It's not mission creep. It's the right thing to do.
Following disastrous events, communities need people with a variety of skills to begin the recovery process. They need people who can find basic resources such as healthcare, food and shelter.
After the 2020 derecho knocked out power to his restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, owner Willie Ray Fairley realized he had the ability to continue cooking and serving food to residents who had been impacted by the storm. For weeks, Willie Ray served hundreds of free meals a day, even after his restaurant was up and running again. When presented with awards for his service, Fairley purchased equipment to make mobile cooking easier, and has since taken his services to Texas and Kentucky after natural disasters struck those areas.
Much like Willie Ray’s ability to cook for large groups, the staff, AmeriCorps crew and board members at Bur Oak Land Trust have expertise in a skill that is incredibly useful after a natural disaster: using chainsaws to safely remove storm debris. After the same derecho that knocked out power to Willie Ray’s restaurant, we delved into the world of disaster response, deploying within hours of the storm to help clear trees and debris from city streets to make way for utility and emergency vehicles.
Since that time, Bur Oak Land Trust has developed a multi-day sawyer academy program to provide members of the community with safe instruction on chainsaw use. The Trust’s AmeriCorps program has provided additional derecho clean-up services at the Meskwaki Nation Settlement in Tama, Iowa and joined a Federal Emergency Management Agency clean-up effort for 16 days in the hardest hit areas of Cedar Rapids. Looking to multiply our effectiveness, two of our AmeriCorps members and I joined Team Rubicon, an international disaster response nonprofit, in Mayfield, Kentucky. We deployed for eight days in December to assist with disaster recovery after tornadoes ripped through the area.
The work is difficult and technical; storm damaged trees are often twisted and have metal embedded in them, making them dangerous to cut. The living conditions can be spartan; we had cots to sleep on and access to a shower trailer in Kentucky. The service is voluntary; as a land trust we have no requirement to operate in this field, but like Willie Ray and the thousands of volunteers who respond to disasters with groups like Team Rubicon each year, our organization has chosen to step up to help communities after a natural disaster when they need it most.
I have been asked if a land trust using resources to assist with disaster response is mission drift, and that’s a fair question. Instead of it being a distraction, however, I believe this type of service is meaningful professional development for technical sawyer skills, team bonding and organizational morale. I have referred to our time in Kentucky with Team Rubicon as a masterclass in sawyer operations due to the complexity of the cutting and the experienced mentors we were provided.
The amount of time our organization spends each year on disaster response service is merely a fraction of our mission-related work, yet the impact of our disaster service is massive. My board has heard the phrase “low-frequency but high-impact” plenty of times in the last two years. We aren’t diverting funds from our mission; we are assisting people who have gone through the worst experiences of their lives, and I am proud of that work.
I have worked in the nonprofit sector for 12 years, mainly because nonprofits exist to improve the quality of lives in their community. As natural disasters become more frequent and more communities experience tragedy, I would encourage everyone to think about what skills they possess and what services their organization can provide. Be open to expanding your reach to assist in the disaster response field. It is difficult and it is exhausting, but for us it is simply the right thing to do.