Environment

Meet The ‘Disaster Junkies’: Tragedy Chasers Who Help Rebuild Homes and Lives

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Taking a break from laying sod in a tornado-torn neighborhood, volunteer David Elliott cocked his head to the left. He was trying to remember all the trips he’s made to help rebuild after disasters.

Core Groups of Disaster Volunteers Reach Junkie Status

David Elliot can't remember how many disasters he has helped clean up after.

Elliott went to New Orleans seven times after Hurricane Katrina swamped the city in 2005, or was it eight? He was in Nashville, Tenn., after floodwaters inundated the city in 2010. He’s been to Alabama three times since tornadoes killed about 250 people statewide in April. Wait: that was just last year?

(Related: Tornado outbreak called second-deadliest in U.S. history)

“I’ve lost track,” said Elliott, of Sacramento, Calif.

Core Groups of Disaster Volunteers Reach Junkie Status

Rebuilding after storms is becoming a growth industry as the United States is slammed by more natural disasters, and leaders of the response efforts say the nation’s recovery network functions as well as it does because of a backbone of volunteers nicknamed “disaster junkies.” The small group of people like Elliott travel from tragedy to tragedy shoveling mud out of flooded houses and rebuilding neighborhoods laid waste by busted levees, tornadoes and wildfires. Often, they bring more helpers with them.

Watch this AP report:

No one knows exactly how many disaster junkies are active in the United States, but the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster says a core group of around 300 people travel the country at least six months out of each year performing such work. Based in Arlington, Va., the nonprofit group estimates several thousand more people are like Elliott and make several trips each year helping out after disasters.

Often associated with churches or other religious groups and traveling at their own expense, these volunteers sleep in churches or mobile homes and frequently eat food provided by other volunteers.

Core Groups of Disaster Volunteers Reach Junkie Status

While volunteers and others provided labor worth some $147 million and donated another $200 million toward relief aid in 2008, the last year for which figures are available, some recovery projects still can’t get off the ground because of the sheer number of disasters that struck the country in recent months, said James McGowan, associate executive director with National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

“After all these disasters across the country our resources have really been stretched,” said McGowan, whose organization includes 51 nonprofits. “We’ve been struggling with it.”

Thousands of people volunteer regularly without approaching “junkie” status. The American Red Cross, which is part of McGowan’s organization, said 24,236 of its volunteers helped out after 137 disasters in 46 states last year, but most went to only one or two sites.

Core Groups of Disaster Volunteers Reach Junkie Status

Core Groups of Disaster Volunteers Reach Junkie Status

Dan Burton, a Samaritan’s Purse project manager who has worked on disaster recoveries from Atlanta to Alaska, said the “junkies” provide a knowledge base and experience level that many less-experienced volunteers lack. Major disaster assistance work would be much more difficult without them, he said.

“There’s an array of jobs to do, and they’re just willing to do whatever it is that we have to do,” said Burton, overseeing the rebuilding of a home that was destroyed by a tornado in Alabama last year.

With the spring severe weather season drawing near — and as severe storms this week roughed up the country music resort city of Branson, Mo., and devastated a small town in Kansas — volunteers are still cleaning up and rebuilding from 2011, when the United States had a record 12 weather disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage. That’s more major disasters than occurred all through the 1980s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

(Related: Midwest ravaged by storms with ‘major, major destruction’ and at least nine reported deaths)

Aside from the dozens of tornadoes that damaged or destroyed about 24,000 homes in Alabama on April 27, there was the mega-twister that pummeled Joplin, Mo.; flooding in the Northeast from Hurricane Irene in August; wildfires in Texas and other parts of the Southwest; and flooding along the Mississippi River. And recovery work continues along the Gulf Coast from Katrina, the disaster that many people say spurred them to service in the first place.

The devastation of Katrina compelled Julie Davis to help more than six years ago, and she and her husband Ken have been repeat volunteers ever since. They once were “snowbirds,” or retirees who visited the South in search of warm weather each year, but now they spend weeks at a time each winter performing volunteer work in disaster-torn areas like Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Chatting with displaced homeowner Deloris Mack as her husband worked on the woman’s rebuilt house, Davis said volunteering is addictive.

