Volunteer drill

The Salvation Army to conduct training in Searcy

Emergency Disaster Services Coordinator Carolyn Ivester, left, and Community Relations Director Michelle Scroggins said they hope volunteers will come to The Salvation Army volunteer training event March 16 in Searcy. The Salvation Army Central Arkansas Command is working on getting local volunteers in its service area, which includes White County.
Emergency Disaster Services Coordinator Carolyn Ivester, left, and Community Relations Director Michelle Scroggins said they hope volunteers will come to The Salvation Army volunteer training event March 16 in Searcy. The Salvation Army Central Arkansas Command is working on getting local volunteers in its service area, which includes White County.

It has been almost two years since devastating tornadoes hit Mayflower, Vilonia and El Paso. In the days after the storms wreaked their havoc on central Arkansas, people from around the region gathered donations and tried to find ways to help those in need.

When disaster strikes, it is best for the benevolent to be trained and associated with an organization that regularly responds to dire scenarios. That is why The Salvation Army will host a free disaster-training event March 16 in Searcy.

Carolyn Ivester, emergency disaster services coordinator, has been a volunteer with The Salvation Army since 2008, and she will conduct the training event. She said serving as a Salvation Army volunteer has given her a clear avenue to help others.

“I have had a heart for meeting the needs of people who are affected by disaster,” Ivester said. “I just knew that this was what I wanted to participate in. It’s just a very satisfying thing.”

The Salvation Army’s Central Arkansas Command will have this training event in Searcy in an effort to train new volunteers, specifically in White County. Historically, White County has been a target for tornadoes, Ivester said, and it is important to have local volunteers on the ground when The Salvation Army is called in.

“The Central Arkansas Command serves White, Lonoke, Saline and Pulaski counties,” Ivester said. “We’re wanting to have volunteers in White County, which is why we’re doing this training in Searcy.”

Volunteers are essential to the disaster response of The Salvation Army, said Michelle Scroggins, community relations director for The Salvation Army Central Arkansas Command.

“We couldn’t do what we do without the volunteers,” she said. “They’re kind of our backbone.”

A lot of the training deals with teaching volunteers what to expect when they are called in for duty.

“The conditions are hard,” Ivester said, “but whenever there’s a disaster, it seems like it does something to the heart of the community. They want to do something to help. The thing is, they need to be trained to know how to help. … You get a real heart satisfaction in knowing you have touched lives.”

The Salvation Army’s role is to provide food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care, Ivester said. The organization works with other disaster-relief groups — such as the American Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief — to make sure all the needs of a community are met.

Ivester said Salvation Army volunteers provide food for victims, first responders and other volunteers with The Salvation Army Canteen, a mobile feeding unit. Volunteers also tend to the emotional and spiritual well-being of anyone on-site.

Scroggins said there are a variety of disasters The Salvation Army responds to, and it is important to be prepared for anything.

“It’s not just tornadoes,” she said. “It can be flooding. It can be any kind of man-made disaster. For instance, The Salvation Army was called out to the Oklahoma City bombing. It’s anywhere there is a huge group of people that have been affected.”

Ivester said one concern for many Arkansans is the anticipation of activity along the New Madrid Fault Line, a major seismic zone and source of earthquakes that runs, in part, near the border of Arkansas and Tennessee.

“I have a passion for being prepared,” Ivester said. “I want to think ahead and not wait for disaster to happen. I want to have a plan, which is the reason we’re doing this training.”

The Salvation Army’s free disaster training will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 16 at the Department of Emergency Management in White County, 2301 Eastline Road in Searcy. Attendees are asked to RSVP by March 11 to Carla Johnson at the Office of Emergency Management in White County, cjohnsonoem@gmail.com, or to Scroggins at michelle.scroggins@uss.salvationarmy.org or (501) 374-9296, ext. 110.

For more information about The Salvation Army’s disaster response, visit www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org.

Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.

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