News & Events

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters -- Annual National Conference

Description: First national conference in three years. Host state VOAD was ours, MD VOAD, and I served on Host Committee. I had volunteered our HOPE AACR teams to serve as volunteer staff, for all non-labor intensive positions. Event drew 715 paid attendees, and untold number of participates. Activities covered one entire floor of convention hotel. Booths, discussion groups, meals, banquets, parties, everything. HOPE AACR teams were obvious at all times, in all parts of every activity. For the first major meal, over six hundred people waiting for doors to open, and those doors were "guarded" by six HOPE AACR teams, who then served as the ticket takers. It was soooooo impressive! While Melanie was there attending, representing HOPE AACR, and Shellie and I, "Team ShihTzu", have been to these national conferences each year, representing HOPE AACR, but paid for by the Maryland VOAD, as I was serving as their Vice Chair, aside from Doug, I believe most of these teams were newbies. And while this was far from any "national" activity, I felt they did an incredible job. HOPE AACR doesn't self-deploy. We wait to be called in by those that we have worked to align ourselves with. THESE are those people!