“We are definitely junkies because you get it in your blood and just can’t quit,” said Davis, of Girard, Penn. “(It’s) just the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping someone, that they aren’t expecting anything and you just come up.”

Mack said such volunteers aren’t just random people who help out — she believes they are sent by God.

“To me they’re angels. Only a God-sent person would come out and build a home for free,” Mack said. “So many homes were destroyed. People were lost and didn’t know where to go and, like me, don’t have the money and the resources to do anything.”

An estimated 44 percent of Americans claim to perform volunteer work. A study published by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 2004 said volunteering typically is a “long-term behavior” that people repeat over an extended period once they’ve tried it the first time. The study said the “vast majority” of volunteers get involved through service or religious organizations, with the latter being the most common.

That’s what happened to Elliott, who takes vacation time off work in California to volunteer for Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization based in Boone, N.C. His first volunteer experience was after Katrina, and he’s been on at least 10 more trips since then.

Experiencing the aftermath of a disaster was intriguing and adventurous, he said, but the work mainly gave him a way to live out his Christian faith with others. At times, Elliott said, volunteering is a stunning experience, such as when he first arrived in Tuscaloosa last year to begin helping with the cleanup.

“I was floored. You can see disaster on television … but unless you’re actually walking in it, it really doesn’t hit home,” said Elliott. “The experience of being here and seeing the devastation was just …. I was awestruck at the amount of sheer power that caused the devastation here.”

Burton, who supervised a tornado rebuilding project where Elliott helped, said the repeat volunteers break down into different categories.

“We do the disaster relief operations, which is the initial people that come in. There’s a group that just does that. That’s what they love, cleaning up or mucking out after floods. Then there’s another group that loves to do the rebuild process. They’re kind of the rebuild junkies. They just keep coming wherever we are in the United States,” he said.

Comments (21)

  • Glenfin
    Posted on March 4, 2012 at 5:58pm

    Black Manta….
    These folks are helping from the goodness of their hearts. I think they are probably ‘alright with God’.

    Report Post »  
  • Black Manta
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 3:30pm

    You can do all the work in the world….do work on top of work…your works will not get you into heaven..you must be born again and repent…

    Report Post » Black Manta  
    • Think_First
      Posted on March 2, 2012 at 4:54pm

      It’s an old argument, but I still say it takes works, repentance and faith, but more importantly love and devotion to God.

      Report Post »  
  • TyrannyNoMore
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 2:22pm

    Could there be a more polar opposite to the Occupy crowd, than these great people ? What socialists fail to comprehend is the goodness that is the American spirit, if simply left alone by an oppressive, overreaching government. Not only that, but I dare say, any one of these volunteers would tell you, giving to their fellow Americans in this way has been one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives.
    A question for you occupiers; How good do you feel about yourselves after weeks of defecating in public and making absolute fools of yourselves for all the world to see ???

    Report Post » TyrannyNoMore  
  • SWENORDA
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 1:56pm

    Given that a natural disaster has quickly lowered the standard of living for those impacted. Thank God for volunteers such as these Angels with Toolbelts !

    Lets compare and contrast two elements of our culture:

    It strikes me that if the Occupy This or That crowd were sincere about ensuring resources in this nation are distributed “fairly”, they would be in Alabama helping the folks who just got hit by today’s tornados. Someone from the press should ask the Occupy idiots about taking their numbers to the nearest natural disaster site and assisting in repairs.

    But then again, we all know that what the Occupy crowd espouses and what they really believe are two different things. They do not care about helping anyone – only tearing things down. You could say the Occupy crowd are nothing more than the two-legged equivelents to tornados or other natural disaster.

    It will take the same type of folks repairing the damage from natural disasters today to repair the damage and impact that the Occupy This or That crowd will unleash this summer. While we have no control over mother nature, we can exert control over the Occupy crowd. I’m all for preventing natural disasters.

    Report Post »  
  • I_am_a_53percenter
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 12:45pm

    This is so great to see that these people are using their own choices to help others; they are compelled, not by government, but by God. They are acting out their Christian values. We need to hear more stories like this so that it inspires more people to do more!

