If you have time to volunteer and haven’t already signed up with one of the many organizations out here, check out the links below for some ideas of who you can work with. While most of these places are waiting for the oil to come in before getting to work, we have heard that there are some places looking for people to help as of now. Oilspillvolunteers.com is a great place to get the latest info on volunteering.
Do-It-Yourself: But there are a few ways we know of to help on your own, without any training.
First, go down to the shores and clean up trash debris before the oil hits. We have no idea how big this could get, and there are thousands upon thousands of us living short drives to places all along the Gulf Coast.
TRAINING
HAZMAT and HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response) training is required by OSHA for anyone working with oil in the clean up. BP has their own classes, and as of now no classes are being offered for non pd volunteers, strictly for those affected by the spill, through the parish governments, so that each parish affected is being provided the funds to host the classes and can be found on their websites. Each parish determines who is qualified to take the classes in their parish.
To find out about classes in your area, call 1-866-448-5816 or email horizonresponse@pecpremier.com. More information can be found here.
VOLUNTEER OR DONATE
Here are some places we know of that you can donate your time and/or money to. For a more extensive list, please visit the Wiki Crisis page.
Gulf Response
Audubon Society – has already begun contacting volunteers.