Disaster response coordinator looks for more volunteers in Juneau

Published 1:52 pm Monday, March 2, 2026

United Way of Southeast Alaska coordinated volunteers in 2024 and 2025 who responded to the glacial flood of the Mendenhall Valley, swamping hundreds of homes. The coordinator of an organization for assisting in disasters wants to improve that process

“It was on a person by person basis,” Akanksha Basil said on a call with the Empire. “The people who took charge were calling the people they knew who would be able to do those things.”

Basil is the coordinator for the Voluntary Organizations Active or Assisting in Disaster (VOAD), which offers immediate relief, such as food and shelter, along with longer term relief, like home repair.

By formalizing a local volunteer network of organizations and individuals, VOAD coordinates the resources and services responding to the cycle of a disaster in Juneau. This includes the preparation, response, recovery and mitigation of a disaster.

“We have a wealth of organizations in Southeast that do all sorts of really great work, but are smaller and have their own internal connections,” Basil said. “We hope to establish those links in advance, so people know who to contact to feed and shelter X number of people and, in the long term, help repair people’s homes or dig out their cars.”

The Red Cross, Salvation Army and Southeast Alaska Food Bank are all included in VOAD’s coalition, along with a “database of volunteers that we can reach out to during a disaster event,” Basil said.

Floods, avalanches, landslides and ‘snowmageddon’ all qualify as disasters to which VOAD might respond.

Basil wants VOAD in every town across Southeast Alaska, but she will settle for more coordination and volunteers in Juneau to prepare for the flood in 2026, along with the less predictable disasters.

To apply for, inquire about or make suggestions for the network, contact Basil at voad@unitedwayseak.org.