Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/ADRA/Print version
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[edit] Community Assessment
| Print version | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 1 |  |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 1. Select an urban or suburban neighborhood, a small town or a rural region to focus on in the completion of the requirements for this honor.
Unless very sparsely populated an area of even one square mile may be sufficient or possibly too large for this project. Choose an area that you can actually assess carefully in the time you allot with the number of people you have to do it. Then with photocopies of a map of the area define each team's "zone" for them so that there will be no unneeded overlapping and no place unchecked.
[edit] 2. Compile a file folder of information on the selected community, including:
Most resources providing demographics for the USA will provide much of the information required by this step.
[edit] a. A map of the area
Use one of the many online mapping services, or obtain a street atlas. Online mapping services include:
[edit] b. A demographic profile
Easy and free demographics are available online at city-data.com.
AdventSource and your local city manager's office may also be able to provide you with up to date demographics. AdventSource will refer you to the Center for Metropolitan Ministry at Columbia Union College, which is the only Adventist organization currently providing demographic reports for local communities. You can reach the staff at 800-438-9600.
[edit] c. Public health statistics
You may contact your county/parish or state/common wealth health services department by mail, phone or internet to gather these statistics.
[edit] d. Economic indicators
This information is usually included with any standard demographic report. If it is not you can get information like this from your municipality, county/parish, or state by contacting the Department of Economic Services and Community Development. They will be able to provide you with income reports and business statistics for their jurisdiction; you may also contact the Department of Revenue for sales tax and other local revenue statistics.
[edit] e. Housing information
General housing information is part of every standard demographic report. This information should include percentage of rental vs. ownership, average square footage, high and low square footage, average age of construction, oldest and newest construction as well as other generalities. The local Department of Community Services and a tour of the area will provide you more specific information.
[edit] f. Environment and transportation
This information is easily obtained. As local inhabitants your environment should be readily observable. If you need information about specific environmental factors contact your local Department of Environmental Quality or US OSHA. Transportation statistics are only vague on demographic reports, you may obtain more detailed information from your state's Department of Transportation and the local transportation authority. They will be able to provide you with mass transit statistics such as buses and bus routes as well as the number of seats actually filled on any form of mass transit.
[edit] 3. With a friend or assigned partner take an awareness walk of at least 45 minutes through a specific part of the selected community with the goal in mind of seeing human needs. List all of the needs you see - such as yards and public areas that could be cleaned up, litter that could be picked up, lonely or aged people that could be helped, low-income families with children that could be assisted, etc.
This information can be compiled by your club with ACS and used as the basis of a broader plan for outreach by your club and church in service to your community or a community in need.
You can find an instrument and detailed instructions for how to do a "windshield survey" of a community in Understanding Your Community by Monte Sahlin. It is available from The Center for Creative Ministry .
[edit] For advanced work, complete the following (skill level 3)
| Print version | ||
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| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 3 | |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 4. Interview at least one civic leader or community professional in the selected community. Ask this person about the needs in the community, the various organizations that provide services in the community, and how a Christian youth group might make a contribution to the community. Take notes during the interview.
My recommendation is a local Council or Alderman. If this is not easily enough managed seek out the emergency planner for your municipality or the emergency management coordinator for any department within you locality. These people carry with them a great deal of knowledge on local needs and services, they are familiar with local professional and volunteer organizations that operate in your area.
In the book Understanding Your Community by Monte Sahlin there is an entire chapter that explains how to do this. It includes a list of 50 civic leader roles that typically exist in communities in the United States, with specific questions for each of these roles. You can order this book at Center for Creative Ministry.
[edit] 5. Prepare a report of at least 10 pages on the selected community based on the information that you have collected and suggesting specific projects that ADRA or the local Adventist Community Services organization, or Youth Emergency Service (YES) Corps unit might provide which are needed in the community.
Do not overlook the items that your club and other ministries in your church can address. Reports such as these are important to help focus the efforts of the church to the true needs of the community it serves. Only through careful consideration of those needs can we do our Christian duty of service in a way that is useful and beneficial, community outreach is not only for the productivity of the church but the true benefit of those it is to effect. Because this is true and evaluation of those items identified in earlier steps of this Honor need to be prioritized in addition to identified to the ministry best suited to execute the service.
