Outstanding Volunteer Program - Team Rubicon Michigan

Team Rubicon is a veteran-based disaster relief organization that utilizes the skills of veterans, first responders and civilians to assist in emergency relief and recovery across the United States and internationally. Beyond that, Team Rubicon seeks to provide veterans with a purpose, gained through disaster response, the opportunity to serve the community, and the sense of identity that comes from joining a new mission. It has saved veterans from suicide, changed lives and deeply impacted everyone whose lives it has touched. In Michigan, Team Rubicon assisted with three major relief operations in 2017, assisting with blight removal, flood recovery and socio-economic recovery. The major operations included Operation Joe Louis, where 70 volunteers served 1,824 hours to clean up urban blight by conducting damage assessments, debris management and expedient home repair in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit. Another key project was Operation Tridge after torrential rains resulted in the flooding in mid-Michigan, Team Rubicon provided more than 3,000 volunteer hours in flood relief.  In Operation Fearless Mary, Team Rubicon conducted a socio-economic recovery operation in Grand Rapids, where volunteers provided demolition services in coordination with Habitat for Humanity of Kent County. Team Rubicon’s 1,621 registered volunteers conducted over 28 statewide operations in 2017. “What Team Rubicon offers their volunteers is truly priceless,” said Matthew McDaid, owner of Section 1776.