I. Purpose
The purpose of this Statement of Understanding (SoU) is to confirm a spirit of cooperation and assistance between the Disaster Operations Volunteer Escapees (DOVE) and The American National Red Cross (Red Cross) and its chapters, in order that both organizations may continue to render maximum effective service in time of disaster or natural calamity.  This SoU provides the broad framework for cooperation between the two organizations in rendering assistance and service to victims of disaster, as well as other services for which cooperation may be mutually beneficial.

II. Concept of Operations
Each party to this SoU is a separate and independent organization. As such, each organization will retain its own identity in providing service and each organization is responsible for establishing its own policies and financing its own activities.

III. Definition of Disaster
A disaster is a threatening or occurring event of such destructive magnitude and force as to dislocate people, separate family members, damage or destroy homes, and injure or kill people.  A disaster produces a range and level or immediate suffering and basic human needs that cannot be promptly or adequately addressed by the affected people, and impedes them from initiating and proceeding with their recovery efforts.  Natural disasters include floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, winter storms, tsunamis, hail storms, wildfires, windstorms, epidemics, and earthquakes.  Human-caused disasters -- whether intentional or unintentional -- include residential fires, building collapses, transportation accidents, hazardous materials releases, explosions, and domestic acts of terrorism.

IV. Authority of the American Red Cross
By congressional charter dated January 5, 1905, The American National Red Cross was designated the nationwide agency through which the American people voluntarily extend assistance to individuals and families in need as a result of disaster.  In part, the charter provides that the Red Cross shall —

continue and carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the suffering caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.

—US. Congress, act of January 5, 1905, as amended, 36 U.S.C.
The authority of the American Red Cross to provide disaster services was reaffirmed by federal law in the 1974 Disaster Relief Act (Public Law 93- 288) and in the 1988 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

V. Organization of the American Red Cross
The national headquarters of the Red Cross is located in Washington, D.C.  National headquarters is responsible for implementing policies and regulations that govern the Red Cross activities, for giving administrative and technical supervision and guidance to the chartered units. Chartered units include chapters and Blood Services regions.

The Board of Governors has delegated to the duly-constituted volunteer governing board of each chartered unit the authority and responsibility for:
            (a) governance of the chartered unit,
            (b) delivery of authorized services in the territorial jurisdiction of the chartered unit, and
            (c) meeting corporate obligations, in conformity with and subject to the limitations stated in corporate regulations.

The American Red Cross provides the following seven (7) services: Biomedical Services,
Disaster Services, Health and Safety Services, HIV/AIDS Educational Services, International Services,
Armed Forces Emergency Services, and Youth Services.

Each chartered unit has the authority and responsibility for carrying out the purposes of the Red Cross, for delivering local Red Cross services, and for meeting corporate obligations within the territorial jurisdiction assigned in conformity with corporate regulations.  The chartered units (chapters) coordinate their work thorough voluntary state councils.  There are approximately 860 chapters, blood service units and stations across the United States.

Each chapter is responsible for providing disaster planning, preparedness, education, and response.  Each chapter develops a disaster leadership team or committee composed of the best qualified paid and volunteer staff available.  The chapter disaster leadership team or committee studies the hazards of the locality and surveys local resources for personnel, equipment, supplies, transportation, emergency communications, and facilities available for disaster relief.  The chapter disaster leadership also formulates cooperative plans and procedures with local government agencies and private organizations for carrying on relief operations should a disaster occur. Through its nationwide organization, the Red Cross coordinates its total resources for use in large disasters.  Services will be provided to those in need regardless of citizenship, race, religion, age, sex, or political affiliation.

VI. Organization of the
Disaster Operations Volunteer Escapees.
The Disaster Operations Volunteer Escapees (DOVE) is a special interest group, known as a certified Birds Of A Feather (BOF) group, of the national Escapees RV (Recreational Vehicle) Club, founded in 1978 and incorporated in 1985 as a Texas corporation, headquartered at 100 Rainbow Drive, Livingston, TX 77351.  The Escapees RV Club, with an active membership of 65,000, includes 50 chapters, 49 BOF groups and 19 RV Parks located throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The DOVE was formed by Escapees RV Club members previously involved with Red Cross disaster relief efforts.  Escapees RV Club members offer a group of responsible adults with specific unique advantages for disaster relief efforts.  These include:

§         Personnel with the ability to volunteer on extended assignments.

