Christian organization launches Hurricane Sandy volunteer site

BOSTON, Oct. 31, 2012  — Families affected by Hurricane Sandy can post their needs and service opportunities online at www.HurricaneSandyVolunteer.org. The website was launched by TechMission, a Christian nonprofit organization based in Boston, which also runs one of the largest online volunteer matching websites, ChristianVolunteering.org.

The goal of HurricaneSandyVolunteer.org is to match needs of families with resources of church members.

1. Individuals can post requests for assistance on the website in areas such as tree removal, neighborhood cleanup, and home repair.
2. Churches can post needs for members, or upload a spreadsheet of resources, needs, and volunteer opportunities.
3. Volunteers can search a comprehensive list of resources, needs, and volunteer opportunities related to Hurricane Sandy. These needs can also be viewed on a map. The site also pulls in feeds of volunteer opportunities from AllForGood and Serve.gov, in order to have a comprehensive list.

The site offers volunteer opportunities in numerous areas, including:

• distributing food at American Red Cross food pantries
• assessing disaster recovery needs with Red Cross Disaster Services in eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania
• supervising at shelters in New Jersey and New York State
• helping with hurricane cleanup with Serve Rhode Island
• providing training on emergency preparedness

In explaining the vision of the site, Andrew Sears, Executive Director of TechMission, said, “Just like the Internet can connect millions of buyers and sellers, our goal is to connect needs with resources of churches in response to Hurricane Sandy.”

HurricaneSandyVolunteer.org was funded by the Cecil B. Day Foundation and is being provided by the Christian non-profit, TechMission (www.techmission.org).