After a close brush with Hurricane Irma, a group of Floridians reached out to Convoy of Hope for help. Their community had been spared the brunt of the storm, but their drive to help survivors increased. What they wanted from Convoy of Hope was not food or flood buckets; they wanted knowledge.
Within a short time, Convoy of Hope team members had trained 25 individuals on how to respond to local emergencies and disasters. Whether helping a neighbor after a house fire or preparing for a major disaster like Hurricane Dorian, these individuals wanted to make sure they would be prepared for the worst.
At the training, Convoy of Hope teams instructed courses on disaster preparedness, assessing damage, relief distribution, and the cleanup processes. In addition to instruction about directly responding to disasters, attendees learned how to reach out to their local governments so they would be included in the master response plan for their area.
When it was announced that Florida would be directly in the path of Hurricane Dorian, members of this group of trained responders reached out to Convoy of Hope. On Saturday, a truck of supplies will be delivered to help resource first responders and to have immediate supplies for them to distribute to those affected by the storm.
Training a network of volunteers is a vital part of Convoy’s master plan of equipping local communities — not only with product and knowledge of our staff, but with the ability to care for their community long-term.
