When disaster strikes, a coordinated response is the best way to ensure that both communities and individuals receive the crucial services they need to survive. From first responders and emergency services to emergency disaster relief charities and volunteers, all are needed to guarantee that essential services are provided in the midst of a disaster. Emergency disaster relief services such as Team Rubicon are especially important because their focus is on populations often lacking in public and private resources and are thus more vulnerable to the devastating impact of emergencies and natural disasters.
Who is Team Rubicon?
Did you know that there are over 22 million military veterans living in the United States? Veterans and their unique combination of skills, experience, and passion for serving others make them one of America’s greatest resources and a natural choice for aiding in disaster relief. This is where emergency disaster relief charities such as Team Rubicon come in. By utilizing their exceptional skills, veterans join with first responders to quickly provide the necessary relief to communities affected by disaster.
Like many emergency disaster relief charities, Team Rubicon is a non-profit organization that relies on donors, including individuals, corporations, foundations, trusts, and businesses. Team Rubicon allows veterans to achieve a new purpose contingent upon using their previous military skills and experience to provide invaluable services to communities in need. Team Rubicon is unique among emergency disaster relief charities because they are doubly beneficial to both their volunteers and those they serve.
What Does Team Rubicon Do?
Team Rubicon is one of many emergency disaster relief charities that, along with first responders, provide emergency services and relief to populations affected by a disaster. Immediate deployment is essential to guaranteeing affected areas receive what they need as quickly as possible. Team Rubicon’s focus on at-risk populations ensures that those lacking resources receive the attention and services they need.
Team Rubicon deployments come prepared to assist and serve in the most efficient way possible and with all the resources necessary to provide disaster restoration services in affected areas. Some of these resources include personal protective equipment (PPE), tools, heavy equipment, and solar-powered electrical suites. While Team Rubicon is singular among emergency disaster relief charities for their use of veterans with skills and military experience, they also provide their own training in the application of Incident Command System (ICS), which is in compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS). This additional training ensures that Team Rubicon’s volunteers are a self-sustaining unit that is aware of disaster protocol and best practices. Additionally, Team Rubicon offers flexibility by integrating disaster response and management in two possible ways: under the direction of a government entity or agency through ICS; and as a member of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), pairing with national, state, and community efforts to provide NVOAD disaster services without charge.
Who Does Team Rubicon Serve?
Disasters and emergencies have the capacity to carry long-term effects and consequences for any affected population. However, disasters often disproportionately affect communities and individuals who do not have access to public and private resources due to socio-economic factors. The financial burden of these populations is also more difficult to overcome because of this lack of resources. This is where emergency disaster relief charities like Team Rubicon are so important, as they focus their attention and service on those without services such as home insurance, which can be devastating during a natural disaster, emergency, or severe weather event. Those populations without the necessary resources cannot afford to pay a third party for disaster restoration services, making it harder for them to recover. Team Rubicon has the training, skills, expertise, and resources to provide these services to underserved populations, thus ensuring the survival and quick recovery of individuals and communities.
Team Rubicon’s Services
Like many emergency disaster relief charities, Team Rubicon provides various disaster restoration services to impacted populations. Many of the communities served by Team Rubicon do not have access to public resources such as disaster aid, or private resources such as home insurance. They depend on emergency disaster relief charities to provide essential services at no cost. Below are some examples of the services provided by Team Rubicon’s trained and experienced volunteers.
Tree Removal Services
Often, natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms cause extensive property damage that may include fallen debris. Team Rubicon provides tree removal services for those affected who may have fallen trees on their property. It is important to have debris such as fallen trees cleared away as soon as possible to prevent further damage and ensure property owners’ safety.
Flood Water Cleanup Service
Water damage can be just as damaging as debris. The long-term effects of water damage may cause more serious problems to the property, such as mold and damage to plumbing, heating, or electrical systems. Unlike commercial disaster restoration services, Team Rubicon provides flood water cleanup service free of charge, including repairs to damaged walls, floors, and carpets.
Storm Damage Services
These services may include any of the aforementioned services. However, there is often more extensive damage due to natural disasters that may require more in-depth attention. For example, flooding and water damage may require extensive home repairs such as replacing drywall or insulation, floor removal/repair, carpet removal/installation, and painting. Other more serious repairs may include a total rebuilding or construction of the affected areas, like if fallen power lines, trees, or other debris cause destruction of a room or floor on the property. Team Rubicon’s capabilities range from the ability to perform initial cleanup and debris removal to the quick and expert home repairs that are often necessary following a disaster. Team Rubicon provides all the services of a professional commercial disaster restoration service, from the initial assessment and analysis of the damage to the completed cleanup, rebuilding, and repair. The expedited and skilled response of Team Rubicon ensures the quick recovery of the affected individual and subsequently positively impacts the larger community’s recovery.
