National Headquarters called today and asked if I would be willing to come and help out with the social media aspect of the Midwest Floods response. They have, of course, had people working on this for weeks now, around-the-clock, making sure that the Online Newsroom is up-to-date and that both reporters and regular folks get the latest info as fast as possible. It’s tough work though, being on top of the news all the time, and they need some fresh blood to come in and relieve the current staff.  

They called me (well, actually they called Lise to ask if they could borrow me) because they had seen this blog and all the other social media outreach we do (flickr, twitter, youtube, etc.), and they were (apparently) impressed.

I’ve worked several disasters before (including a couple of floods here in Oregon), but this is the first time I’ve been deployed somewhere else. I’m excited for the opportunity. It will be great experience, great to help out with the flood response, and hopefully I’ll gain some new knowledge to bring back to the chapter.  

So I’m off to D.C. tomorrow. 7 – 10 days is what they say, workin’ straight through the weekend because floods don’t stop on Fridays (or Saturdays, or Sundays…). 

P.S. This non-profit social media thing is really taking off. American Red Cross got kudos today from CNN (sorry, I can’t find an online link…it was a tv story) for our social media outreach, more kudos here from a prominent web strategist, and more kudos here on ReadWriteWeb.