The American Red Cross in Greater New York's (ARC/GNY) Ready When The Time Comes (RWTC) program provides disaster-relief training to volunteer teams from local community groups (cultural, faith-based, civic), as well as corporate and business groups. All participants receive free basic disaster relief and personal preparedness training. RWTC volunteers serve as a reserve task force that will be called upon when a large-scale New York Chapter emergency relief operation requires increased staffing.
How Does RWTC Work?
Community groups may partner with the American Red Cross in Greater New York to train their designated members as disaster relief volunteers. Partners commit to making these group members available for major local disasters, such as large-scale flooding and power outages. When a major local disaster occurs, ARC/GNY calls the RWTC partners, who then deploy their volunteers to Red Cross service sites.
Services RWTC Volunteers Can Provide
All Ready When The Time Comes volunteers who attend a 3-hour introductory course are required to take additional training needed to perform one of the following disaster relief activities:
- Mass Care and Feeding
- Sheltering
- Client Casework
- Disaster Assessment
- Logistics
What is required of RWTC Partners?
- Recruit a team of volunteers (minimum of 20; no maximum).
- Designate a team leader that the Greater New York Chapter can contact when deployment is necessary.
- Assist in identifying training sites for their RWTC team.
- Encourage and recognize RWTC team members within the organization.
For more information, please contact David Dunn at 212-875-2255 or dunnd@nyredcross.org.
RWTC Community Partners