[edit] 6. Make a presentation of at least 15 minutes based on the report to a local church committee, Adventist Community Services unit, or similar group.
As the instructor, it will be up to you to arrange the meeting between the young people making the presentation and the committee to whom the presentation will be made. This is a real opportunity for the youth in your church to assess the needs of your community and actually do something about it. The committee should be one that has the authority to approve the project.
For the presentation, encourage the youth to be creative. If possible, they should use visual aids in their presentation, such as a slide show or presentation software. They could take pictures showing the areas they wish to change, and possibly use photo editing software to illustrate the proposed changes. The better they make the presentation, the more likely they are to impress the committee that they are capable of handling the project.
[edit] References
Studying Your Community by Roland L. Warren, Free Press, New York and London ( 1965)
The Church That Cares: Identifying and Responding to Needs in Your Community by Kenneth R. Miller and Mary E. Wilson, Judson Press, Valley Forge, Penn
Understanding Your Community by Monte Sahlin, Center for Creative Ministry, Lincoln, Nebraska (Third Edition, 2006)
[edit] Community Service
| Print version | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 1 | |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 1. Read the following Bible texts and explain what they teach about the role God expects each Christian to play in meeting the needs of the poor and suffering in the community:
[edit] a. Isaiah 58:3-12
This passages of Scripture teaches the principle that God's concern and focus in the world is holistic, not limited to the spiritual or religious category. It states that God will not listen to the prayers of people who are very active in religion while at the same time ignoring issues such as poverty and social justice. During the early 20th century, a stream of thought developed among conservative, Protestant Christians that teaches that faith has nothing to do with such topics as business practices or social concerns. This passage definitely condemns such thinking and asserts that in order to be right with God believers must help to overcome poverty and stand up for the oppressed.
[edit] b. Luke 10:25-37
Christ told this parable in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" This question came at the end of a dialog with an educated, dedicated believer about God's law in which Christ quoted Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself." This concept of unselfish love for neighbors is at the heart of God's expectations for humanity and foundational for community service of any kind. In the parable, Christ points out that religious people--the Levite who was a lay leader and the Priest who was clergy--sometimes see needy people but pass by without doing anything that is helpful. While other people--who may not be acceptable to the religious people at all; the Samaritan--respond immediately with the kind of practical, compassionate and unselfish help that is needed. The real neighbor, Jesus says, is the person who shows mercy in concrete ways, and commands His followers, "Go and do likewise." This story is particularly important because Jesus choose to make the exemplary individual, the Good Samaritan, a member of an ethnic group that was despised, looked down upon and discriminated against by the religious community to which Jesus belonged. He is pointing out that following Jesus is about the content of your character, not your race, culture or gender.
[edit] c. Matthew 25:31-46
This parable is the last in a series of four parables that Jesus told in Matthew 24-25 in response to questions from His disciples about end time events; "When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3, NIV) In the previous parables Christ taught that His followers should not begin to attack and blame each other if they become weary in waiting for Him (Matthew 24:45-51); instead they should make sure they have the spiritual resources for long-term discipleship (Matthew 25:1-13) and invest their abilities in the marketplace and lead constructive lives instead of withdrawing from society (Matthew 25:14-30). In this capstone parable of the series, Jesus says that when God sits in judgment at the end of history, His concern will be primarily about how people treated the hungry, the poor, the alien, the homeless, the sick and the prisoner. In other words, the true mark of people who are really looking forward to the return of Christ is that they will be active in working against world hunger, to assure clean supplies of drinking water, to extend hospitality to aliens and refugees, to help the poor, to prevent and care for the victims of disease, and to stand up for the oppressed and imprisoned. It is interesting that when Jesus identifies Himself with the poor, the hurting and the oppressed, both groups in the story have essentially the same response. The righteous say, "When did we see you" among the poor (Matthew 25:38), unaware that their compassionate behavior had any particular religious meaning. In other words, they were not doing good works in order to be saved. And the unrighteous also say, "When did we see you" among the needy (Matthew 25:44), blind to the fact that their self-centered faith which did not see the need to become involved in dealing with hunger, poverty, disease or social injustice was unfaithful to Christ Himself.
