In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we were incredibly fortunate. Countless individuals and organizations stepped up to provide essential items, things we could distribute quickly and directly to the communities who needed them most. People found us. They gave generously. And because of that, we were able to serve.
But one thing I couldn’t help but notice, outside of a few major organizations, was the absence of experienced and structured, on-the-ground distribution support in those earliest days. What that meant, in practice, was that the responsibility often fell on local groups and churches. Groups whose missions had nothing to do with disaster response. Groups without the trucks, the systems, or the bandwidth. And yet, they showed up. They made do. They found a way because their neighbors needed them. That shouldn't be the default.
At Grounded Boots Relief, we want to be the experienced team that shows up so locals don’t have to carry the whole load. We want to be the outside support that isn’t sidelined by the same devastation. We want those directly impacted to be able to focus on their own families, their own homes, their own healing, without also having to run a distribution center out of a borrowed garage.
Of course, we’ll still onboard locals during disaster response. We always will. But we refuse to build a system that requires those who just lost everything to become first responders for everyone else.
That’s why pre-storm volunteer onboarding is critical. A lot of folks think that submitting a volunteer form ties them into some mandatory call-to-action. It doesn’t. What it does is give us a list of people who are willing to be contacted when a deployment happens. No obligation. Just a chance to serve if timing and circumstances allow.
Not everyone can drop everything at a moment’s notice. That’s okay. But the more folks we’ve connected with beforehand, the more likely we are to have a strong, ready team when the time comes. If we have a thousand volunteers on our list and just 10% can go, that’s still a hundred boots on the ground. That’s a difference.
If you’ve been thinking about getting involved, now’s the time. Storm season is here. And when the wind shifts, we want to be ready to move: fast, organized, and grounded in purpose.
John S. Badger