At a glance
The five staff members, Gregory Sammons, University Police chief; Chanel Wright, executive assistant to the college president; Liz Raterman, director, Multicultural Affairs; Deb Mayes, staff assistant, Technology Services; and Scott Bingham, officer, University Police, will work with All Hands Volunteers which will house and feed volunteers on site at their headquarters.
Five volunteers from the ranks of Alfred State College staff will bring civic engagement to life when they embark on a relief trip to Minot, ND, from Sept. 1-7.
This community was one of the areas hardest hit by the flooding of the Souris River in late June, when 10,000 residents of Minot were forced to flee from the worst flood seen in over 130 years. The prolonged flooding has displaced a quarter of the area’s population and devastated more than 4,100 properties.
The five staff members, Gregory Sammons, University Police chief; Chanel Wright, executive assistant to the college president; Liz Raterman, director, Multicultural Affairs; Deb Mayes, staff assistant, Technology Services; and Scott Bingham, officer, University Police, will work with All Hands Volunteers which will house and feed volunteers on site at their headquarters.
The work will include some mucking out homes and gutting walls and ceilings ruined by the floodwater as well as other flood remediation projects, such as removing destroyed belongings and clearing debris. The work may also include just helping the residents try to rebound from this historic flood.
The All Hands story began in 2005 after the devastating tsunami in December 2004. Businessman David Campbell headed to Thailand to see how he could help. His intended one week volunteer visit turned into one month, during which he became one of the founders of HandsOnThailand, which brought more than 200 volunteers and several hundred thousand dollars to assist the rebuilding of five fishing villages. After hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the US in 2005, David joined with several other HandsOn volunteers to establish HandsOnUSA. In total, more than 1,500 volunteers helped HandsOnUSA serve the survivors of Katrina. Six years later, the organization has mobilized 6,000 volunteers from 42 countries on 15 disaster response projects in eight countries around the world. All Hands Volunteers is a US-based, 501(c)3 non-profit organization, that provides hands-on assistance to survivors of natural disasters around the world, with maximum impact and minimum bureaucracy.