Veteran-led organization helps recovery efforts after Helene and Milton

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Team Rubicon is on the ground in critical locations from Florida to North Carolina, helping in the aftermath of destructive hurricanes.

Transcript

00:00Team Rubicon is actually a veteran-led humanitarian organization that helps disasters around the world.

00:06Right now, they're on the ground in Florida helping Hurricane Milton survivors and they're

00:10still deployed in states hit by Hurricane Helene. And joining us is Jeff Bayard,

00:15Vice President of Operations for Team Rubicon. Jeff, thanks so much for being with us this

00:20morning. Can you fill us in on the latest in Florida and how your teams have been helping

00:25after Hurricane Milton? Sure. And first, thank you for having us. It's a great day to be a

00:30Grayshirt. We have, not just in Florida, but over 240 Grayshirts deployed from, excuse me,

00:36North Carolina to Florida, but Florida specific. Every storm's different, as y'all two know

00:42firsthand. So what we're doing for Milton, one, we had to do a safety stand down in Pasco County.

00:49We had Grayshirts there as a result of Helene. They're back in Pasco County doing great work.

00:54We are building out an operation in Charlotte County, Punta Gorda, and really all over the

01:00county there, Grove City, Englewood. Some of the areas that we worked in, Ian, obviously impacted

01:06again and were impacted with Helene. But with Milton, the tornadoes that the storm

01:14spawned, really kind of traditional tornadoes, not the typical ones you see in a hurricane,

01:21not that any tornadoes typical from that standpoint, but really big tornadoes. So we're

01:25looking at some of the eastern coast of Florida that were impacted that, but we feel like we'll

01:30have three solid operations up and running in Florida as a result of Milton. Really kind of

01:36Milton, Helene too. So, as the video shows, it's all about our Grayshirts on the ground. They're

01:41making impact daily and it's just unfortunate that we're there, but that's what we're built

01:47for, to be there in these times and our Grayshirts are there. You talked about your several stations

01:53there across Florida. How do the needs change throughout the course of the weekend? Right now,

01:57we're hearing a lot of different things like needs for gas and fuel. How does it change?

02:02Well, the gas is weird. I just came from Florida. I got in back home late last night.

02:09And there are certain areas definitely that have gas. I wouldn't say it's a gas shortage. It's

02:13just a matter of getting the power back on. And I think the gas situation will levelize probably

02:21by midweek this week. And that's just a Jeff Beyer guess. But we did see gas stations that

02:29had fuel. It was just outside the impacted area. So there's a little bit of drive time there,

02:33but I think you'll see the gas levelize this week. And we've got every capability we can

02:40bring to bear. There's elements say on the west coast, the Gulf Coast of Florida, where we're

02:46doing our traditional muck outs, where we're making homes safe and soundable so folks can

02:52get back into their homes. And then with the tornado, there's a lot of debris work. So it's

02:57really all the capabilities that we're bringing to bear in Florida in one state based on the storm,

03:04multiple hazards there, from debris to muck outs. It covered a wide variety of impacts

03:12from Hurricane Milton. But let's move back to Hurricane Helene because now almost three weeks in,

03:18where are Team Rubicon teams still helping? Right. So we're in Florida where Helene obviously

03:25made landfall. We're doing some operations there specifically around the Pasco County

03:30area and some of the surrounding counties there. We have two operations in Georgia. Georgia

03:37and South Carolina really got hit with heavy winds, tornadoes, a lot of debris work.

03:43But we're operating in Georgia. We're operating in South Carolina. We have an operation in Tennessee

03:48and we have two operations in North Carolina. One in the Charlotte Mecklenburg area where we're

03:53doing a lot of muck outs due to flooding. And then similar in Asheville where we're working on a

03:59pretty good project that's really tied to our mission. We're veteran-led and we're helping

04:06restore a veteran. It's the Veteran Restoration Quarters that does wonderful work for transitioning

04:13veterans. Totally muck out there, a lot of work going on. And we'll continue to go on. We're not,

04:22we will stay in these areas as long as we have volunteer interest and the need and the work's

04:27there. And of course there, really quickly, can you tell us how people can help your cause?

04:34Yes, trusa.org is the best way to help us either through fuel our mission or give us your treasure,

04:41which is your time. But definitely the need is out there and we want to bridge that gap and

04:48be a part of the recovery with our partners. So trusa.org is the best way to help.

04:53All right. I hope you get some more volunteers. Jeff Byard, Vice President of Operations for

04:57Team Rubicon. Thanks again for joining us and thank you and all the great shirts who are out

05:00there helping. Thank you.

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