Veteran-led organization helps train disaster relief volunteers
Just a week after returning from assisting Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas, Kit Foreman, 25, joined roughly 20 volunteers in disaster response training in Independence Saturday.
Foreman, of Bend, attended an 8-hour training exercise at the Polk County Fire District #1 hosted by Team Rubicon, a veteran-led disaster response organization.
"I'm an EMT for Redmond Fire Department, so I think this kind of thing is in our blood," Foreman said. "This is the kind of thing that first responders and veterans want to do."
Team Rubicon was founded in 2010 after two marines assisted with disaster relief efforts following the earthquake in Haiti, said Jerome Deniz, the mobile training associate for Team Rubicon.
Deniz said the organization unites skillsets of veterans, first responders and trains volunteers to be prepared for the aftermath of a disaster.The visit was the last of the year on a nationwide tour of more than 30 cities in the country.
The organization's mobile training center drove to Independence Saturday as the last stop in a tour of the Pacific Northwest including Idaho, Washington, Alaska and Oregon.
Deniz and regional training manager Scott Coykendall trained volunteers how to properly clear homes, rip out drywall, conduct damage assessments of homes and how to safely use equipment like chainsaws and power tools.
Volunteers took turns ramming a hammer against a piece of drywall, carefully pulling out debris from wooden beams and safely disposed of debris.
The organization's focus, Deniz said, is helping assess damage to homeowner's houses following natural disasters.
Foreman said the nonprofit's training over the past year helped her assist victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas and the southeast Texas city Beaumont.
"The tenacity of Texans is really incredible," Foreman said.
While she was on an assessment team, which assesses the safety of a home following a natural disaster, Foreman said she walked into a house and found people standing in two feet of water.
"They said 'I think I'm okay, but my neighbor needs help,' and I go next door and the neighbor is in three feet of water and they say 'I'm okay,'" Foreman said. "They lost everything but they still just want to help each other."
Foreman was one of roughly 300 volunteers stationed in various cities in Texas, Deniz said. Another 100 volunteers are assisting with relief efforts in Florida following Hurricane Irma.
When hurricanes Harvey and Irma touched down in Texas and Florida, Deniz said their volunteer base grew from roughly 46,000 to 56,000.
For veteran volunteers, Deniz said the opportunity to help people in need renews their sense of purpose after returning to civilian life.
"We're used to the structure and to the camaraderie," Deniz said. "This gives us that mission again for us to do something for the greater good and that is bigger than ourselves."
Locally, Coykendall said he is monitoring the impact of multiple wildfires in the state including the Chetco Bar Fire, Eagle CreekFire and Whitewater Fire.
"Luckily the winds have shifted from the east to the west, so the cities that were in the crosshairs have not been affected as much," Coykendall said. " We will monitor those housing developments in those regions and see if there is anything we can potentially help with."
To learn more about volunteering for Team Rubicon, visit teamrubiconusa.org
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