Relief team heads to Gulf

A Carlisle-based nonprofit organization is headed to Haiti and the US Gulf Coast to assess the damage wielded by Hurricane Ike and to offer help to the communities recently wracked by the wild weather.

Since 2004, Hands on Disaster Response has been helping to restore communities ravaged by natural disasters all over the world. The group has teams in Iowa, repairing homes damaged by flooding, and in Arkansas and Missouri, clearing the wreckage of recent tornadoes.

According to an organization press release, staff members are now traveling south to assess the damage in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Ike tore through Texas and Louisiana, affecting as many as 10,000 homes.

Hands on Disaster is also in Haiti, a country in distress after continuous blows from Tropical Storm Fay, and hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike affected about 800,000 people.

The organization was started by Carlisle businessman David Campbell, who felt compelled to act after witnessing the devastation done by the December 2004 tsunami in Thailand, said communications manager Rebecca Howard.

A friend of Campbell's had returned from Thailand just 10 days before the tsunami hit. The hotel he had been staying at was destroyed, and all the occupants were killed. Spurred by this personal story, Campbell flew to Thailand where he met others who were there trying to help. Together they organized volunteers and devised a model to coordinate relief efforts.

After returning to the United States, Campbell used this model for the basis of Hands on Disaster Response and has deployed it in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the Philippines, Peru, and other places plagued by destructive weather.

The group's five-member staff has organized nine volunteer projects around the world, mobilizing 2,000 volunteers for five projects in this year alone. According to Howard, when Peru was rocked by an earthquake in August, Hands on Disaster organized 504 volunteers from 30 countries.

In Iowa, the organization has gathered 1,600 volunteers from 37 states, Canada, and France to rebuild homes and clear debris.

"Our mission is to make it as easy as possible for people who want to help, to do that," said Howard.

For more information, visit hodr.org or look for updates on Twitter, at twitter.com/HODRopsUSA and twitter.com/HODRopsIN.