How Texans can volunteer, donate responsibly

In the face of disaster, Texans have always come together with courage, compassion and unity to ask, “How can I help?”

If you want to volunteer for disaster work, there are many tasks to do after a disaster— cleaning-up and rebuilding are two of the biggest. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests that volunteering through a local voluntary organization may be the best way to find meaningful volunteer work after the disaster.

Such organizations are often in the best position to know about opportunities for volunteers in the long and difficult recovery phase. In addition, volunteering through an established organization provides a better chance of having insurance and liability protection when you work as a volunteer.

The Texas chapter of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster is a good source of local organizations in need of volunteers. Texas VOAD represents more than three dozen faith-based, community, nonprofit and non-governmental groups that include volunteer engagement as a key component of their operations.

For a complete list of these organizations, with links to their websites, visit http://txvoad.communityos.org/cms/node/104.

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