The Value of Volunteers

Disaster recovery is more than just the facts and figures. Just as each disaster survivor has their own unique challenges, their recoveries are just as unique. What’s not unique in these disaster recoveries is how HCRN volunteers work to see families stay in their communities. We don’t just want survivors to be back in their rebuilt homes, we want to help them emotionally recover from incidents and be able to thrive.

Let’s talk about facts and figures for just a moment. The Camp Fire in Butte County destroyed over 15,000 homes, including most of the town of Paradise. That was 2018, and when HCRN began rebuilding in 2021, we weren’t sure exactly how many of those homeowners we would be able to help, or even how many would need our help. We have since used volunteers on over 40 projects, and seen these volunteers donate over $1.7 million of volunteer labor. This has allowed us to help bring back over $12 million in property value to the community, and nearly $6 million spent with local businesses for materials and specialty trades.

That’s a lot of value.

But those figures aren’t what stands out when we look at the success of this project. What really stands out is the number of volunteer teams who served multiple times in Paradise. What stands out is the number of homeowners who were able to stay with their community. What really stands out is the dedication of local leaders to get as many people back home as they could.

Success looks like a volunteer team returning this year and visiting a homeowner whose house they helped finish. Success looks like that homeowner having a chance to change and heal from the tragedy and fear of the fire. That’s what safe and sanitary housing affords disaster survivors. That’s what talking with and connecting to the volunteers who have come from all over to get you back home affords a disaster survivor.

Our volunteers are more than just facts and figures, they’re what makes all of our work Rebuilding Homes and Restoring Lives possible. Thank you to every person who has served alongside us, we hope you understand how important you are in the lives of disaster survivors.

If you would like to support our work, you can donate here or join our newsletter to see when new volunteer opportunities arise.