[edit] 2. Read Chapter 54 (entitled "The Good Samaritan) from The Desire of Ages by Ellen White and write a list of five key points in the chapter.
Most of Ellen White's writings are available online. This particular passage can be found at http://www.whiteestate.org/books/da/da54.html.
[edit] 3. Explain to your instructor the following:
[edit] a. The name of the local Adventist organization that serves the poor and suffering in your town or metropolitan area. What kinds of services does it provide?
Older people in the church still often refer to Adventist Community Services (ACS) as Dorcas, but that name began to be phased out in the 1960s. There are still a few local churches that have a Dorcas Society and it is one of the several ministries under the official NAD Department called Adventist Community Services. Dorcas is named for a woman in the book of Acts who had spent her life serving the poor and was raised from the dead by the apostle Peter. There may also be a group known as Adventist Youth Emergency Service Corp in your area. This program sponsored by ACS and NADYM is for teens and young adults to participate in both ACS Disaster Response and local community services.
Local ACS normally provides clothing (new and used), food, and support to local individuals and families in need. They keep records of those assisted and offer referrals to other organizations when needs are outside of the common skill available at ACS.
[edit] b. What the letters ADRA stand for. Give a brief explanation of each word represented, and explain the difference between "development" and "relief"
- Adventist: A self managing agency of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
- Development: This effort is focused on developing economic and social stability through resources and training.
and
- Relief: The humanitary effort to relieve the suffering of those who can not help themselves
- Agency: ADRA is a Non-governmental agency on the U.N. NGO list opperating in 120 nations world wide. [1]
[edit] 4. Image:GC_tiny.png (GC) Pack an ADRA box, using the proper procedures for contents, method of packing, and labeling of the box.
You contact your local ADRA office or Country Director for assistance with training in this and other services your local group can provide for ADRA projects.
[edit] 4. Image:NAD_tiny.png (recommended for NAD) Pack an ACS DR box, using the proper procedures for content, method of packing, and numbering of the box, so that it is Distribution Center ready.
Contact your local conference ACS Disaster Response Coordinator, your Union Disaster Response Coordinator, or NAD ACS for further assistance and training in packing a Disaster Response box. as of August 2006 Pacific Union is very proactive in training and can offer material, contacts and assistance if you contact them.
[edit] 5. Meet with the Adventist Community Services leader in your area and ask about projects that your Pathfinder unit or class might be able to accomplish that would help meet needs in your community.
This can be the ACS Director/Coordinator for you local church, county, or conference. At least one church in your area will have ACS and all conferences have an ACS Director even if part-time.
[edit] 6. Plan a community service project with your Pathfinder unit or class and complete it.
This writer recommends completing the Community Assessment honor before beginning the Community Service Honor and using the information you compile during your Community Assessment Honor as a foundation for planning this project and others.
[edit] 7. Complete at least 10 hours of volunteer service, including both time invested in the project mentioned in requirement number six and time donated to other community service activities.
This time includes planning, preparation, and execution of a project and any time spent working with ACS or other outreach ministry in your church. The typical Pathfinder Club will spend at least ten hours in a normal year performing Community Services so this requirement should not feel daunting to active members.
[edit] References
- Who is My Neighbor? ADRA International, Silver Spring, Maryland (1995)
- Ministries of Compassion by Monte Sahlin, et al., AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska (2nd edition, 1998)
- Who Cares? by Linnea Torkelsen, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska (1996)
- We Are His Hands by Steve Caseand Fred Cornforth, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska (1994)
[edit] Crisis Intervention
| Print version | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 3 | |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 1. Be at least in the 10th grade.
This will be for those in 10th grade/Sophomore in high school or at least 15 years of age in a location where such school grades have no equivalent or for home school and non-schooled children. *This Honor will require an instructor. Contact your church Counselor or conference office for assistance or ACS or ADRA for a trainer for Crisis Intervention or Grief Counseling.
[edit] 2. Explain how Christ encouraged people in crisis in at least two of the following Bible stories. Identify the nature of the crisis or human needs in each story that you explain.
