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Disaster Kids
 Hurricane Season begins June 1. HandsOn Jacksonville wants to insure that families are as educated and equipped as they can be during the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Duval County Public Schools and the Northeast Florida Chapter of the American Red Cross join HandsOn Jacksonville in inviting local elementary schools to take part in this fun and educational disaster preparedness program called Disaster Kids.
After a 30 minute of on-site training, volunteers read the story of Herman (a hermit crab) and the Hunt for a Disaster-Proof Shell to a class of elementary students then discuss various aspects of the story. Volunteers then supervise one grade appropriate learning activity related to disaster preparedness with the students.
Volunteer Reception Center
 A major disaster can quickly overwhelm the capacity of local
response organizations. Thankfully, volunteers do come
running to help – hundreds or even thousands of them.
What they do and how they are utilized has tremendous impact
on how quickly and effectively the community recovers.
Often these volunteers aren’t associated with any
recognized disaster response agency. They just want to help.
Many of them have urgently needed skills, training or experience.
So, where do they go? Who do they contact? How can they be
dispatched to where the need is greatest?
HandsOn Jacksonville
(HOJ) has developed a plan to effectively manage unaffiliated volunteers.
In the event of a disaster, we will activate a Volunteer Reception
Center to help ensure that the skills and talents of these
volunteer are matched to areas of critical need.
 A Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) provides a place where
large numbers of volunteers can be efficiently processed
and referred to the agencies that need their services. The
VRC registers the volunteers, takes requests for volunteers,
tracks the staff hours worked and expenses incurred. Additionally,
the VRC provides a system of identification for volunteers
and helps arrange transportation to impacted areas.
In the event of a local disaster many volunteers will be needed for a variety of tasks - everything from assisting with clean up to answering hotlines for help. If you
are interested in assisting with disaster recovery efforts, please download and complete
the DISASTER VOLUNTEER
REGISTRATION FORM. We add your name to our database and contact you as the need arises. Mail the form to:
HandsOn
Jacksonville, Inc.
Disaster Recovery
6817
Southpoint Parkway., Suite 1902
Jacksonville,
Fl. 32216
Have and plan and be prepared! Click the National Hurricane Center to familiarize yourself with hurricane hazards and additional preparedness information.
Neighbors to the Rescue Virtual Warehouse
 Neighbors to the Rescue (NTR) is a grassroots, volunteer-based program of the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund, a nonprofit fund that helps communities across Florida recover from devastating storms. HandsOn Jacksonville is the Duval County affiliate of the Neighbors to the Rescue network and manages the NTR Virtual Warehouse for the area.
The NTR Virtual Warehouse is a virtual storage place for items being donated by the community. Once an item is added for consideration, the NTR team looks at the item and evaluates whether it merits being listed. Registered NTR volunteers look through the database  and reserve items for the families they are helping. Once a match is made, these volunteers contact the donor by phone or email and arrange the transfer.
In the virtual warehouse, donors keep their items until a match is found and transfers are made. If no suitable match is found, items expire from the warehouse database and donors may give them to a location such as American Red Cross, City Rescue Mission, Hubbard House, Jacksonville Humane Society, or
Salvation Army. When you donate to the virtual warehouse, you can note how long you are willing to retain the items you are donating. It's easy!
For additional information click www.neighborstotherescue.org. Thank you for being part of this Neighbors to the Rescue network!
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