There are many different volunteer opportunities with many different Organizations and Agencies. The most important thing is to get affiliated with one of these Organizations before a disaster strikes. If you do not you will be known as an Unaffiliated volunteer and be asked to go to one of the Volunteer Reception Centers to get Credentialed and Identified.

How to get started? Who to contact?

• First, Contact your Disaster Coordinator and he might be able to help you determine where you best fit in your community.
• Choose one of the multitudes of nonprofit organizations within your community to get involved with.
• Sign up, take the training, and get certified.

Some of the organizations include

• Your local Long Term Recovery Organization (LTRO) - This will be where many of your other organizations may be on the Board.
• The American Red Cross
• Volunteer Florida in your County
• Your Community Response Team (CERT) - Your Local Fire Department
• Citizen Corps
• The list could go on for ever.

Unaffiliated Volunteers - These pose a problem to local organizations because during times of disasters there is no way to do any background checks to see if people are safe to be released into the community. Also, there is no way to determine what skills individuals have to appropriately place them in the disaster zone. The more unaffiliated volunteers you have the more unsafe a disaster situation can be.