[edit] a. John 8:1-11
[edit] b. Matthew 18: 1-6
[edit] c. John 4: 1-26
[edit] d. John 1:35-42
[edit] e. Mark 2:13-17
[edit] f. Acts 9
[edit] 3. Describe for your instructor some of the human needs and crisis situations that teenagers in your community face today. Describe some of the crisis situations that families face. This may be done in a group discussion setting.
Often in any crisis whether it be a wide area disaster or the loss of a close family member the emotional crisis can be devastating to an individual. Not all people are emotionally equipped to react and continue to even function when facing what many would call an overwhelming situation. For these people imediate assistance is needed as they may have frozen themselves in a dangerous location, may become depressed even to the point of suicidal or may react in outrage and violent fashion.
To help to bring these reactions to a close or to a point controllable first the person must be helped to a place physically and mentally where they are not in imediate danger and they must be helped to realize this. In the case of the loss of a parent this may mean that the teen is helped to realize that they have many friends, and family, a community that will help them to go on and provide for their needs.
The human needs of any individual start with the same basics: shelter, water, and food. As Christians we recognize the need first for God and our relationship with Him and will remind those we help to keep this need first in all things. Beyond these basic needs there are possibly physical, medical, and emotional support needs that will be considered. A person injured in the fire that has destroyed his home needs medical attention before he needs emotional support (although the two may come nearly simultaniously at times). In professional occupations that deal with high stress matters or regular human suffering the emotional support to follow is most often called Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. This is a form of counseling that is important not only to professionals like firefighters but also to families and communities in need.
The stress of an incident can be overwhelming and may manifest itself some great time later or be a fixture in a person's actions and outlook to life. Although not all people are affected by such stress it is best to see to the potential needs of a person in crisis to avert the possible self destruction that may come. In this we consider not only what a person says they are feeling and facing, not only what they have gone through, but in the long term what they are like today vs. the person they were before their crisis.
In immediate intervention you will be a shoulder to lean on, someone to offer support, to be yelled at, to be cried to. You will offer encouragement and help to arrange for those basic needs of shelter, water, and food. You will report to your "supervisor" in intervention any issue you observe that may need to be referred to professional counseling. You will be a friend.
Families face a variety of crisis situations and some things that some may not consider to be a crisis can be devastating. For this purpose we will list common crisis situations:
- House fire
- Death of a loved one
- Loss of income
- Terminal disease
- Birth Defects
- Multiple Births (quintuplets for example, imagine five kids at one time could be stressful)
- Serious Injury
- Natural Disaster
[edit] 4. Discuss your own motives for wanting to help your friends when they face personal or family crisis. What about strangers? This may be done in a group discussion setting.
[edit] 5. Describe the types of human needs and give a real-life example of each.
[edit] 6. Explain the steps in crisis intervention process and apply each step to a case study supplied by your instructor.
[edit] 7. Demonstrate a grasp of basic listening skills by conducting an interview of at least 30 minutes duration. This interview must either be observed by an observer who can recognize listening skills, or taped for review by your instructor. The interview does not have to be with a person who is in crisis, but it must be a real conversation not pretend or role-playing.
[edit] 8. Explain how to make a referral to a professional counselor or pastor.
[edit] References
How to Help a Friend (second edition) by Paul Welter, Tyndale House, Wheaton, Illinois (1991)
Christ-Centered Caring by Ronaele Whittington, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska (1990)
[edit] Disaster Response
| Print version | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 1 | |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 1. Explain the type of damage most likely to occur to homes and individuals for each of the following major types of disaster, and indicate for each in which parts of the world does it occur most frequently:
[edit] a. Hurricane/Typhoon
Damage: These storms bring with them tidal surges that cause flooding, devastating winds, rain, hail, lightning and damage they cause often spark fires, toxic leaks, and electrical hazards. Occasionally they spin off tornados, and massive inland thunderstorms. As a result people are killed in large numbers when not evacuated, homes are destroyed, water contaminated and responses delayed as a result of the ongoing storm. These storms have destroyed economies in history and have the record for most costly to recover from for nations affected.
