National volunteer organization Team Rubicon, which helped remove December storm debris this fall, is establishing a local leadership team to assist with disaster mitigation and recovery across Southeast Alaska.
The organization’s Alaska administrator, Rachel Alford, visited Haines from Fairbanks last week to meet with potential volunteers, called “greyshirts.”
While there are 790 greyshirts across Alaska and 50 in Southeast, including four in Haines, Team Rubicon has official leadership teams only in Fairbanks and Anchorage. But “Southeast Alaska has very different needs,” Alford told the CVN. She said a local team would help identify Haines-specific issues and would make the organization more effective at local disaster mitigation and response.
Alford, a paramedic who joined Team Rubicon in 2017 and took on the statewide leadership role in 2019, said she has long hoped to form a team in Southeast but was waiting to find the right volunteer to help organize the effort. That person ended up being local greyshirt and Haines Long Term Recovery Group coordinator Sylvia Heinz, who first reached out to Team Rubicon over the summer to assist with disaster debris disposal in August and September. “Working with Sylvia presented a fantastic opportunity to get the ball rolling,” Alford said.
The new leadership team, composed of greyshirts in Haines, Juneau and across Southeast, would hold local trainings, work on disaster mitigation and mobilize volunteers to aid communities after emergencies. “Rural Alaska does not have access to the same resources that are available for disasters in the lower 48. Therefore, we have to be ready to help ourselves and help our neighbors,” reads a statement prepared by Alford and Heinz.
In addition to training, Alford said benefits of having an official team—not just a loose conglomeration of greyshirts—include facilitating communication among local volunteers and organization higher-ups and empowering communities to address their needs.
“Team Rubicon and Rachel (Alford) have a very similar vision as I personally do: building resilient communities—not with a white knight complex, but coming in alongside communities,” Heinz said. “You can’t build resilient communities by yourself. That takes a team.”
At the request of the Long Term Recovery Group, Team Rubicon sent 11 volunteers to Haines earlier this fall for “Operation Deishu Dawn”—an effort to clear flooding and landslide debris on about 10 properties. The volunteer-led nonprofit also recently began planning a project to help rebuild two local homes—of Steve Virg-in and Lemmie Spradlin—that were severely damaged last December. Details of the project, including the timeline, are still being worked out.
Team Rubicon, which is made up mainly but not exclusively of military veterans and first responders, was created in 2010 by two U.S. Marines looking to assist Haitians in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake. The organization now works to prevent and respond to domestic disasters, such as the storm in Haines or a hurricane in Louisiana, and has expanded to over 150,000 volunteers nationwide.
“You do not have to be a first responder or a military vet to be a part of the team,” Heinz said in a written statement to the CVN. “Everyone has a role, despite physical capabilities or availability.”
Those interested in volunteering with Team Rubicon can sign up at teamrubiconusa.org. There is no minimum time commitment for volunteers, Heinz and Alford said. People with questions can email Heinz at [email protected].