The Sister Carmen Community Center is not an emergency response organization.
The 44-year-old non-religious nonprofit found itself in the middle of need for one of Colorado’s most destructive fires, the Marshall Fire, that swept through Boulder County destroying thousands of structures, most of them homes.
People in the community who had used the community center before for the various food, rent and other assistance provided were the first to trickle in. But they were quickly followed by hundreds of others who suddenly found hotels full, rent prices skyrocketing and a need to simply talk their way through the shock of losing everything in a matter of minutes.
Today, the center is serving about 160 families with a variety of support services including housing, food and other essential needs assistance. That’s on top of the clientele the center was already serving.
The Blueprint asked Kristen Bohanon, the organization’s Director of Development, to share a few key learnings from the experience thus far:
The first few days after a disaster are critical. Following a disaster of this scale, the first few days following the disaster were consumed by health and safety issues in and around the site for many organizations that would typically support disaster victims. The center had originally planned to try and fill gaps in need, but quickly found itself taking over support for families who couldn’t wait three days to find shelter and food.
Gift cards are a true gift. For a fire as high profile as the Marshall Fire, donations of money and items pour in. While this support is critical, it is often also overwhelming to both the individuals and the organizations involved. Most of the individuals who visited the center were in shock and needed time to process what had just happened before they were able to articulate what they needed. Handing them a gift card to Target or Walmart was invaluable. They can then meet their own needs when they know what they are and as they arise.
Where families shelter determines what they need and what organizations need. When a thousand homes are wiped out in a single afternoon, shelter hits a premium quickly. Hotels fill up. Rental prices skyrocket and temporary shelters are quickly overrun. All of this impacts how organizations need to respond and what types of assistance they need to provide. It also impacts critical questions like whether individuals need non-perishable foods because they are in a hotel with little access to refrigeration or the ability to cook. This need shifts as days pass and organizations must stay nimble to meet the need.
Organizational staff should not be overlooked for support. The first days of a tragedy of this type are days spent dealing with people who are in shock and have lived through trauma. This type of response can take a toll, particularly because the organization’s staff are often community members who are simultaneously dealing with their own loss from the event. Having resources in house or easily accessible is critical to ensuring that staff can get the care they need to endure what is weeks, months and sometimes years required for recovery.
The Sister Carmen Community Center is a Food Pantry Assistance Grant recipient, and the grant program is standing by to ensure the center has what it needs to meet food needs over the long term. With center resources redirected to other persistent problems, spending for critical items like fresh fruits and vegetables in the food pantry, can sometimes take a back seat.
If you or your organization is interested in helping with the response to the Marshall Fire, visit https://sistercarmen.org/marshall-fire-relief/.