Effects: Have been known to affect the coastal regions of every inhabited continent and virtually every island on Earth. Primarily affecting the Eastern Coasts of the Eastern Hemisphere, The Western Coast of Central America and Mexico, and the Caribbean and South and East Coasts of the USA.
[edit] b. Tornado
These events are most frequently related to large storm systems although small tornados have been formed on clear days. Often, the smallest such funnels called "Dust Devils" form during the dry summer months in the Sonoran Desert. Large tornados are subject to higher wind speeds than many hurricanes but contained in tighter funnels, they obliterate structures that they meet head on and often cause roof separations, siding separations and other damage to structures outside their central path. Massive deaths may occur when these storms reach populated areas as they are unpredictable by current technology. Therefore, warning times are short and few people can reach safety. These storms have been known to rip the pavement from roads and massive trees from the ground with their roots. They shower debris at the outer most points of their reach sometimes miles away causing even more damage.
Effects: Largely inland plains areas such as the Great Plains of the United States. This is believed to be as a result of the low friction for storm systems that move through the areas and their violent collision with systems of varient tempurature or pressure. Tornados occur outside the plains as well, more frequently in hotter climates (such as the southern US), and less frequently (and less intensely) in cooler climes (such as the northeastern US).
[edit] c. Floods
All floods have this in common: if they are big enough and fast they will move absolutely everything in their path. No force seems to be more able to move even the surface of the Earth itself as dramatically as flooding. Small floods may ruin walls and flooring in houses and contaminate water supplies, while large fast floods will simply erase the earth they cover. As in any large disaster in which people are not or can not be evacutated, deaths are large in number. For those who survive they will become refugees needing all assistance from neighboring communities or even nations just to survive.
No part of the Earth has been unaffected by floods. Even those who argue that the Biblical account of the Genesis flood did not happen must acknowledge evidence of flooding at even the highest points of Earth that geologist have studied. Most flooding occurs near rivers and coastal regions or along mountains - the reasons are apparent. Rivers and mountainsides (as well as deserts) are subject to flash floods. These sudden and violent events often occur as a result of storms that are massive and may be miles from the flooding. Lakes, seas, and oceans are most commonly subject to tidal surges caused by storms moving across the surface, and their force pushing the water level under them down (therefore out) causing coastal flooding. These same large bodies of water can be subject to Tsunami as well. This, most commonly caused by earthquakes, will be briefly preluded by tidal retraction. This retraction may be drastic and measuralable in kilometers or even miles, but when the tide returns it will be FAST, sudden, and high. Tsunamis do not look like breaking waves but rather tidal surges, and they may rise dozens or even hundreds of feet beyond the normal tide.
[edit] d. Earthquake
These disasters have large variance. Some may be of little effect to anyone because of their location, and others may leave entire metroplexes a burning ruin. Today those areas of the industrialized world most effected by earthquakes have developed technologies to help limit structural damage during such an event and science is also working on better warning systems and predictions for major events. This can be done in theory because we have some marginal grasp that the world is made up of floating plates and they rub on one another building and releasing pressure. As is so often the case, fire and contamination are a problem, as well as mass deaths for unevacuated people. The cost for industrialized cities to recover can be billions. For those areas that do not have the benefit of an industrial economy, the death tolls are hard to relate to others, and all buildings are often lost in the affected area as they are made from clay or cement or wood with no benefit of industrial engineering.
Effects: There are a large number of plates in the world and where any two meet (and spurs near them) there are fault lines. These meeting points release pressure built up by movement that we call earthquakes. Most are minor and hardly felt beyond the fault itself. Others can cause very strong quakes felt hundreds of miles of away, even causing damage a hundred or more miles away. They may also trigger volcanic eruptions and Tsunami.
*Volcanic eruptions being excluded from the requirements, I will choose to point out that these can be more devastating than anything modern man has known. A single eruption buried two major Roman cities within hours: Pompei and Herculiam. A volcanic eruption (by the will of God) that occurred in the Mediterranean not only left behind a large island sea but may have been the trigger that God provided to bring the plagues to Egypt (some scientist of Christian nature argue this to be accurate other say it happened too early for the Exodus). Volcanic eruptions can release various gases that kill thousands - such as happened in Camaroon in 1984 and 1986. They can cause hail storms to occur while still-burning magma is falling, and have cast dense darkness about large areas (some science indicates that certain eruptions - like the Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompei - can cast total darkness for several days over hundreds of miles of the earth). Sometimes major eruptions can partially darken the sky for years, causing crops to fail for lack of sufficient sunshine.
