Sunday and leave on Friday afternoon, yet alternative plans can be accommodated.
Individuals and groups interested in assisting with storm cleanup efforts should contact info@nechama.org or Amy Cytron at acytron@nechama.org . Amy’s cellphone number is (763) 286-6969.
We need to raise at least $100,000 to support this significant deployment. Please donate here. All donations are tax deductible.
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NECHAMA Responding to Southern Storms
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011NECHAMA IS RESPONDING TO THE RECENT TORNADOES
This is a defining moment for disaster response organizations! As you have heard, in a 72-hour period on April 25-28, Alabama and Mississippi were hit by 362 tornadoes with over 300 fatalities. In the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham area alone, 65 people died. The scale of damage from these storms is being compared to Hurricane Katrina! Given the enormity of the damage and the tragically interrupted lives, we can’t lose focus at a time like this. Thousands of our friends and neighbors in those areas need our help.
NECHAMA – Jewish Response to Disaster is on the ground in the Mississippi/Alabama area and is making its deployment plans in order to respond to the overwhelming needs of the people in this region. NECHAMA is initially expecting to deploy for a minimum of four months. Our ability to respond will be dependent upon our ability to raise sufficient funds, hire the necessary staff and purchase the needed equipment to conduct a deployment of significant duration. It will also pay for the increased use of fuel ($4.00/gallon!).
NECHAMA needs to increase its disaster recovery capabilities, thereby serving more victims, while at the same time maintaining its ability to respond to the inevitable natural disasters that will undoubtedly occur during the remainder of this year. NECHAMA will need to leverage incremental resources so that we can help more people, provide increased volunteer opportunities and train other faith-based groups to perform disaster response and recovery. Based upon an initial four-month deployment, NECHAMA will need emergency funding in the amount of $100,000.
Depending upon the availability of sufficient funding, etc., NECHAMA will be in a position to commence our deployment within the next week or so. When it deploys, NECHAMA will coordinate volunteer groups from Federations, synagogues, agencies and other groups of unaffiliated volunteers. We will also continue to coordinate our efforts with our partners in the faith-based disaster response community.
Please contribute funds to make this deployment possible, Click DONATE and/or if you are interested in volunteering in this effort, please contact NECHAMA at 763-732-0610 or email us at Amy Cytron: info@nechama.org.
We will be in contact with you as our plans develop. Thanks in advance for your help and support.
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NECHAMA Update
Sunday, May 1st, 2011NECHAMA has spread our resources in many different states: Here is a summary of NECHAMA’s resources.
Adams County-Wisconsin just concluded the clean-up efforts from the tornados.
North Dakota- NECHAMA’s resources are being used by Lutheran Disaster Response for the Red River Valley flood situation.
St. Louis, MO NECHAMA has lent their resources to All Hands Volunteers to continue with the response to the tornados in the St. Louis area. All Hands Volunteers along with NECHAMA has partnered with 2 Colorado AmeriCorp NCCC teams and Americorp St. Louis.
Southern Tornados NECHAMA has a team in Monroe County, Mississippi, specifically Smithville which received an F5 tornado that devastated the town. We are in the process of setting up operations for this area and have the Vicksburg Campus AmeriCorp NCCC team with us. Once this is up and running, we will be assessing more to the east to see if NECHAMA can be of help in the Alabama area.
Minnesota: NECHAMA has a NSCY youth group coming to join us in going back to southern MN to help rebuild after the Zumbro Falls floods from the fall of 2010
Storm Update April 28
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Thank you to all who have been patiently waiting for our update. As most of you know we are trying to assess all the damage in the south and find where NECHAMA is needed the most. Dan Hoeft – Operations Coordinator has been in St. Louis, MO for the past 24 hours and found that our resources are needed by one of our partner agencies -All Hands Volunteers. If you want to volunteer in the St. Louis area, please contact Bill Driscall by going to www.hands.org. There will be more information on this site in the next 24 hours on how to volunteer in St. Louis.
Dan has been asked by the Mississippi Emergency Managers to assist in the Northeast areas of the state to get systems set up for all those counties who were affected by the storms in the last 36 hours. Dan will be joining our Mississippi partner agencies to start this process shortly.
As NECHAMA volunteers, we need you all stand-by for another few days, until these systems are in place. Once we have more information, we will let you all know where and when we need your help in these devastated areas.
NECHAMA Deployment Update
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011We have an advanced team heading down to assess the situation in St. Louis, MO while we are keeping an eye on the situation in Arkansas along with our team in Wisconsin is heading home shortly. Pictures will be posted in the next few days to Facebook . Thank you to those that came out last week to help in Wisconsin.