On December 13th, we will continue our long term recovery work in Western North Carolina with a debris removal project on private property. With our new trailer in service, we are ready to clear fallen limbs, move debris, and handle light chainsaw work.

 

If you are available and willing to put in some elbow grease, we would love to have your help. What we can accomplish depends entirely on the number and capability of the volunteers who show up. The needs in our region remain significant, and many of our clients simply cannot afford to address these hazards on their own. That is why we step in.

 

You can RSVP through the Facebook event link below, or email us at info@groundedbootsrelief.org to let us know you plan to join us.

 

Meet our newest fleet member: our landscape trailer. Thanks to a generous donor, we now have a tool that strengthens both our Long Term Recovery and Crisis Response work.

 

A custom sign will soon be added to the back, but the trailer is already proving its worth. It allows us to safely transport the Kawasaki Teryx far beyond the distance it can realistically travel on its own, getting us to deployment sites faster and ready for action.

 

This trailer expands our reach in every direction. In Long Term Recovery, it can haul tools, lumber, and debris. In Crisis Response, it allows rapid transport of the Teryx for reconnaissance, supply runs, and access to areas where larger vehicles cannot operate.

 

It has already been used for debris removal and will continue to support a wide range of missions. This addition gives us flexibility and capability we did not have before.

 

To the donor who made this possible, thank you. Your support moves this mission forward in a very real way.

  

From high school students to older adults, those who volunteer show healthier cholesterol levels, lower inflammation, better BMI, and reduced cardiovascular risk.
Source: NPR.org

(All events pending Blue Skies)
Volunteer Work Day: December 13th  

  

This week, I have been deep in the administrative weeds, trying to get an accurate picture of who our current volunteer base actually is. I have been calling for a volunteer coordinator (still am), and this job would normally fall under that role. Instead, it fell to me, and if I am being honest, I let this particular hat slide far too long.

 

We have a list of roughly thirty individuals who signed up to volunteer, but I have not done as well as I should in reaching out and building real contact with many of them. A surprising number of our emails were intercepted by spam filters, and once the initial messages went unseen, I assumed someone would eventually notice them. That was wishful thinking on my part.

 

So this week, I began calling people directly and working through the list. We now need to categorize volunteers as Active, Inactive, or Not Participating so we know who we can count on during deployments, who cannot consistently show up, and who signed up once and then disappeared.

 

A volunteer coordinator would have prevented most of this backlog and would do a far better job of keeping people engaged, matched with the right tasks, and connected on a human level. Email alone is not enough, especially when half of them vanish into spam folders. A simple phone call puts a voice to our organization and shows volunteers that we saw their application and value their time.

 

Even though the process has been tedious, I am encouraged to finally know who we can depend on and who we cannot. It is a double edged sword, but it is reality. If you volunteered and never heard back from us, your email likely filtered out our response. Expect to hear from me soon.

 

And by the way… want to be a volunteer coordinator with Grounded Boots Relief? You can serve remotely or in person, and it would help us more than you know.

 

Have a good week. You will see us in your inbox again next week. And for those I will see on Saturday, I look forward to seeing you again or meeting you for the first time.