Some historians have hypothesized that the eruption of Krakatoa in A.D. 535 caused climate changes. These climate changes may have contributed to various developments, such as the emergence of the Plague of Justinian, the migration of Mongolian tribes towards the West, the end of the Persian empire, the rise of Islam and the end of various civilizations in Central and South America. PBS based a documentary, Catastrophe!, on these ideas, which though plausible, are not widely accepted at this point.
[edit] e. Wildfire
Although completely devastating to personal property, often loss of life is limited. Wildfires, even in urban areas, may not be predictable but they are fightable and usually time is had to evacuate people living in the affected or about to be affected areas. This disaster, whether it be natural or man made, is the first of the disasters listed in this requirement that we can fight to protect property and life. Foresty practices that allow the periodic burning of undergrowth limit the severity of massive wildfires by reducing the total forest fuel load. It is better to allow periodic small fires to burn, rather than preventing and putting out all forest fires immediately, to prevent massive uncontrolled wildfires. Massive fires destroy almost all living things in the forest, while smaller fires allow many species of vegistation to survive. The National Forest Service is changing its practices to take these facts in account. Unfortunately decades of practice of putting out every forest fire has left many of our forests with an unnaturally larege fuel load, that must be either removed by hand, or carefully removed by controlled burns.
Effects: Those areas of Earth that are not frozen and have growing vegetation.
[edit] f. Chemical spill
Chemical spills may cause no personal property damage at all or they may cause various kinds of damage. This depends on the chemical and what happens to it when it spills. Does it become vapor? Did it become ignited in flame or explosion? The clean up can be extensive if the spill of a liquid chemical occurs and gases can cause massive evacuations as well. Few people, by the standards of disasters, residing nearby will die. Most will be evacuted safely or must stay in their homes to protect themselves. If the spill of gas or an explosion occurs, those nearest the event will die - often quickly.
Effects: Normally urban areas where chemicals are manufactured, stored or transported. They can occur at sea or in other areas, normally as a result of a mishap during transportation.
[edit] g. Nuclear accident
Two major incidents have occurred in the 20th century involving nuclear generating stations (NGS). The first was a leak at Three Mile Island in the USA and the second at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. NGS locations are built inside large containment domes that are intended to keep the public from lethal exposure in case of an accidental loss of control. Two events can occur to defeat this: too much radiation can be lost and air must be vented to other non-containment buildings as was the case at Three Mile Island, or a total loss of the core can occur. Core loss is what occurred in Chernobyl. This "meltdown" did not act like a nuclear bomb and destroy the area but rather released an intensely radioactive gas over hundreds of square miles, killing many and causing severe trauma to others. We do not know how bad it might have been as Chernobyl was not a massive metropolis and the heroic men who went to certain death to stop the meltdown over a full day of intensive efforts did their job. There is an area 100 miles in radius around the plant that in 2006 is still centuries from being inhabitable again. The areas outside of this radius are questionably better, although people survive there; death rates are high, birth defects are common place, cancer is a given, and animals as well as plants suffer in the matter as do the humans.
Nuclear energy is largley safe and clean when compared to other forms of generation. But like so many things it is toxic in the state that man alters it to, where in the mountains of Columbia workers chew the leaves of cocoa plants for stamina throughout their adult lives one dose of cocaine can kill a person in minutes, radio active material must be enriched and refined for generation and so its control and awe must be regarded for every minute we coexist with it. At Chernobyl today they are facing the concern of how a place still lethal to man can be worked at because the original contaiment structure put together by the teams of workers who saved the USSR from an unknown phenomenon of true meltdown is crumbling as it was built as a stop-gap measure.
Radiation like chlorine will drift with the winds poisoning all surfaces it comes into contact with until it dispates, depending on the density and size of this cloud it could be of no effect or it could kill millions of people and render an area unihabital for centuries without physically damaging a single structure.
