Operation: Midnight Train – Feb. 5, 2013 Mission Update
During Operation: Greased Lightning, over 350 Team Rubicon members converged on the East Coast to aid in Hurricane Sandy Recovery. Operations eventually focused on Rockaway Beach, NY, where TR established FOB Hope, a centralized area to conduct our teams out of.
As the days rolled on, people from the community began rolling in. People from across the city came to FOB Hope to work with TR in helping Rockaway Beach recover. Those 350 Team Rubicon members managed and led over 10,000 volunteers over the duration of OGL. That’s roughly 29 spontaneous volunteers per Team Rubicon volunteer. It was, without a doubt, an enormous success.
Flash forward to January 30, 2013, and over a dozen tornadoes touch down in Bartow County, GA.
TR analyzes Palantir maps of Bartow County and preps teams for next day’s work orders
TR sends up the Bat Signal and teams are immediately dispatched to aid in the response. TR volunteers begin staffing the Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) and start to plan recovery efforts with the local and state VOADs (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters). And just like Hurricane Sandy, TR used Palantir technology to track work orders across the county.
With these partnerships, this is what Team Rubicon has accomplished:
Jody Wetta of Team Rubicon guides volunteers on February 2, 2013 in Adairsville, GA during the multi-day recovery strategy implemented by team. Teams worked to excavate debris and tarp damage roofs by the high speed tornado winds.
- TR’s crew of 10 volunteers managed and led over 2,400 spontaneous volunteers; an average of 240 per TR member.
- A total of 697 load of debris were transferred to county dump
- Over 500 work orders were tracked by Palantir; to date, over 95% have been completed.
- Cleared 46 roadways throughout county
- Established local dumpsites for debris, saving the county an estimated $14,678.13 in fuel costs
You guys are doing an amazing job! Keep up the awesome work! Would you have any use for a disabled Navy Seabee? My dad is not physically able to do a lot of the work but he certainly has lots of both construction and demolition experience. Is this someone you could use? He lives in the Dakotas and I would love for him to have a purpose again!
Carrie, have your dad go to http://www.teamrubiconusa.org and sign up as a volunteer. He might be physically disabled, but I am sure that his years of experience could become an asset to the team
Thanks Jeff. He is in the process of packing up to move. Once he is moved, I will help him get signed up.