Citizen Action Team

http://www.reliefdatabase.org

3/9 Update
It's time to UPDATE your NEEDS and AVAILABILITIES list. If you need help please call Terra, Laura or Dayle. See contact information below.

The CAT Team is now also working with the Tornado disasters in GA and AL. Several national relief groups are now using the database to list their needs and availabilities: http://dbase.citizenactionteam.org/conditions/list/GA?show_regional=0

You might notice that Facilities/Organizations sometimes comes up already filtered to GA (without regional facilities). We did that to make things easier for those who are not familiar with using the database. To get everything, simply change GA to "All".

NOTE: In response to the tornados groups all over the country are gathering again. If you would like for your facility to be in line for any excess items, now would be a good time to UPDATE your NEEDS/AVAILABILITIES. BTW, if you are gathering, PLEASE do NOT gather clothing. They have more than they can use already!

We have added a new Category called "Affiliations". Take a look--Click on Categories in the headings at the top left of database page. Click "Show" next to Affiliations. Click on one of the networks (for example Baptist Church) and you will get a list of organizations affiliated with the Baptist Churches. Cool huh? Thanks Terra!

If your organization is affiliated with a network and it doesn't show up that way, simply add the affiliation to your Availabilities List with the Quick Availability Creator.

Misha with Emergency Communities in NOLA is getting in a load of frozen chickens next week and is willing to share with other groups in LA and MS who are feeding large groups of residents and/or volunteers. If you are interested contact him at mbyruck@emergencycommunities.org. As per instructions from the donor, the chickens are for large groups only, NOT individuals.

In general, if you ship items to a facility, please let one of us know so that we can enter those items in the receiving facility's AVAILABILITIES.
3/1 - From Terra
See email from a fan,
Hi, I'm Mike. Cripes Terra, this is amazing. I spent nine months post Katrina/Rita, mostly in Plaquemines Parish, LA, working with community members and non-profits. I am trying to get back, probably in a voluntary agency liaison role, or some other recovery coordination activity. This site is a wonderful resource, and very empowering to those who have so little. I will share this with ministries and others I know who will appreciate your work.

Any issues, or plans for change or development for the site or resources?
Sincerely,
MD

Thanks for the support!

Yes, we have great plans! We've seen a slowdown in number of relief sites using the site, primiarily because there are so many relief sites closing down. We feel that this is
a very good thing as the folks in the gulf get "back to business". That being said, the site has
been such an incredible success, there are still major relief orgs trading supplies via the site.
We just saw a series of folks share 900 mattresses that came into one location. That location needed like 50 and the database helped the site spread the wealth. We see computers, and cleaning supplies, all kinds of stuff get distributed to relief sites via the dbase.
We've had a few months of "rest" now, in terms of development, and the IT team is gearing up
to create a series of tools for disaster and humanitarian relief. To start, we want to make
it possible for relief groups to be able to to sort/present the database data on their own websites.
That way, they can make their own "presentations" for their own audiences that suit their
audiences. We don't really want to be the end all everything all to everyone. We are just
humble tool creators. We built the thing for the warehouse network. But lots of other user
groups started to use the tool...medical clinics, volunteer camps, etc etc. So we've, by default,
become the central data collection point. Now it's time to figure out how to let everyone use
the data without having to come to our site and sort through a fancy database. Hopefully,
before long, we'll have something for you to test!
So sign in and register so that you're on our list for database administrative mailings...

Go directly there by using this URL: http://dbase.reliefdatabase.org
Choose "log in" from the upper right. Follow the instructions. Make sure to validate your log
in process by following the link that's sent to your email box. Let me know if you have any
issues...
While the techs were developing the new software (to be cutover soon), we built beginner instructions and stuffed them into a "facility record". If you want to see these, go to:
http://dbase.citizenactionteam.org/shelters/show/727
And scroll down till you see something worth reading!
Register your new site, even if you don't know much about the site...Or register yourself
as a "facility" (private citizen volunteer, info/hotline) so that we can find you!
Thank you again, for your kind words! We aim to please!
Terra Friedrichs
Citizen Action Team
www.reliefdatabase.org
www.citizenactionteam.org

2/22 Update From Terra
I just trained the FEMA volunteer agency liason...she was amazed that she didn't know about it sooner.
I told the LTRC lady in Hancock County that I could train people that she knows...and she said, "oh goodness...everyone I know already uses it!"

