Our town was basically a postapocalyptic wasteland after hurricane Michael.
I can highly recommend the United Cajun Navy: After Michael, those guys were in town, set up in a vacant lot cooking jambalaya and taking search-and-rescue requests, and sending crews with chainsaws out to locate your great-aunt that nobody's been able to get on the phone because all the cell towers are down. Those guys are legit, and they've learned a lot since Katrina. They probably have better disaster-zone coordination and communication than law enforcement, these days, since they specialize in situations where there's no power and all the cell towers are down. For immediate basic-needs (food and water) relief and search and rescue, there's nobody better, at least for the Gulf Coast area.
Let me also put in a good word for the Salvation Army. I know they're uncool fuddy-duddies, but like UCN, they were on the ground, set up, and serving hot meals within hours of the hurricane passing. Aid work is their religion, and they don't wait around. They were on the ground after Katrina before anybody else.
I can't say enough good things about Samaritan's Purse, and the Mennonite Disaster Service. Those guys were still working in our county A WHOLE YEAR after Michael. MDS replaced my parents' roof, at a time when they couldn't even pay someone to do it, because all the roofing services were waitlisted for more than six months out. Not even taking new names.
I have seen on the MDS website that they've got people on the ground, right now, in NC, with skid steers clearing debris to enable transportation, which is IMO the most urgent need. If you need an ambulance, or food, or water... roads have to be passable.
Samaritan's Purse is based in Boone, NC, so they are *right there* in the thick of things anyway, and deploying medical help, chainsaw crews, airdropping supplies, and probably everything else humanly possible:
ok thank you this is perfect. I am going to put this all in a post for tomorrow AM along with a few other resources. thank you SO MUCH because you vouched for UCN and idk why but i didnt even think about the salvation army, and did not know anything about MDS. thank you so much for this.
My teams have been on the ground throughout the whole thing. I’ve run the 999 rescue team for 6 years or so now. We are Actively in burnside as we speak. Town is completely demolished. Could share vids etc… had over 300 requests from Help on our online form. Literally impossible to help many of them as the structures don’t exist anymore. Sad situation. Urging people to send as many supplies as you can afford .
THANK YOU - I will share anything you would like me to here and I will also get the info for 999 rescue team so i can share that and people can donate and support - let me know what else I can do to help from outside the immediate area
Yeah it’s mostly a supply based thing as well as trying to perform wellness checks at the moment. Just gathering stuff to support the Burnsville fire department right now. Going back there tomm. Have a crew in swananoa today (no clue on the spelling) and for reference this is our rescue team page with our videos from past disasters we have responded to… https://www.facebook.com/999rescueteam?mibextid=LQQJ4d
We typically don’t raise money but we have to for this one because it’s literally the only thing we can do is deliver supplies or extract them. These peoples small towns were wiped off the earth :/
Thank you so much. I am going to compile this as well as your GoFundMe in a resource post going out first thing in the AM so people can donate. Thank you for the work you do, and it sounds like between your crew and the fire department you're okay on people, but if you need to connect with others on the ground, just know that grindstone ministries are good people if you haven't run into them already. Although I'm not sure if yall are in the exact same area, they were heavy in East TN and just got into NC today. Be safe and I'll spread word. Let me know if I can do anything else.
I would recommend a S A R training and deployment option for people. CAP, Civil Air Patrol. It is worth looking into, the training is worth it, and the Civil Air Patrol does great work. I got involved in high school.
I love this and I will add that as well as one of my friends who offers various trainings in the area. Thank you. I am absolutely doing the SAR training. That is amazing that you got involved in that as early as high school!
Our town was basically a postapocalyptic wasteland after hurricane Michael.