§         Personnel who possess a variety of life skills and experiences.

§         The Escapees RV Club organization with its regular national RV rallies where new personnel can be recruited and training can be accomplished.

§         Personnel who may respond to a disaster with their own local transportation.

§         Personnel who may respond to a disaster with their own housing.

§         Personnel who may respond to a disaster and be self sufficient for sustenance for several days.

§         Personnel who are traveling throughout the US and can possibly respond rapidly to a disaster.

§         Personnel who may have mobile communication equipment such as mobile e-mail or satellite internet uplinks as well as downlinks.

§         Mature adults accustomed to working and living independently, while functioning within the larger organizational framework of the Escapees RV Club.

The mission of the DOVE is to:

§         Recruit Escapee RV Club members for the Red Cross Disaster Services.

§         Assist DOVE members in obtaining training as Red Cross disaster operations volunteers.

§         Provide DOVE members with timely information about Red Cross Disaster relief operations.

§         Provide volunteer assistance to the Red Cross whenever and wherever practical.

To ensure compliance with this mission, the following specific programs are provided by the DOVE on an ongoing basis.

§         At designated times each year, Red Cross disaster volunteer recruiting drives are performed during national RV Rallies.

§         At designated times each year, training institutes for Red Cross disaster classes are conducted by the DOVE, utilizing Red Cross certified disaster instructors.

§         A network of contact information is maintained by DOVE such that members may be notified rapidly of the need for Red Cross disaster relief workers at any location in the continental US.  Members near that location may then decide to help.

§         As DOVE members travel throughout the country, they are encouraged to contact local Red Cross chapters and volunteer their help.  Such help is forthcoming in numerous states and on virtually any day of the year.

§         As Red Cross volunteers, DOVE members agree to support the principles of the International Red Cross movement and the mission of the American Red Cross.

The membership of DOVE consists of RV enthusiasts, many of whom are living full time in RVs and so have no singular fixed residence.  The DOVE is thus not organized by geographical regions.  The executive board of DOVE is comprised of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and the immediate past president of the organization.

VII. Methods of Cooperation

So that the resources of Red Cross and DOVE may be coordinated and used to the fullest advantage in rendering disaster relief, both organizations have agreed to the following:

§         To ensure coordination, cooperation and to expedite services to those in need before and after disasters, close liaison will be maintained between the Red Cross national headquarters and DOVE by conference, e-mail, telephone, fax, or other means.  Each organization will share current data regarding disasters, declarations, and significant changes in regulations.

§         In addition to the disaster related activities stated herein, DOVE members are encouraged to become involved in Red Cross non-disaster activities such as blood drives, and health, youth, and safety programs, including first aid, CPR, and health courses, as well as to complete Red Cross instructor training and become disaster or health and safety instructors.

§         Within personnel and fiscal limits, DOVE members will assist the Red Cross with disaster relief activities as set forth herein, as well as with related activities including but not limited to, training exercises, disaster preparedness planning, disaster mitigation and community disaster education.  DOVE members will seek out and take appropriate Red Cross training.

§         Upon successful completion of training as Red Cross volunteers, and when under the direct supervision and control of the Red Cross, volunteers from DOVE, as mutually agreed upon, shall be treated as  Red Cross volunteers for a mutually agreed upon task or function, and shall have all the responsibilities and be entitled to all the privileges of Red Cross volunteers, including reimbursement of travel related expenses, for the designated period in accordance with, and subject to, all Red Cross standards and regulations.

§         As appropriate, the Red Cross will provide identifying apparel or badges to wear in any activities performed in accordance with this SoU. 

§         Within personnel and fiscal limits, DOVE will supply to the Red Cross when requested, Red Cross volunteers trained and experienced with the use, parking, moving, maintenance, repair, driving, towing, and care of recreational vehicles and similar large motorized and towable vehicles.

§         When travel expense assistance is authorized by the Red Cross for a Red Cross volunteer, driving mileage traveling to and returning from a disaster relief effort shall be the lesser of the distance from the member’s either chapter of record or location at the time of activation.  It is intended that the amount of reimbursement shall not exceed the lesser of the equivalent round trip air fare from the member’s either chapter of record or location at the time of activation.

