HILLSBORO, Ohio — A team of Team Rubicon volunteers wrapped up two weeks of storm recovery work in Highland County this past Monday, closing out a cleanup effort that leaned on support from a wide network of local governments, businesses and faith communities, the Highland County Emergency Management Agency said.
The veteran-led disaster response nonprofit had been in the county since mid-August, when a team fanned out to assess damage from severe storms that toppled trees and knocked out power lines, with the heaviest damage reported south of U.S. Route 50. A crew of roughly 30 volunteers, most of them military veterans working without pay, arrived in the county soon after and was based at a church camp on state Route 136 south of Sugar Tree Ridge while carrying out debris removal, roof tarping and other cleanup work for residents.
The EMA credited the Fayette County Emergency Management Agency, the Clinton County Emergency Management Agency and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency for coordinating and supporting the response, and thanked the Paint Creek Joint EMS & Fire District and the Highland County Health Department for their partnership on the ground throughout the two-week deployment.
A number of local businesses and organizations helped feed and support the volunteers during their stay, according to the EMA, including Papa John’s, Holtfield Station, Atomic Credit Union, First State Bank, Chuck Wait Tire and the Highland County Chamber of Commerce.
Several area faith communities also opened their doors to the crew, providing lodging, meals and hospitality, the EMA said, including Hillsboro Church of Christ, Mowrystown Church of Christ, Hillsboro House of Deliverance COGOP, Mowrystown Presbyterian, Faithful Threads Bible Study, YWC Church of God Mountain Assembly and St. Thomas Aquinas.
“This kind of recovery takes a village, and Highland County showed up for its neighbors,” the EMA said in a statement thanking everyone who played a part in bringing the volunteers to the county and supporting them during their stay.
Team Rubicon was founded in January 2010 by Marine Corps veterans Jake Wood and William McNulty, who organized a small group of veterans and first responders to travel to Haiti after that country’s devastating earthquake. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit has since grown into the first aid organization built specifically to recruit, train and deploy military veterans for disaster relief, drawing on volunteers’ military skills to respond to storms, wildfires and other disasters across the country.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Highland County Emergency Management Agency.