    Report Post » I_am_a_53percenter  
    • Plan B
      Posted on March 2, 2012 at 1:23pm

      A few days after the devastating tornadoes that hit Alabama, my sister who was helping out in a nearby shelter called and said the donations were flowing in, but the people needed under clothes. She said tons of essentiasl were being sent down, mostly new and in great shape. I called some of the ladies from my church and in just a few hours my large car was filled with underwear!! Anywhere I could find extra room I fit in pillows. I know that if I was one of those folks in the crisis, at night I would just want to lay my head on something that belonged to me!!

      Once I made my delivery I found that there was soooo much I personally could do to help. While young parents were trying to salvage what ever they could from what was left someone just occupying the kids time was help. It goes on and on what each individual can do.In Alabama the kids were aloud to attend school anywhere they were staying after the tornado. It was really quite confusing to some of the families so I volunteered in that area helping to organize and get the kids back in school, making sure they had basic needs, book bags, etc. I learned alot from that experience and was ready when Joplin got hit. I made calls out and immediately was on my way with with my car loaded. Not having any relatives in that area I grabbed a tent and was off. Everyone has skills they can give in an emergency. It is very fulfilling. I hope to not be needed this year, but am ready..

      Report Post »  
  • solomon
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 12:41pm

    It would be great if they restored the USA. We are a disaster.

    Report Post »  
  • ROMANS 10-9
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 12:06pm

    YES!

    Workfare!

    W O R K F A R E ! ! !

    What a great Idea!!!

    Workfare…. I love it!

    Report Post » ROMANS 10-9  
  • ROMANS 10-9
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 12:00pm

    .

    GOOD C H R I S T I A N Deciples!

    Great Work Brothers and Sisters!

    God is Good, Amen!

    Report Post » ROMANS 10-9  
  • AmericanSherri
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:56am

    How about we call them exactly what they are – Americans! It is exactly this kind of “help our Neighbor” attitude that made our country what it once was. Blessing to allwho serrve their fellow man.

    Report Post »  
  • Intense66
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:55am

    Leftist commies, atheists…do you get it, or better yet, can you get it??? These wonderful people are using money out of their own pocket to help others, and chances are they are helping you as well. Where did they get their money? From jobs. And there is a greater chance that these are jobs created through…dare I say the dreaded “C” word (and I’m not talking cancer)…ok, I can’t help myself…through CAPITALISM. And oh my…most are volunteering through religious organizations. The religious who go out to help those who have had devastation thrust upon them, and the libs and atheists want religion and capitalism out of America!

    These are people who make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and make me want to do more, more and more! They are truly inspirational and truly deserving of their place in…yes… Heaven!

    Report Post » Intense66  
  • ...EriK
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:54am

    I understand that some of the work requires, or is benefited by the volunteers’s education & training, but it seems to me that this might be an opportunity for those in the entitlement class to earn their keep… Wait! Workfare? Nevermind, just crazy talk!

    Report Post » ...EriK  
  • ripvanwinkle
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:51am

    sounds like fun, rewarding work. I want to be one of those volunteers.

    Report Post » ripvanwinkle  
  • iwojo
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:47am

    awsome …. tempting too.

    Report Post »  
  • wildturkeywatcher
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:42am

    These people are wonderful! After a storm hit Friendswood, TX, a group came through with chain saws and just came right in to help my neice clear the downed trees on her property. She had been very concerned about what she would do to fix the damage, and they just came along and fixed it. They were from Samaritan’s Purse, which is an outstanding organization not only in America, but also world wide. It is led by Franklin Graham, son of Billy and an exceptionally fine leader. I will always be grateful to their volunteers.

    Report Post »  
  • T-2
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:38am

    have the president visit the latest disaster site?

    Report Post »  
  • Cavallo
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:28am

    Junkies? Seriously. These people deserve a more respectful title than what the Blaze attaches, You might as well have called them Disaster Wh*res, or Catastrophe $luts.

    Report Post » Cavallo  
    • Dutchracer
      Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:50am

      The blaze did not come up with their title!

      Actually read the article!

      (Rebuilding after storms is becoming a growth industry as the United States is slammed by more natural disasters, and leaders of the response efforts say the nation’s recovery network functions as well as it does because of a backbone of volunteers nicknamed “disaster junkies.”)

      Report Post »  
  • Mein_Land
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 11:21am

    Angels with toolbelts. God Bless!!!

    Report Post » Mein_Land  

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