§         DOVE members who are treated as Red Cross volunteers for disaster relief efforts and subsequently travel to the disaster relief location in privately owned RVs, are required to comply with Red Cross regulations pertaining to the usage of privately owned vehicles.  Red Cross may at its option, request assignments or travel to locations incompatible with the use of RVs and in such cases, normal Red Cross travel procedures will be utilized.

§         DOVE members who participate in Red Cross activities are required to register as Red Cross volunteers at either the service area or chapter level by independent action.  As numerous DOVE members are full time RVers and as such have no fixed singular residence, DOVE members shall be free to associate with any Red Cross chapter that will endorse them and with whom they can participate on a regular basis in accordance with Red Cross written policies. In addition, should their chapter of affiliation accept a DOVE member as a volunteer and believe he or she has met the requirements for membership in the Red Cross DSHR system, the chapter may endorse their required membership.  For DOVE members, there shall be no domicile requirement included within the DSHR membership or advancement criteria except that their mailing address, phone number, e-mail address and declared State of residence must be on file.

§         Should DOVE members wish to volunteer to help with a disaster relief effort as a Red Cross volunteer without being activated through the DSHR system, such DOVE members will then be considered a Red Cross Local Disaster Volunteers and may be assigned to provide Red Cross volunteer services by the local chapter based on the needs of the disaster relief effort.

§         DOVE members who decide to travel to a disaster relief effort in RVs, whether or not they are operating as a Red Cross volunteer, do so of their own volition and at their sole risk and expense.  Red Cross encourages but does not require the use of private RVs for transportation to and from disaster relief operations. Accordingly, any damages, destruction or liability resulting from the use of such RV and; any maintenance or repair, are the sole responsibility of the DOVE member and not Red Cross, and it is understood that the Red Cross shall not be liable, under any circumstances for any such damages, destruction, liability, maintenance or repair.

§         DOVE members shall maintain Auto Liability Insurance insuring the DOVE member’s RV (and any other DOVE member vehicle used in connection with this Agreement) and at a minimum meeting the statutory liability insurance requirements of the state in which the DOVE member’s RV or other vehicle is registered, and ensure that such insurance is kept current while volunteering for Red Cross.

§         No vehicle under this SoU may be equipped with emergency lights, sirens or other similar devices to indicate it is an official emergency vehicle.

§         DOVE members’ RVs parked near a disaster site shall comply with the applicable provisions of the Escapees code of camping etiquette including such items as practicing safety precautions, leaving an area cleaner than originally found, parking the RV away from the normal flow of traffic where possible, not using leveling jacks on asphalt without ground pads, and not leaving personal items outside an RV.  Red Cross may, when applicable and possible, endeavor to secure campground RV parking spaces for DOVE members’ RVs through an in-kind donation.

§         Red Cross may support, to the extent of their policies and capabilities at the time of the request, DOVE requests for non-financial support for development of local response plans, training programs, workshops, and symposia sponsored by DOVE.

§         Recognizing the desirability of advising the public of the work of these organizations, the Red Cross, the Escapees RV Club and the DOVE will endeavor, through their public information officers during the time of disaster and at other times as appropriate, to keep the public informed of their cooperative efforts.

§         Red Cross, the Escapees RV Club and the DOVE will inform their affiliates or chapters, other units, and administrative offices of this SoU and will urge full cooperation in support of the SoU. 

§         Each organization will maintain its own separate identity and each recognizes the capability of the other to give assistance to disaster victims.

§         The two organizations agree that any expenses incurred as a result of cooperation or collaboration under the terms of this SoU will be apportioned as agreed to in writing by both parties prior to incurring such expenses.

§         By the Trademark License Agreement between the Red Cross and the DOVE dated July 9, 2003, the DOVE has been granted permission to use the name of the Red Cross in the official logo of the DOVE organization and to identify such organization as the American Red Cross Disaster Operations Volunteer Escapees.  By this SoU, both the Red Cross and DOVE names may be employed in joint identification when appropriate, provided such usage complies with the graphic standards and other regulations of the owning organization and such joint identification is only displayed in a manner and used for a purpose that is acceptable to both organizations and is approved in advance in writing by both parties

VIII. Periodic Review
Red Cross and DOVE representatives will meet annually after the implementation of this Statement of Understanding to review, revise, or develop new plans as appropriate.

IX. Miscellaneous
This Statement of Understanding does not create a partnership nor a joint venture, and neither party has the authority to bind the other.