Effects: Areas dozens of miles in radius to the event. Most likely effected are those areas nearest a nuclear generating station, or military nuclear storage facility. Beyond this those cities targeted for nuclear detonation by weapons. Few locations on the planet are likely to have a natural nuclear emergency, most radioactive material is slow to be lethal in its natural state and those people who have for generations lived near it often build a tolerance to it. So quickly that I was told in college for years low grade nuclear waste was stored in a particular New York area neighborhood because the area was once a watch manufacuring location where Radium was hand painted on watch and clock hands and the residents had become tolerant to it.
[edit] 2. Describe briefly the types of services provided to survivors of disasters in your nation by ADRA or Adventist Community Services (ACS).
ADRA provides services outside of North America in 120 nations around the globe. ACS provides services inside North America and Bermuda. Their missions are often parallel in Disaster Response.
In the area of Disaster Response the Adventist organizations provide an important basic need of disaster relief, warehousing and distribution. Adventists are responsible for receiving most of the donated goods sent to an incident, then sorting, warehousing, and distributing them. Large scale distribution is done to fill the needs of the Red Cross, Southern Baptists, Salvation Army, and Second Harvest as well as local food banks and shelters during a response. Small scale distributions to individuals and families are done at satellite distribution centers where families report to obtain those essential items they need such as clothing, hygiene products, and food.
Before this type of system was organized or when it does not function, donated items often went to waste. Because of the slow action of the state of Louisiana and its political subdivisions, truckloads of goods were dropped in fields and streets within hurricane ravaged areas and went to waste. The central collection of goods and their managed distribution is essential to good Disaster Management.
[edit] 3. View a video report from ADRA or ACS concerning a recent disaster response project and discuss with your instructor, Pathfinder Club counselor, teacher or group the key roles that would be necessary in the disaster response team in order to accomplish the work described in the video.
The ADRA Presents series of videos includes very good introductions to ACS and disaster resoponse in short video segments. These videos are available through AdventSource .
[edit] 4. Complete the official ADRA introductory training unit provided by your national ADRA office or ACS organization.
Contact ADRA at http://www.adra.org
Contact ACS at http://www.communityservices.orgA list of training dates and trainer contacts is now available at this site for members within NAD. If there is no trainer in your area please do contact ACSDR and request a trainer as well as contacting the trainer in the geographic region closest to you.
OR check with your local conference for the contact of your conference or union disaster coordinator.
Currently ACS has 5 general training modules and specific courses on Warehouse Management, Public Information, and interagency liaison. The 5 general modules are currently being revised.
[edit] 5. Describe at least one of these other major disaster response organizations and the kind of relationship that ADRA or ACS has with it:
[edit] a. Red Cross
The Red Cross provides complete relief services world wide. Recognized as the foremost international aid agency the International Red Cross and Red Crescent operates in every nation on of the world.
Within North America, Adventist Community Services supports the mission of the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies and a goods management, warehousing, and distribution coordinator with contracts with local, state, and national governments. ACS provides to the Red Cross food and clothing that is sent into disaster areas for use in their camps and shelters.
Outside of the operating areas of ACS the Adventist Development and Relief Agency operates in a capacity equal to ACS in disaster, and at times in broader aspects as the first responding agency to a disaster or in redevelopment in the aftermath of a disaster.
[edit] b. UNHCR
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - United Nations Refugee Agency.
ADRA assists with the distribution of clothing and food for refugees and in some cases manages refugee camps for the United Nations throughout the nations in which it operates. Neighbors of war-torn countries often completely impoverished themselves rely on this organization and others that support refugees, to protect, feed, cloth, educate, house and otherwise tend to those who stream across their borders each day.
[edit] c. Food banks
Food banks are one method used to distribute unprepared food to disaster survivors and those affected by a disaster. ACS in its warehousing and distribution management provides stock donated or purchased into a disaster-affected area to local food banks, Southern Baptists, Second Harvest, the Red Cross, and its own direct to consumer distribution centers.
[edit] 6. Explain the role of government officials when a disaster occurs, identify the key government agency in your nation that manages emergency response, and describe the nature of the relationship that your ADRA or ACS country office has with this government agency.