Fire Damage Restoration
Fire damage can be especially disastrous, as the subsequent impacts include not only the damage from the fire itself but also the potential water damage from attempts to extinguish the fire. Team Rubicon has the skills and experience necessary to address any fire damage restoration services such as initial assessment and analyses, clean-up, debris removal, and smoke odor removal. In serious structural damage, Team Rubicon provides permanent repairing and rebuilding services such as roof repair service and temporary measures such as tarps and boards to damaged walls and windows. Whether it’s working with wood, stone, tile, or carpet, Team Rubicon provides the expertise necessary to deal with the often overwhelming damage resulting from a fire.
Emergency Medical Attention
Team Rubicon’s skills and expertise is not just limited to disaster restoration services involving debris removal, property damage, and clean-up/repair work. Among the Team Rubicon volunteers, there are those with the medical training and expertise necessary to provide emergency care and treatment. Working with and augmenting the services of first responders, Team Rubicon’s medical professionals can be an invaluable resource, especially in areas that do not have access to emergency medical services or other emergency disaster relief charities. This is especially important among at-risk and underserved communities where people may not have insurance or even access to medical care. Team Rubicon’s medical professional volunteers include trained physicians who can provide important services such as general medicine and emergency/trauma care and stabilization. Additionally, volunteers can also provide much-needed support by working with other agencies and organizations to provide systems management resources and emergency coordination, resulting in a more efficient and widespread medical response.
Team Rubicon’s Rebuild Operations
Team Rubicon does not only provide much-needed disaster restoration services and medical support but also has expanded its capabilities and services to include long-term recovery (LTR) for those affected by natural disasters. Included in the LTR are rebuilding homes, a roof building program, and partnerships with local construction workers and contractors. Below are some examples of natural disasters where Team Rubicon has implemented their LTR initiatives.
Hurricane Harvey
Team Rubicon initiated a plan to rebuild 100 homes affected in Houston by Hurricane Harvey. As in their other disaster restoration services, their efforts were focused on low-income families most affected by the disaster. By pairing with other emergency disaster relief charities, Team Rubicon volunteers combined their invaluable services with a larger joint effort to provide coordinated rebuilding services to affected areas.
Hurricane Maria
In addition to their rebuild initiative, in Puerto Rico Team Rubicon focused on community partnerships to implement recovery efforts. By hiring local builders and contractors, the economy received a much-needed boost, while also ensuring a fast and expert recovery. Additionally, these efforts also contributed to ensuring that, through local knowledge and partnership, these rebuilt properties will stand strong in the face of potential future natural disasters.
Hurricane Laura
While not a part of the rebuilding initiative, Team Rubicon’s efforts during Hurricane Laura are just another example of the coordinated and expert responses initiated by their hardworking volunteers during a natural disaster. Team Rubicon’s volunteers organized ahead of the storm in an effort to quickly mobilize when needed. With people and equipment on-site, Team Rubicon was one of the first emergency disaster relief charities available for aid and assistance. After the storm, the volunteers were able to quickly assess the damage and begin the all-important job of debris removal, thus marking the beginning of another massive recovery effort in the face of disaster.
Team Rubicon and the Coronavirus Vaccine
The Coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented need for community aid and involvement, as many people are struggling emotionally, physically, and financially. It is especially difficult to safely provide support to those in need. In response to this public health crisis, Team Rubicon has launched their #NeighborsHelpingNeighbors initiative to encourage individuals to serve their communities safely through helping neighbors in need.
Other Covid-19 initiatives include tracking the spread of coronavirus across the globe, providing assistance such as food and medicine delivery, coordinating support for those in underserved communities, and enlisting volunteers to safely provide much-needed services.Additionally, Team Rubicon is also involved in vaccination efforts across the country through staffing, managing logistics and organization, and helping to run vaccination sites. Volunteers once again are using their skills, experience, expertise to do everything they can to keep vaccination sites running as smoothly as possible. This is just another example of how the coordinated efforts of Team Rubicon are not only limited to natural disaster response but are also instrumental in mobilizing community efforts in response to an unprecedented health crisis.
Impact of Team Rubicon
Unlike other emergency disaster relief charities, Team Rubicon relies mainly on the skills and experience of veterans to provide unparalleled service, aid, and assistance to populations in the event of an emergency or disaster. At-risk and underserved populations especially benefit from the myriad of services provided by Team Rubicon because they don’t often have access to essential public and private resources. However, working with Team Rubicon also provides immeasurable support to its volunteers as well, by giving them a way to use their experience to-ward a common goal of continued service and support for communities in need. Often the same lack of resources that affects underserved communities, affects veterans themselves, as they find the return to civilian life challenging and difficult. Without the necessary support, many veterans have trouble finding their way and may struggle to find a worthwhile purpose. Therefore, the efforts of Team Rubicon are doubly important as they provide essential services that not only benefit communities in need, utilizing the skills, expertise, and experience of veterans; but they also benefit the veterans themselves by providing an outlet for their continued service. Visit teamrubiconusa.org to learn more about how Team Rubicon measures its impact on veteran members and volunteers.
