For this week’s feature of ToolBank Disaster Services’ MU1 service, I focus on an early Blue Sky deployment in New Orleans in August 2015.
To mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, dozens of service organizations united for rebuilding and commemorative projects to illustrate resolve and resiliency. This week of service projects highlights how the asset of a ToolBank trailer can empower communities even when there is no immediate natural disaster. This project also illustrates how ToolBank services are both unique and disruptive—in the best possible way. More on that below.
Hurricane Katrina – August 2005
Most Americans recognize Hurricane Katrina as one of the most devastating natural disasters on record. The estimate of homes destroyed by the storm is between 217,000 – 300,000. More than 900,000 people lost power for days or weeks in Louisiana alone. It caused $108 billion dollars’ worth of damage and 1,833 people tragically lost their lives in the event. By all measures, this storm was a monster.
A little more than a year after our first mobile disaster response unit was operationalized, we received a request to spend a week in New Orleans in August 2015 to empower dozens of community organizations to boost rebuilding efforts. In one week, MU1 deployed more than $39,000 worth of tools to 20 distinct organizations. Partner organizations are listed in full below.
I mentioned earlier that this anniversary event illustrates how ToolBank is a positive disruptor.
Here’s why this deployment provides a unique insight into this facet of our service: In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck, there was no ToolBank Disaster Service. There was only one brick-and-mortar ToolBank, in Atlanta. Fast forward to the 10-year anniversary and we were able to empower dozens of groups in one week in a city where we didn’t even have a warehouse at that time. We had the resources aligned and put them in place to boost efforts—all at zero cost to partner organizations.
When we first started our TDS program, multiple partners working in disaster services relayed stories of mass confusion on the ground during response efforts. Services might be streamlined in certain places, but efforts were often disjointed. There was no single organization focused on logistically positioning tools and equipment in the right place and co-deploying staff to steward those tools on the ground. In fact, a tool manufacturing company who partners with us told us that if they wanted to help during a disaster before the ToolBank existed, they would ship pallets of tools to a location after a disaster hoping they would help but not knowing if they would. This is exactly what they did after Katrina: They shipped six pallets of tools to a warehouse location and hoped they were used by the right organizations for the right purpose. They did not have the ability to co-deploy and were unable to verify if any of the support they sent helped anyone. No wonder they were energized by the ToolBank model! Now they can simply donate one set of tools to our mobile unit and allow us to use our expertise to deploy with the right partners as well as retain tools for future deployments.
ToolBank services allow our partners to convert an intention to do well into an action. We even document our partners through order tracking and pictures. Leveraging our resources the way we do makes possible projects that were previously impossible.
Our essential service is nothing more than sharing, nothing less than creating resilience.
These are the partners we empowered in August 2015 to mark the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina:
- Broadmoor Improvement Association
- CRISP Farms
- Desaix Area Neighborhood Association
- Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association
- Friends of Joe Brown Park
- Green Light New Orleans
- HandsOn New Orleans
- Harney Spirit of Excellence Academy
- Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative
- Kipp McDonogh 15 Middle School
- PlayBuild
- Pontchartrain Pak Neighborhood Association
- Pontilly Neighborhood Association
- Recirculating Farms Coalition
- Rho Phi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
- Sankofa CDC
- South 7th Ward Neighbors
- Success Preparatory Academy
- Treme Garden
- Village de l’est Improvement Association
Interior of MU-1, August 2015.
