The HODR Story
As a result of the devastating effects of the tsunami in December, 2004, businessman David Campbell headed to Thailand to see how he could help. His intended one week volunteer visit turned into a one month stay, during which he became one of the founders of HandsOnThailand, which, over a 3 month duration, brought more than 200 volunteers and several hundred thousand dollars to assist the rebuilding of five Phuket fishing villages.
After hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the US in 2005, David joined with several other HandsOn volunteers to establish HandsOnUSA. One week after Katrina, the team had an operations center in Biloxi, MS, 50 volunteers committed and en route, and dozens of community re-development projects launched. In total, more than 1,500 volunteers helped HandsOnUSA serve the survivors of Katrina during the 5-month deployment.
In 2006, this volunteer response model became known as Hands On Disaster Response (HODR), and has since engaged thousands of volunteers to provide direct services on fourteen deployments:
2010 Project Leogane, Haiti, Earthquake
2009 Project Sungai Geringging, Indonesia, Earthquake
2009 Project Gowanda, New York USA, Flood Coordination
2009 Project Mena, Arkansas USA, Tornado
2008 Project Gonaives, Haiti, Hurricanes
2008 Project Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids and Palo, Iowa USA, Flooding
2008 Project Newton County, Missouri USA, Tornado
2008 Project Gassville, Arkansas USA, 1st micro-deployment, Tornado
2007 Project Rayenda, Bangladesh, Cyclone Sidr
2007 Project Pisco, Peru, Earthquake
2006 Project Santo Domingo, Philippines, Typhoon Reming
2006 Project Jogjakarta, Sawit, Indonesia, Earthquake
2005 HandsOnUSA, Biloxi, Mississippi USA, Hurricane Katrina
2004 HandsOnThailand, Bang Tao, Thailand, Tsunami