2/7 News Article!
http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/GCNspecialReportCitizenActionTeam.htm

12/12
NOTE: The US government is hitting the database all of a sudden. We've been making calls to the White House to tell them that we're organizing a grassroots effort to identify specific needs for specific locations. The ladies at the White House call center were very excited to hear about what we're doing with the CAT database.
That first day, the number of hits from government servers jumped. We got 70 hits that one day. Previously, the number of government hits/day were like 0-30, on a rare occasion 50. The % of government hits was in the 1% to 5% range. Every day since talking to the White House that first time, the number of government hits has gone up 30-50%. Yesterday, the government servers accounted for the LARGEST NUMBER OF HITS from a "single user type".
We believe that this is a message. We believe that someone is finally watching in Washington. MAKE SURE YOUR RECORD IS UPDATED. Spread the word that Washington is finally looking at the dbase. And make sure your QUANTITIES are marked on your needs list, so they can see the numbers by region.
Contact us at www.reliefdatabase.org, if you need help entering quantities, or want to learn how to use/navigate the dbase better...Yay team!
Terra
terraf@compuserve.com
12/2
If you need FREE OFFICE EQUIPMENT...LET US KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!

From Citizen Action Team - who is working with Kinkos!:
Leslie Teltoe: 818 360-2518 5-9 pm (west coast hours) M-Fri & weekends
grassrootsrebel@yahoo.com anytime.

We are working on an experiment to distribute used office equipment from a large corporate donor to humanitarian groups. Copiers, faxes, computers, servers, all kindsa stuff.

Let us know who you are, where you are, and a little about your organization.
When/if equipment becomes available in your area, we will let you know.

The process goes like this.
1. You get on our list.
2. When/if equipment becomes available in your area, we let you know.
3. If you want the equipment and you say, "YES, we want this item".
4. We ask for it formally.
5. We either get the equipment "assigned" to us or not.
6. If the equipment is "assigned" to you, then a call is placed letting the site know that you are coming.
7. You pick it up
8. You let us know when you've gotten it.
That's it! Free equipment!

BUT....we must follow the rules to make this experiment work and for us to get more free stuff, from corporations for humanitarian organisations.

RULES: If the equipment gets assigned to you, then you MUST be able to pick it up within one week of it being ASSIGNED to you.
If you can't pick it up or you don't have someone that can act as your alternate to pick up the equipment, then don't ASK for it.
Obviously, there are problems and there might be a time that you can't pick it up.
But if we want this experiment to work, then we want the number of times that we fail to be nearly zero.
If we want the experiment to work, we need to have things go smoothly. We need to show the corporate donors that we, as grassroots relief workers can follow rules.
So, if there is any doubt about whether you can pick up the equipment, please do not ask for it. Simple as that.

In Service,
The Citizen Action Team/Relief Database Team
Terra Friederichs/Leslie Teltoe/Dayle Nugent

Leslie: 818 360-2518 5-9 pm M-Fri & weekends
grassrootsrebel@yahoo.com
We are working on an experiment to distribute used office equipment from a large corporate donor to humanitarian groups. Copiers, faxes, computers, servers, all kindsa stuff.
Let us know who you are, where you are, and a little about your organization.When/if equipment becomes available in your area, we will let you know.
The process goes like this.1. You get on our list.2. When/if equipment becomes available in your area, we let you know.3. If you want the equipment and you say, "YES, we want this item".4. We ask for it formally.5. We either get the equipment "assigned" to us or not.6. If the equipment is "assigned" to you, then a call is placed letting the site know that you are coming.7. You pick it up8. You let us know when you' equipment!