I can highly recommend the United Cajun Navy: After Michael, those guys were in town, set up in a vacant lot cooking jambalaya and taking search-and-rescue requests, and sending crews with chainsaws out to locate your great-aunt that nobody's been able to get on the phone because all the cell towers are down. Those guys are legit, and they've learned a lot since Katrina. They probably have better disaster-zone coordination and communication than law enforcement, these days, since they specialize in situations where there's no power and all the cell towers are down. For immediate basic-needs (food and water) relief and search and rescue, there's nobody better, at least for the Gulf Coast area.
Let me also put in a good word for the Salvation Army. I know they're uncool fuddy-duddies, but like UCN, they were on the ground, set up, and serving hot meals within hours of the hurricane passing. Aid work is their religion, and they don't wait around. They were on the ground after Katrina before anybody else.
I can't say enough good things about Samaritan's Purse, and the Mennonite Disaster Service. Those guys were still working in our county A WHOLE YEAR after Michael. MDS replaced my parents' roof, at a time when they couldn't even pay someone to do it, because all the roofing services were waitlisted for more than six months out. Not even taking new names.
I have seen on the MDS website that they've got people on the ground, right now, in NC, with skid steers clearing debris to enable transportation, which is IMO the most urgent need. If you need an ambulance, or food, or water... roads have to be passable.
Samaritan's Purse is based in Boone, NC, so they are *right there* in the thick of things anyway, and deploying medical help, chainsaw crews, airdropping supplies, and probably everything else humanly possible:
https://samaritanspurse.org/article/pray-for-those-in-helenes-path/
ok thank you this is perfect. I am going to put this all in a post for tomorrow AM along with a few other resources. thank you SO MUCH because you vouched for UCN and idk why but i didnt even think about the salvation army, and did not know anything about MDS. thank you so much for this.
My teams have been on the ground throughout the whole thing. I’ve run the 999 rescue team for 6 years or so now. We are Actively in burnside as we speak. Town is completely demolished. Could share vids etc… had over 300 requests from Help on our online form. Literally impossible to help many of them as the structures don’t exist anymore. Sad situation. Urging people to send as many supplies as you can afford .
THANK YOU - I will share anything you would like me to here and I will also get the info for 999 rescue team so i can share that and people can donate and support - let me know what else I can do to help from outside the immediate area
Yeah it’s mostly a supply based thing as well as trying to perform wellness checks at the moment. Just gathering stuff to support the Burnsville fire department right now. Going back there tomm. Have a crew in swananoa today (no clue on the spelling) and for reference this is our rescue team page with our videos from past disasters we have responded to… https://www.facebook.com/999rescueteam?mibextid=LQQJ4d
We typically don’t raise money but we have to for this one because it’s literally the only thing we can do is deliver supplies or extract them. These peoples small towns were wiped off the earth :/
Thank you so much. I am going to compile this as well as your GoFundMe in a resource post going out first thing in the AM so people can donate. Thank you for the work you do, and it sounds like between your crew and the fire department you're okay on people, but if you need to connect with others on the ground, just know that grindstone ministries are good people if you haven't run into them already. Although I'm not sure if yall are in the exact same area, they were heavy in East TN and just got into NC today. Be safe and I'll spread word. Let me know if I can do anything else.
Glad you made it intact Tesstamona! 🙏💕
You are a force of nature yourself you know!
Great info drop too. Thank you.
Thank you for reading. God Bless
Great work Tesstamona! Thank you.
I'm glad it was helpful, thank you for checking it out. I know there was a LOT of information in here. <3
🙏🏼
I forgot, HAM radio operators! There's networks. Comes when Systems are down.
Yes!!!! I need to learn how to operate them. I’ll tag some resources cuz I do know some ppl who teach how to!! Thank you!!
Thank you for this!
I would recommend a S A R training and deployment option for people. CAP, Civil Air Patrol. It is worth looking into, the training is worth it, and the Civil Air Patrol does great work. I got involved in high school.
I love this and I will add that as well as one of my friends who offers various trainings in the area. Thank you. I am absolutely doing the SAR training. That is amazing that you got involved in that as early as high school!
thank you for this & all the links. 💙