Mountain West VOAD
The 2024 Mountain West VOAD Conference:
April 8-11, 2024 in Kent, WA.
Because disasters know no boundaries...
The Mountain West VOAD was a concept that was brought to life in September of 2013. In an effort to bolster relationships and capabilities between states that experience similar challenges in response, it was decided that intentionally coordinating an effort to bring these states together would be invaluable. The states originally involved with the MWVOAD were Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Today, MWVOAD also includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Alaska.
We host an annual conference that draws 100-125 people, which is exactly the size we like. We keep ticket prices low, and host meetings at local churches or other similar venues. 33% of our gross ticket sales go straight to our state VOAD host. The remainder covers conference costs. As long as we are breaking even and helping to strengthen interstate relationships that make disaster response happen, we consider MWVOAD a success!
MWVOAD states have a few things in common:
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Large geographies
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Relatively disperse populations
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Relatively low incidences of disasters
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Relatively few resources
These factors mean that if somewhere like Wyoming experiences a disaster, organizations from Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska will probably respond. Consequently, interstate relationships are essential in the Mountain West.
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Bylaws: http://bit.ly/MWVOADBylaws
The mission of the Mountain West VOAD (MWVOAD) is to help voluntary organizations perform their individual missions, assist survivors, and help one another more easily across state borders by:
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Building and strengthening the capacity of VOAD coalition members.
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Highlighting accomplishments of individual VOAD coalition members.
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Promoting the 4Cs and helping to create relationships with colleagues in other states.
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Fostering relationships with other disaster-related industries, including emergency management, private sector, local governmental agencies, etc.
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Recognizing that participation by voluntary organizations is non-compulsory; consequently, “blue skies” or “peacetime” activities must have independent value to garner participation.
In each of these activities, MWVOAD will prioritize building capacity of VOAD coalition members above building a MWVOAD organization.