1. The purpose of WAVOAD (organized in 1988) is to bring together Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster within the State of Washington.  Together, these organizations foster more effective service to people affected by disaster through COOPERATION, COORDINATION, COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION.

2. WAVOAD is an Associate Member of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) which is comprised of 34 National Organizations.  There are 59 States and Territories that have an organization similar to WAVOAD.  WAVOAD, as in other State VOADs, seeks the active participation of the State Unit of each NVOAD member.

3. WAVOAD’s Vision Statement is:  LEADERSHIP-RELIABILITY-EXCELLENCE.

4. WAVOAD’s Logo contains the NVOAD Logo (Uniqueness of diversity funneled into a cooperative goal while maintaining individual identity) set within the outline of Washington State.

5. WAVOAD is managed by an eight member Leadership Team that includes representatives from the Business Community, Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

6. Members of WAVOAD come together for a two hour “agenda driven” meeting the first Tuesday of each month beginning at 10:00 A.M.

7. Persons and organizations wishing additional information concerning WAVOAD may contact Susan Pelaez – WAVOAD 2007 President at Susan.pelaez@seattleredcross.org OR Jay DeBoer WAVOAD Vice President at deboerjay@aol.com

8. Additional information concerning NVOAD, its members, and its relationship to State VOADs is available on the NVOAD web site: www.nvoad.org

9. Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) is a concept actively supported by WAVOAD.  WAVOAD has produced a video “Learning How to Dance” to help explain the implementation of this concept within a community setting. Contact WAVOAD (see #8 above) for additional information concerning this video.

This document revised February 2007