Church-sponsored Saw Crews

[VW Splitter]

I have worked with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief for 23 years. I actually work with the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief. Each state in the union has their owe group. As a whole, it is the third largest disaster, response organization in the world. Only the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are larger. Volunteers must have current credentials to be able to go on a response. Credentials include a background check and training. Most volunteers or older/retired, because that is the people that can drop what they are doing and go when the need arises. The training required does not make you a professional but hopefully give you the knowledge to know your limits. Some volunteers have done it enough to almost be a professional. Others don’t have a clue. We respond to hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, ice storms, fire storms, and any thing else that might arise, where there is a need. In the 23 years I have work with them, have traveled to Texas, hurricanes, all along the gulf coast, both sides of Florida, up the East Coast all the way to New York, and everything in between. We have mass feeding units that can feed 30,000+ meals a day. When you hear that the Red Cross served X amount of meals, there is a 90% chance that the Baptist cook those meals. I work mostly with the chainsaw crews because that’s what I like to do. Tennessee has a few bucket trucks, which most states do not have. I tend to end up with some of the harder jobs because of working with the bucket truck. Storm damage is always tricky business. We are trained to not get in over our heads. If you don’t have the skills or the equipment to do the job, you simply turn it back in, and live to do another job another day. It is a very organized bunch. We do not go out on a disaster unless, 1. we are asked to come. 2. we have secured somewhere to stay. 3. we have a means of feeding ourselves. That way you are part of the solution and don’t become part of the problem. Assessors will show up first to assess what is needed, even assess individual jobs and make up paperwork for it. We must have the homeowners signature and approval to work on their property. Someone will be in charge of matching up particular jobs with the skill level of the crew doing the job. We don’t discriminate who we work for. If you ask for help we give it. I have done some jobs that I feel sure they could have paid to have it done. For the most part I’m guessing 95% or more are for people that really need the free help. The disaster victims are most always very appreciative of our work. I enjoy the volunteers I work with. I like helping people that need it, and in enjoy chainsaw work. It all kinda fits together for me.

 

[Bob_w]

Well, two basic issues prompted my inquiry:
1. I don't get enough saw time anymore; and
2. I like to help people out who truly need helpin' out.
I'm trying to find a good way to address these two issues simultaneously.

In the past I've helped folks out with tree work, storm cleanup, and have cut/delivered firewood, either alone or with friends. In many instances, I ended up feeling like I had been played to some degree or another, especially when the recipient was a friend of a friend of an acquaintance, or some other non-prescreened sort of person, and I find out that they were actually capable of paying for the service they took for free.

In one instance, caseyforrest and I delivered and blocked up a couple trailer loads of wood for an ostensibly needy family that didn't have money for firewood; wood was their sole source of heat. I had previously secured a used saw for them from another AS member when their regular saw burned up. When we arrived with the wood, I found that they had destroyed the donated saw and wanted another, yet had magically found the funds to keep their horses fed. Last time I checked, horses are a luxury; heat in your rickety trailer, by contrast, is a necessity. This really rubbed me the wrong way, for its stupidity and the ingratitude.

So I've been trying find ways to prescreen the relative neediness of the people I would be helping. I work civil legal aid for the indigent by day, so I know the importance of having a good system of prescreening clients for income and circumstances eligibility. But I haven't found any local entity that does a good job of this for local saw or yard-related tasks.

I've thought about putting together a firewood-for-the-needy program, either in conjunction with a church or secular service organization, or as a stand-alone non-profit. But I don't really have the time to build a non-profit or run an enterprise, and I live in the city so it isn't like I could run a firewood-for-the-poor operation out of my yard; if I had a couple acres, I'd start one tomorrow. So the idea of hooking up with a group that can manage the logistics of some helpful saw-related enterprise without me having to be in total control of the operation, well, that sounds appealing.

I've also thought about starting a tree service company, but I really don't feel like being an absentee business owner and I still need my day job and health insurance. And I have nowhere to store heavy equipment for low- or no-cost, as folks who live on a few acres in the country do. So I really couldn't approach the business as a hobby-business, I don't figure.

The disaster response crew idea also appeals to me because I have the advantage that I get a ton of vacation time through my job and, with some pre-planning to get people to cover my cases if an event struck, I could get myself set up to take a week or two off at relatively short notice.

Don't be afraid to be the jerk, if an overconfident person wants to do the cutting, or if you think there is some risk. Bring a good rope, Gloves for everyone. a team should be cutters, movers, helpers. You might get a free load of wood. I had a guy who was pretty good, impressed a girl by cutting a root. Then at the end of the day, I got to fell a 10 in tree piece by giving the tree an Indian sunburn. Overall It was a good day, I had about 8 people from the church working for me.