Disaster and Surge Support Volunteer Caseworkers

The Recovery Services Client Care Program allows the Red Cross to rapidly meet disaster-caused needs by enabling clients to apply and receive financial assistance and/or community resources. This role is critical to helping those recover from local large disasters such as Hurricane Ida, and volunteers with skills and backgrounds in social work and the medical, health, or emergency services fields are encouraged to apply!

Duties/Responsibility:

• Conduct intake by interviewing the client and opening a case
• Provide financial assistance to qualified clients
• Conduct follow-up and recovery planning services
• Provide community referrals
• Assist with problem-solving and advocacy on request
• Services may be provided in person or virtually
• Complete the required virtual self-paced training (9 hours of training)

Skills:

• Comfortable interacting with people from various diverse background whose lives have been disrupted and many are presenting immediate needs
• Kind, caring, resourceful, and knowledgeable
• Comfortable learning new online case management systems
• Experience using Microsoft Office products
• Able to serve the client with care, comfort, and concern

Training:

• Approximately 8+ hrs of training is required for this role to learn the Red Cross Database and how Red Cross provides disaster assistance to clients

Commitment:

• Local/regional: Shift work determined by the scale of the relief operation; a minimum requirement of 8-12 hours per day during the disaster relief operation for multiple, consecutive days. Must have good weekday availability and be able to commit to at least 1-2 months
• Beyond region (if able): Minimum of 14 days working 8- or 12-hour shifts