In the United States each state has the responsibility to manage major emergencies and disasters. They do so by establishing a state level agency to oversee planning and response while advising local juridictions such as counties and cities on their planning and response. Part of this planning is the development of contracts for response to emergencies with non-government agencies within and outside their state. This will include ADRA and the Red Cross and may include local contractors who will provide equipment on demand, and local charities that may help with refugee shelter or goods management.
If the governor of a state declares an emergency these plans and contracts go into effect. In addition, if that governor makes a formal request of the United States Federal Government for assistance the President may, after reviewing the request, dispatch the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and provide federal funding to help offset the cost of the disaster for the state. The U.S. Federal Government has no jurisdiction to respond to an emergency or to fund its recovery when it occurs off federally controlled lands. Therefore the system requires as a constitutional matter of separation of powers that the state request aid before it can be given. In recent years in the United States a gross failure of a state to act resulted in the deaths and suffering of many of its residents and in blame placed on FEMA where it was not due; for this reason it is deeply important that we understand the emergency management system of our nation and how we can best be of service to it.
[edit] 7. Find a Bible text that you might use to comfort and encourage an individual of your same age and gender who has just experienced the total loss of their home, and tell why you chose that text.
Here are a few suggestions. Of course if there is another text not listed here, that will also work. Remember that you have to give your own reason for choosing the text.
| Isaiah 40:31 |
|---|
| "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
|
| Psalm 27:14 |
|---|
Wait for the LORD;
|
...more to come
[edit] References
Disaster Response Guide from the ADRA or ACS national office
Ministries of Compassion, second edition by Monte Sahlin, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska(1998)
[edit] Hunger Relief
| Print version | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADRA General Conference |
Skill Level 1 | |
| Year of Introduction: 2005 | ||
[edit] 1. View an ADRA video on the topic of world hunger and discuss with your Pathfinder Club unit or class the methods shown in the video which ADRA is using to combat hunger.
The ADRA Presents series of videos includes very good introductions to ACS and disaster response in short video segments. These videos are available through AdventSource .
[edit] 2. Interview the person who directs the community food pantry in your local church or another local church in your area. Ask this person about the types of people they serve, what causes food needs in the community, and how they meet these needs. Take notes during the interview.
If you do not know who this person is in your church, ask your Pastor. As a courtesy, let this person know ahead of time what questions will be asked so that preparations can be made. Invite this person to a club meeting - the question and answer session would make an excellent worship activity for your club's opening exercises.
[edit] 3. Visit a food bank and talk with the staff, and then explain to your instructor how the food bank gathers donated groceries and provides supplies to food pantries, soup kitchens, etc.
[edit] 4. Describe in an essay of at least 500 words the causes of hunger in each of the following situations:
[edit] a. Developing nations overseas
Formerly nations were referred to as third world countries if they fell into a category like this. Today the terms emerging and developing nations describe those countries that have generally stable governments but lack the resources to manage their own economy and population. Countries that cannot be easily be defined as developing nations include countries such as the Sudan and Somalia where the governments have collapsed or are not widely recognized as legitimate by other nations. These nations are normally in a perpetual state of civil war and often provide breeding grounds for extremist and terrorist organizations. Nations of this type have little to no infrastructure and rely heavily on international forces to protect the "civilian" population and provide for their every need. Many developing countries were in such states just fifteen or twenty years ago (2006) and are finding today that in spite of a more stable government and economy they have difficulty in truly emerging to the level of industrialized nation because the protection and services provided during their past has turned their people into a population of welfare seeking citizens who do not feel need or purpose for being productive. This is one reason that has lead to the focus of ADRA on development even in the Sudan and Somalia today. Providing skill-training and purpose to such people will help them to participate in the stabilization and development of their nation.
[edit] b. Inner-city and other disadvantaged areas in this country
"In this country" literally applies to the United States and Canada. Surprisingly even major European countries such as France are not "developed" countries any more by western standards. This is so true that the United Nations has many of the same programs on the ground in France and other Western European Nations that it has in place in the nations of the former Soviet Union and on the African continent.