The Oktibbeha Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Service is on a membership drive.
OSERVS held an open house at its offices on Highway 12 Thursday to thank its current stable of volunteers and attract some more. The volunteer agency has operated from the former Josey Animal Clinic since January and is already waist-deep in disaster response, according to Carol Moss Read, chair of the OSERVS board of directors.
In addition to helping 19 victims of the November tornado in The Pines trailer park with hotel rooms, OSERVS has provided Wal-Mart gift cards to victims of a another tornado and served victims of two residential fires, one of which was fatal.
But the 10-month-old agency, which is made up largely of former Red Cross board members and faculty, is looking to branch out.
Read, a former Red Cross board member herself, said OSERVS can go beyond the services provided by the Red Cross because it”s completely funded through donations. In particular, the agency hopes to establish and train Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) with help from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, which will give OSERVS the flexibility to help victims of large-scale disasters or personal crises.
“We can assist if someone has a disaster that”s personal to them. It”s still a disaster,” she said. “We don”t categorize disasters as so many families or so many dollars.”
Read said OSERVS has taken on projects as simple as helping tornado victims with gas money or a bus ticket. The agency”s offices are packed with toiletries, blankets and even stuffed animals for young children who lose their homes.
On the proactive end, OSERVS hopes to partner with local law enforcement agencies to reinvigorate neighborhood watch programs throughout the city and county.
OSERVS was conceived in 2010 after the Red Cross announced plans to consolidate its 13 Mississippi chapters into five. Starkville Red Cross board members and staff chose to start a new nonprofit to ensure services to Oktibbeha County residents didn”t diminish.
Ann Snell-McDonald, volunteer coordinator for OSERVS, said the agency duplicates many services traditionally offered through the Red Cross, such as CPR training, but with strictly volunteer labor.
“We”ve got a long list of volunteers. But we want more,” said McDonald.
In order to fund the agency, Brian Hawkins, community education chair for OSERVS, said the group has undertaken some creative fundraising tactics. A Bully Gras Ball in January raised close to $20,000 and a pancake breakfast at Applebees raised another $2,000. Another breakfast is planned for May 7 at Applebees. Admission is $5 at the door.
Funds have also been donated by local churches and the Masonic lodge.
In the meantime, OSERVS is remaining visible, setting up a booth at the March Garden Expo and offering traveling CPR classes.
“Wherever they request them, we”ll set them up,” said Hawkins.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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