A Friend Replies

A colleague from the east coast wanted to reply to my last entry but was unable to do so. She sent me the message for posting here. Instead of placing it in a reply, I decided to give it more prominance here.

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My friend, I understand your frustration. We all want to help. As a Cooperative Extension colleague, I contacted the Extension Specialists in the affected states to offer my support and materials from when we used them with children in shelters after Hurricane Fran and Floyd in North Carolina. I sent materials then posted them for agent use and training on this website which is also linked through cyfernet.org and EDEN. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/human/disaster/index.php

My brother (A FEMA Search and Rescue chief) was in Louisiana since the first Sunday when the wind was still blowing. He is coming home today. He is full of stories but says this was so massive (he was also at 9-11 and Oklahoma City, etc) and widespread.
The stage of "acceptance" we are experiencing right now is "blame." It happens every time. In North Carolina the lowlands blamed the highlands for flooding them. If you take a look at the slide set in the website I listed, you can see the stages of recovery. This one will be long and hard.

Yesterday, I went to a seminar on the "Moral Ethics of Non-profit Organizations." Following the keynote speaker, I asked WHO is organizing relief efforts such as this where non-profits are falling over each other trying to be helpful but perhaps adding to the confusion? Everyone wants their own recognition (TV and radio stations, agencies) and it so adds confuses the public in need as to what resources are available. We have built our organizations on control and job compartmentalization. We need models that offer flexibility, cross training and rapid response instead of waiting for some order to move slowly up a chain of command. We need to decentralize decision making in many organizations giving more people the power and responsibility for taking initiative. I recently read (parts of) "The Boundaryless Organization."

There is some good stuff in there.

Creative people will find solutions. New models must emerge. We are looking at multiple new models now- studying them. I have a link to some short descriptions.
I am proud of our country that rises to help others. We rally around and give when we have no more to give but I agree with Chuck- we do need to find new ways of operating!