County Seeks to Coordinate Volunteers Before Next Disaster Strikes

CREST HAVEN – In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Cape May County residents were very generous with donations of food, clothing, money and supplies for victims locally and in northern counties.
Lacking organization and coordination to properly channel those well-meant donations, half was sent back, meaning a lot of wasted effort and time, according to Martin Pagliughi, Cape May County emergency management director. He wants to ensure that never happens again, because a disaster will happen, it’s simply a matter of when.
Pagliughi and Patricia Devaney, county Human Services director, along with Sheryl Brekke, FEMA volunteer agency liaison, attended the freeholder caucus Jan. 8 to unveil plans for a Community Response and Recovery plan. It will be entirely composed of volunteers from throughout the county who would offer their specialized skills to victims, so that those who need aid receive it, and that everyone benefits from whatever donations might be given.
A Jan. 18 meeting will be held to brief those local volunteers how they may form groups to aid in future disasters. Notices will be sent to church organizations, non-profit groups, civic groups, Lions, Rotary and other service clubs, which may wish to become part of the long-term recovery program to be established.
Sgt. Joe Corson of New Jersey State Police Office of Emergency Management who coordinates volunteers and donations will be among those who help for form the volunteer organization.
“The (Freeholder) director and myself saw what happened when donations get out of control. A couple of days after the story hit, there were lots of donations, but no organization. There were a lot of donations from a lot of different sources sent to North Jersey, but half was sent back,” said Pagliughi as he introduced Brekke, who told the board she’s been working with FEMA over 20 years, and has seen many disasters throughout the country. All disasters seem to follow similar patterns, she said. Volunteers are willing to do anything for their neighbors or even strangers, but without coordination, many times their efforts are wasted when more could have been aided with proper steering.
Pagliughi said there were many who donated food, clothing, even money, all of which were appreciated, but became part of the emergency management problem, how to distribute to those in need.
“This is another branch of emergency management, one that handles volunteers and volunteer donations,” he added.
“Some things we never realized,” he added. “There were situations where people donated out-of-date food. Some tried to take tax deductions from it. There were contractors, and a lot of church organizations that want to help rebuild. Are they legitimate or not?” he asked.
Such things have surfaced in the state as it tries to deal with the massive cleanup and restoration effort in Ocean and Monmouth counties.
“We are starting at the top of this,” he added, noting there was a “long-term recovery progress with Ocean City and parts of Sea Isle City. There are still lots of people who need help in Cape May County.”
Brekke has worked in long-term recovery spanning Midwest floods, Hurricane Camille and many other tragic disasters in between. She said there was “such an issue in the past with mounds and mounds of unsolicited donations, clothing, perishable food, and then always duplication of benefits going to individual affected. We want to make the most accurate and positive use of donated dollars,” Brekke said.
That is where training and coordination of volunteers helps to repair and rebuild victims’ homes.
“We don’t want to waste time, and we want to be able to tell donors what we are using their funds for,” she added.
In the case of Sandy, Brekke noted, “It will take three to five years until the last person is back in their homes in New Jersey, at least five years, and that’s being conservative. We are still working on (Hurricane) Katrina victims in Louisiana, and that’s been seven years now.”
Brekke lauded Devaney, who has spearheaded the local task of contacting volunteer groups.
“For some, it’s like a roller coaster. The will not recover on their own. They don’t have the resources, the insurance, the savings, CDs, or the income available to them or no family nearby,” Brekke said.
Among the tasks of the organization will be to prevent duplication of benefits, ensure confidentiality, and access all possible resources.
“We want to empower the disaster survivor to work with recovering their home. We help them, we don’t do it for them,” she added.
Case workers become important players in the recovery role, she noted. They help link all volunteers and focus them where the need exists.
The Jan. 18 meeting will “bring all members to the table, staffing, technical assistance, volunteer labor, we will need the community businesses, lumber stores, all involved,” she said.
She ended the PowerPoint presentation with “Recovery is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
Freeholder Kristine Gabor, who oversees the Human Services departments in the county, lauded Devaney for her efforts to coordinate the Jan. 18 meeting.
“There is no doubt in my mind. Marty (Pagliughi) and Art (Treon) will agree, during the crisis we needed one agency to be the lead agency,” said Director Gerald Thornton. “It comes from people being so caring and well intentioned. We were overwhelmed with people donating goods and services. We were going this way and that. There were so many organizations wanting to help.”
While many organization offered aid, Thornton singled out the veterans’ organizations, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans which were “most organized.” He said those groups quickly established drop off points, and had available transportation to deliver goods where needed.
“People were so good hearted and well intentioned. Our biggest fear was that a lot of goods would go to waste, that some of those foodstuffs would be wasted and clothing not utilized properly,” Thornton added. “This is really important.”
Brekke told the board if the county does implement the volunteer organization effort, “You will find yourself in a much better place. When the next disaster will happen, this county may be the county that gets hammered. I hope not, but we want you to be ready. I will support the work being done here. You have some great resources.