• Prepare your own family, pets and property for a disaster. For more information on readiness, please visit Ready Wake! 
• Decide which phase(s) of recovery align best with your resources. 
• Contact local agencies that provide goods or services to disaster victims and ask how you can help when the time comes. 
• Register with agencies that provide training for shelter workers or other skills needed during a disaster. 
• If you already volunteer with a local agency, learn about their plans to assist victims during an emergency. 
• Develop a system within your own organization to train and mobilize volunteers that will serve in the recovery process. 
• Get trained.  Several local and statewide organizations provide disaster relief training: 
  • American Red Cross (Triangle Chapter) 
  • NC Baptist Men 
  • Raleigh-Wake CERT 

• Unexpected visitors to a disaster site can impede the delivery of critical services like medical care. Stay tuned to media outlets for instructions about where and when volunteer help is needed. 
• Browse a list of disaster related volunteer opportunities posted on ActivateGood.org. 
• Access the Triangle United Way 2-1-1 resource database online or by phone (888-892-1162) for information about 20,000+ resources in our state. 

• Preregistered and trained shelter workers¹ 
• Donations of nonperishable food and hygiene supplies² 
• Donations of baby formula and diapers 
• Donations of pet food and supplies 
• Donations of pre-paid cell phones 
• Volunteer translators and interpreters 
• Volunteer medical personnel 
• Licensed psychological and grief counselor volunteers 
• Funeral and burial arrangements 
• Clothing (including maternity) 
• Temporary home repairs and emergency debris removal 
• Monetary donations

¹ For the privacy and safety of guests, spontaneous or unregistered volunteers are not permitted to work in Wake County emergency shelters. 

² Lists of critically needed items will become available depending on the type and size of the specific disaster and the affected population. 

• Donations of furniture and household items 
• Permanent home repairs by licensed contractors 
• Licensed psychological and grief counselors 
• Insurance Claims assistance 
• Temporary Employment 
• Childcare 
• Transportation Assistance 
• Relocation from shelters to transitional or permanent housing 

• Permanent employment or retraining 
• Permanent housing  
• Emotional/spiritual support 
• Psychological and grief counseling 
• Legal Assistance 
• Re-establishment of business (for those who are self-employed) 
• Assistance to transition from emergency aid to self-sufficiency