Bruce Drummond
Professor Pamela Rollins
English 1113-1934
11/15/2024
Ethnography Expanded Field Notes
Observation:
My observations when I first met the director of the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief, he was a very nice guy nothing fancy blue jeans, a polo shirt and hiking boots. We met at a local barbeque place for lunch. I started out the interview by asking what his background and qualifications were to run an organization like Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief. He stated he was a volunteer with Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief before and a pastor for 25 plus years and now been the director for three years. I then asked if he enjoyed his job. He said “oh I’m absolutely in love with it,” with a big grin on his face he said “that there was nothing like it!” My first impression was that he was very enthusiastic and full of expression when he talked about his work, and it was clear that he loved what he did. My next question was “what motivates you and your organization?” He simply said, “we want to be the hands and feet of Christ; we just want to help people!” I then asked, “How big is your organization?” He tells me, “We have over 2,500 volunteers and two paid positions myself, the director and a part-time assistant director.” I then asked, “how’s the culture at Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief?” He grinned big and said “it's great! We're completely made up of volunteers other than my assistant and myself, so no one's out here for a check. When you have that mentality, you truly want to just help people.” He made me feel completely at ease and was very personable. My next question was what about the budget. I asked him, “Since you don't have many salaries to cover, what does your budget look like?” He thought about it for a little while and you could see his head nodding side to side doing math in his head. He said, “usually it's about $400,000 a year.” I then asked if it was government funded at all. He laughed and said “oh no. It's mostly from donors.” “Wow $400,000 that's really good for an organization with over 2500 people” I then commented. He exclaimed, “Oh yeah, it's extremely good, we are very frugal with what we have most of the time when we are deployed, we stay with different church groups so that eliminates the cost of a hotel. Most of my budget goes to insurance, fuel and food” the director stated. He didn't give any names on the donors that he had but he mentioned that he had some very good relationships with companies with equipment that helped him a lot. My next question was “how does this system work?” He said “We have equipment and personnel scattered out all over the state. That the equipment is strategically placed in certain areas of this state, and our goal is to have someone on site to evaluate the situation within two hours once we make the decision to deploy, it's all hands-on deck.” Following up, I then asked “do all 2500 volunteers show up at once for each situation?” He answered “Oh no usually we'll get 80 to 100 volunteers at each disaster. It’s a very well-oiled machine.” He said “a lot of times, I think about it and think how did that even happen. I just made a call and here we are. Things are moving, and it's happening.” He had this amazed look on his face. I asked, “Is the organization allowed to go anywhere in the Nation?” He said “yes and no, we can go but we have to be invited by that state. Every state has an organization like us, but we have to be invited to be there, so we usually help our surrounding states a lot.” My next question for the director was “what kind of volunteers are you looking for?” “There's a job for everyone, if you like to cook you can cook, if you like to clean, we have a lot of jobs for you! We have mobile laundry and shower units, if you like to run equipment you can run a chainsaw, or a skid steer our goal is just to have a job for everyone!” He answered. My next question was “what impact the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief has on communities in a crisis.” He said “The yellow shirt that they all wear carries a lot of weight in the state of Oklahoma, when they see us showing up they know that there is aid and they’re just there to help.” I asked “what are some of the challenges that the organization faces today?” and he answered with “retirement age,” he then stated that most of his volunteers are retired and now that the retirement age is 65 to 70 that doesn't give a volunteer very long to help. The director stated “that when the retirement age was 55 he saw a lot of volunteers get 20 years before they retired from helping he said it's becoming a big problem.” I said “I would have never guessed that would be a problem for you,” I asked “how do you intersect the gospel and what you're doing” the director said “I never want to push my religion on someone we are there to help but if someone asks why I'm doing what we're doing my simple answer is I just want to be the hands and feet of Christ.”
Thoughts and feelings:
My thoughts and feelings were that the director was absolutely in love with his job. It was clear from the excitement on his face to the teared-up eyes he got when he was talking about what was going on in the organization. It was a blessing to get to see what was going on and to know that there are still great people out there just wanting to help. I know without a doubt that if there was a disaster in Oklahoma that these individuals would be there to help. The shift in retirement age raises concerns, with the main question being: will this organization be able to keep going? I cannot imagine a 75- to 85-year-old out dragging limbs and running chainsaws. This is a concern I see when writing my observations, as well as a clear concern that the director expressed.
Analysis:
My analysis is that the director is the right man for the job. After speaking with him, I was ready to sign up myself. The positive culture within the organization stems from their mission driven approach which is that it's all about helping people and being the hands and feet of Christ. The efficiency of the organization is great, as they have equipment strategically placed all over the state, which allows them to be on site of the crisis within two hours. Their team is in distinguishable yellow shirts so people know that they can go to them if they need something. They are continuing to make a difference in the community that they are in every day. It is clear that the only goal they have is to help and not to profit, which is rare in today’s culture. The organization shows the importance of helping others. In a culture where everyone is wondering what someone else can do for them, the people in the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief Team are