Hi, it's Kristen with LDS Charities. I'm here today with Jeff Foy, who is the manager of emergency response, and we're sitting in the humanitarian room at Welfare Square. If you guys didn't know, we do lots of tours at Welfare Square, so you could come get a tour for yourself and check out the room that highlights all of LDS Charities' initiatives. So Jeff, we're talking about emergency response today. First of all, the first question I had in my mind was, the Church is often the very first responder in some of these disasters. How are we able to get there so quickly and take care of those needs? I think there are a few things that account for that. We have a culture as a church of being prepared, and as members are prepared, they're able to go out and help in times of need. Another thing that is an advantage to us is, we're self-funded. We've got funding, we've got resources that have been set aside directly to help with emergency response needs. We don't have to wait for a long time for approvals or to go out and recruit funds to come in from other organizations, because we can provide that ourselves. And we work a lot with partners. We've got great relationships with partners, so if we're not able to respond, we're able to help fund some of their efforts where they already exist and they can respond with us. So when you guys hear about a disaster, earthquake, or a tornado, what are your first priorities and what are the first things that you do? Generally we get a priesthood assessment. They assess real quickly what member and missionary needs are. They're able to take a look at Church buildings and facilities and properties. And they go out into the community, and they find out what needs are there, working with government officials, working with other partners or providers to find out what gaps exist that we might be able to fill. So I have a couple of things here. We have the contents of a hygiene kit and a cleaning kit, and some people may recognize these. We have a lot of volunteers that put these together, and they get shipped. Are we still shipping a lot of these? What are your policies on these kits now? We do ship a lot. Most of the shipping that we do is here within the United States. Outside of the United States, we try to purchase product as locally as we can. It does a few things. It speeds up the transportation time to get things there, so we can get them there very quickly. It helps reduce costs of transportation and customs charges and fees and delays that might exist as well. And it puts product into the hands of people that they're familiar with, things that they like, that they use on a daily basis. And it helps boost a downed economy. I think that's my favorite part of that whole thing, is just being able to boost the economy and buy things locally. It just makes sense to do things that way, I think. So the other thing I have here are these yellow Helping Hands vests. And every time we get footage back from a disaster, I notice that all of our volunteers are wearing these. How can you be one of these volunteers in a vest if you're at the scene of a crisis disaster? Well, in a recent disaster we had 4,000 people show up one weekend and 6,000 the next. And so there are a lot of opportunities to help. Most of those opportunities are directed through priesthood efforts, and so if you're interested in helping out, I would encourage you to work with your bishop or your stake president, who's probably in communication with the stake president or bishop where the disaster has occurred. And they're going to send out requests and needs, and they'll let those bishops know how many volunteers they need on certain weekends so there's not a lot of overlap. One of the biggest challenges that we have is spontaneous volunteerism, where we've got a lot of volunteers. If you're planning for 6,000 volunteers and 10,000 show up, you don't have supplies, you don't have the cool vests, you don't have other things that you might need or work orders in order for them to be productive. So always check ahead. Probably a good problem to have, too many instead of too few. Sometimes, but it does create challenges. It does create challenges, so something to think about. So if people want to volunteer, what should they come prepared with? Come self-contained. Come with your own food. Come with your own tools if you can. Prepare your lodging arrangements ahead of time if possible. Don't stay in the local hotels. Drive a little bit because food, tools, resources, and lodging are for those that are in need and not so much for those of us that are going to help respond. Can people who are not of our faith also volunteer with our efforts? Absolutely. And something I wanted to mention, because not a lot of people know this: All of the relief and efforts, not only of just emergency response but everything LDS Charities does, not only helps members of our faith but everyone in the community. Everyone gets benefits from what we do at LDS Charities, which I think is great. So, bottom line, if you're not near a crisis disaster and you can't help this way, what is the best way for someone to contribute to the relief effort from abroad or from far away? I would suggest a few things. Be prepared yourself so when a disaster does hit, you can move quickly if you're called upon. Another thing: Recently the First Presidency released an article, a letter that talked about the refugee efforts and ways that members could get involved. I would encourage members to follow the principles that are behind that letter. Do things that you might be able to do to volunteer locally. Work with the Red Cross or other organizations to help out with some disaster relief efforts here. If you've got more capacity, it's always a good thing to donate into the Humanitarian Aid Fund so those funds can be used throughout the world in times of crisis and need. Awesome. Jeff, thanks so much for sitting down with me today and giving us some information on these wonderful volunteer opportunities. If you want to know more how you can help with LDS Charities and efforts abroad, go ahead and visit LDSCharities.org and see our "How Can I Help?" page. If you want to know more about how to be prepared in your own home, visit preparedness.lds.org.