The 2015 Tri-Town Relay for Life raised over $35,000 this year, with proceeds going to benefit The American Cancer Society. The all-night event at the Old Rochester Regional High School track is a special event when the community honors cancer survivors and remembers loved ones who lost their battle with cancer, in addition to raising funds for a cure. Photos by Felix Perez

Nearly two months ago on April 25, Nepal was devastated by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the moment magnitude scale (MMS). Aftershocks of similar magnitude continued to destroy homes and buildings of historical significance throughout many Nepalese districts in the days that followed, causing vast loss of life and sustained injuries to the residents and tourists of those districts. Then, on May 12, another aftershock reaching 7.3 MMS struck the region. Through it all were volunteers from the Mattapoisett-based non-profit organization, All Hands Volunteers, who mobilized a professional team in Nepal beginning on April 28 – only three days after the first earthquake.

All Hands Volunteers, or AHV, has been around in some form or another since the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004. The organization germinated when its founder, David Campbell, dropped everything to travel to Thailand in the wake of the tsunami as an independent volunteer.

“He was completely horrified by the human suffering and he took himself over to Thailand to see how he could help,” said Rachel Deery, grant writer for AHV. “When he got there he realized something – a lot of people had the desire to help, but they weren’t able to be productive.”

Deery’s re-telling of Campbell’s transformative experience revealed the central challenge of being an independent volunteer in an immediate crisis. The independent volunteer has an intense desire to help, but isn’t sure about the best way to go about serving the stricken community. So, after volunteering in Thailand (and later applying the same model to domestic disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina in 2005), Campbell founded AHV in order to harness the humanitarian efforts of independent volunteers. It’s clearly an organization that is both needed and successful in accomplishing its mission.

“We’ve done 52 projects in the past 10 years,” Deery said. “We’ve mobilized 30,000 volunteers from 77 countries. It’s what makes us unique in disaster settings – the efficiency in getting volunteers there, they’re multi-skilled, they bring an amazing sense of compassion and they develop relationships with the affected communities because we set up our bases right in the affected communities.”

Currently, AHV has seven projects running. Some of these projects keep some volunteers close to home by providing domestic flood relief to Houston and Detroit as well as assisting with long-term rebuild programs in New York in the continued aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Abroad, AHV has two programs in the Philippines in response to the region’s typhoons, one program in Malawi, Africa that is a partnership with the United Nations, and, of course, the current project in Nepal.

“We basically empower volunteers, these people who have a lot of energy and passion and are moved to help out and make it so that they are productive and are not a burden to the community,” Deery explained AHV’s approach to service.

In the event of a crisis, AHV first sends a professional team to the region to establish a permanent base. The team works with many organizations – from the United Nations to the Red Cross – to collect assessment data, determine the community’s immediate needs, and coordinate with independent volunteers who submit applications to AHV.

“We don’t send in volunteers right away; we have to see whether we’re needed. When it becomes apparent that we’re needed, we set up,” Deery said.

Deery also cited the need for extended volunteer projects, not just immediate disaster relief.

“After the dust settles in the disaster, there’s a long process for recovery. These things can’t be rebuilt all at once. We have the infrastructure, the roads, the houses, the schools,” she said. This is why AHV still has two projects in the Philippines, one to rebuild schools and permanent homes and another to rebuild fishing boats for a subsistence fishing community who lost everything about a year ago in the typhoon.

The AHV volunteer program in Nepal is the organization’s latest international service initiative.

“It seems really grave at the moment,” Deery said. “There is a lot to be done and there are a lot of people who are displaced at the moment. Over 700,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged. And the monsoon season is starting as we speak and is causing landslides. More people whose houses are being destroyed are being displaced.”

Some of the key volunteers supporting AHV’s disaster relief in Nepalese are Old Rochester Regional High School students. According to Deery, Seijal Parajule, whose family is from Nepal, “came up with this idea to do a car wash to raise money for Nepal because there is so much that needs to be done.” The car wash and accompanying bake sale was a massive success, with Parajule, her family and classmates raising a little over $2,000.

“The day of the car wash the Fire Station gave us the venue there and Village Signs gave us free signs and Uncle Jon’s gave us coffee for the day, so it was a community event,” said Heidi Dubreuil, Development Associate for AHV.

Dubreuil also said that Parajule and her classmates are continuing to fundraise for AHV’s efforts in Nepal.

“They’re still raising money and bringing it on their own. It’s pretty amazing,” she said.

Additionally, the senior class at Old Rochester Regional donated their senior gift to AHV. This is particularly exciting to Parajule and her classmate, Alex Friedman, both ORR seniors, who will be volunteering in Nepal this summer.

“We’re not rebuilding quite yet,” Deery said. “We’re responding to the humanitarian needs. We have a professional staff there that is coordinating volunteers to go out in the community. We are removing rubble from properties, distributing tarps, blankets, rice, hygiene kits, deconstructing dangerous buildings, building child safe learning centers. We work on a number of fronts. It depends on the day; it depends on what the need is. We’ll probably end up staying there to rebuild.”

“We’re there to accommodate people who want to volunteer. We’re not trying to sell volunteerism; we provide a conduit to people who do want to volunteer,” Deery added.

Prospective volunteers or donors can learn more about All Hands Volunteers and its current projects at www.hands.org. They can also visit www.riseuprideon.crowdsterapp.com to learn about Rise Up Ride On 2015, a four-day fundraising cycling tour in August following the route of the typhoon in the Philippines. As of press time, there are still seats available on the cycling team – as well as many potential service applications waiting to be submitted by prospective volunteers.

“’Many hands make light work’ is certainly an appropriate adage,” Deery said.

By Anne Smith