Two years ago I took a 6-month sabbatical to volunteer with Hands On Disaster Response  – HODR (www.hodr.org).  I did tornado clean up in Newton County, MO; flood recovery in Cedar Rapids, IA; project assessing in TX and LA after Hurricane Ike; and tropical storm/hurricane relief in Haiti.  During that time, I had some of the best experiences of my life.  Yes, the work was physically and emotionally draining, but it was also so incredibly rewarding that absolutely none of that mattered.

Flash forward to now….  As most of you know, Nashville recently experienced massive flooding.  Not long after it occurred I received a call from Bill Driscoll, Jr., the US Operations Director for HODR.  I was asked to come out to help with the organization’s Recovery Coordination Center.  To put it simply, our job here is to help match residents affected by the flood with agencies that have volunteers available to help them.  My role in this project is Communications Manager.

I arrived in Nashville last Wed. May 19th and will be here through May 31st.  I’m sleeping on yet another church floor, and I must say I feel right at home after having lived in a church for four months while in Iowa.  There’s five of us here with HODR, and we’ve been putting in some really long hours getting our volunteer coordination system in place, and at the end of those days, I’ve been putting in more time doing my photography and freelancing work.  I’m already sooo exhausted, but more importantly, I’m just thankful that I have a career that allows me the flexibility to do something like this.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go out into the field to photograph some volunteers in action.  One group was just finishing a job cleaning out and gutting a flooded home.  They had completed in one day what would have taken the homeowner no telling how long to finish by themselves.  While looking around at all the work that had been done, the woman that had lived in the home was overcome with tears.  I overheard her saying to the volunteers, “I just can’t believe it.  You guys aren’t even from here, but you came to help.  It gives me hope in humanity again.”

Most of us that have done a lot of disaster relief volunteering are often asked why we do it.  The moments like I just mentioned are exactly why.  If you ever have the opportunity to volunteer with HODR or another relief organization, I highly recommend it.  It’ll be one of the most fulfilling things you ever do.

SIDE NOTE: While in Nashville I am readily accessible via phone and Internet and am currently booking photo sessions for remaining June openings and beyond.  If you would like to set up an appointment, just give me a call at 417.631.8085.  If I’m unavailable, please leave a message, and I’ll return your call shortly.  You can also shoot me an email at mail@tiffanykelley.com.

Above: debris-lined streets.  Below: sanitizing after a basement has been mucked out and cleaned.Dan Hoeft with Nechama Jewish Response to Disaster (www.nechama.org) explaining to the homeowner what work volunteers completed and what her next flood recovery steps are.
These kids pitched in to help volunteers clean out their home.Wearing a face mask is a must when working in a home that has been flooded.  The black mold will grow extremely fast in a soggy house especially in this high humidity and heat.This is the woman’s house I mentioned above.  Here’s a photo of the volunteers removing the last item…the bathtub.