La Honda Region

N.E.S.T.

Volunteer Handbook

January, 1996

Disclaimer:

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this book. However, the NEST committee of La Honda and their affiliates assume no responsibility and disclaim any liability for any injury or damage resulting from the use or effect of the products or information specified in this book.

Please Note: Any documents not available at this Website are located in the Volunteer Kit or in NEST file cabinet at the La Honda firehouse.

INTRODUCTION

The La Honda N.E.S.T. Spontaneous Volunteer Program was established to effectively and efficiently register the spontaneous volunteers that are anticipated during a long duration disaster or emergency. (During a short-term disaster or emergency, a modification of the Program may be utilized as needed. See Appendix A for suggestions.) Indeed, experience has shown that these volunteers are available and that their talents are rarely fully utilized. Moreover, in past emergencies, volunteers have been ineffectively assigned or not assigned at all due to a lack of organization and pre-planning with regard to recognizing community emergency needs and volunteer skills.. To this end, this La Honda N.E.S.T. Spontaneous Volunteer Manual was written to serve as a plan and a set of instructions with necessary paperwork to most effectively utilize the many talents and abilities that are available among our citizens.

VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION KIT CONCEPT AND USE

The following manual details procedures for utilizing the attached kit of signs and forms in order to:

• establish a volunteer registration center
• catalog the needs of the community
• evaluate the skills of spontaneous volunteers and
• assign appropriate volunteers to corresponding needs.

Additionally, procedures are outlined for documenting volunteer service for further reporting.

In brief, as positions become available, they are listed with details of when and where they are to be filled. Descriptions of most of the possible positions have been preprinted on a sign for volunteers to review and on a database printout that also lists skills required for that position. By matching skills of the volunteers with the skills required by the positions available, positions are filled.

Time sheets, insurance forms and identification cards for the volunteers are also included as are maps of La Honda.

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