Eagles' Wings Foundation - Disaster Relief

Hurricane Ike provided the first real test of the Pathfinders Task Force's technology which had been under development since Katrina. There were lots of great achievements and Lessons Learned too. From the onset, the software hit a grand slam home run. In the first day of operation, 6 crews of 3 people each were rapid trained in one hour and deployed for recon and rapid damage assessments. Without ever having used the system before, these crews collected over 4,400 geocoded, time/date stamped windshield surveys mapped across a heavily damaged Texas County. Every day, more volunteers were deployed seeking out and resolving unmet special needs in the Pathfinder model and this software. The system was simple, durable, and worked without any cell towers or Internet (see www.disastersolutions.cc for more information). The following After Action Report details the rest.

In Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, Eagles Wings and its team was involved with volunteer efforts at the Operations Center for Harrison County. Eagles Wings Foundation helped to coordinate the not-for-profit and charity groups providing assistance to this devastated area. (View Katrina Slide Show) As a result of the exemplary military operations and the coordinated volunteer efforts, 126,000 hurricane victims were served (60% of the county’s pre-hurricane population), either in their homes or at one of the twenty “Points of Distribution” set up by the Emergency Operations Center around Harrison County. Combining military assets with volunteer groups, Eagles Wings helped in organizing the distribution of donated relief supplies.

The team improved its skills by assisting with relief efforts in Punta Gorda and Arcadia, Florida, following Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm that devastated these Central Florida communities. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne honed the teams' skills in southeastern Florida shortly thereafter. Eagles Wings became a central, U.S. based relief agency for both the Abaco chain and Grand Bahama following these storms. All of these disasters were training for Hurricane Katrina, the cataclysmic storm that destroyed New Orleans and many other communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Hurricane Floyd marked the inception of The Eagles Wings Foundation, in 1999. Seeing that donations were not reaching victims, that volunteer efforts were chaotic and military relief was not coordinated with private relief, Scott Lewis founded The Eagles Wings Foundation to fill the leadership gap and provide a safe place for private donations. Scott was appointed by the Prime Minister of the Bahamas to the position of Incident Commander for the Abaco Relief Command. The first Eagles Wings leadership team was formed. (see news link, 'Gardener leads relief effort in Floyd-torn Bahamas)

Feel free to call or email more specific questions about how your donated dollars are maximized, and know that your help is vital. We spend all donated funds for the current disaster and normally operate in the red at the onset of a new event.

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