ACTS: History & Vision

ACTS (Active Community Team Services) has provided assistance to nearly 2 million people through its 17,000 volunteers since 2004. 44 million dollars worth of donated supplies, water, ice, 510,000 hot meals and medical services and supplies have been distributed during various times of disaster.

Divisions of ACTS

ACTS (Active Community Team Services) is unique in our means of providing humanitarian services. We specifically focus on training high school youth and college age young adults in the United States as well as abroad to empower others in service. Our mission statement is: "Providing leadership to empower youth volunteers to active community service as a way of sharing the love of Christ, especially during times of disaster." Our training is carried on within the framework of the five following areas of humanitarian assistance:

• Disaster Response - ACTS is striving to be a NIMS (National Incident Management System) Compliant disaster response agency, able to respond within 24 hours of federally declared incidents, using its volunteer army of everyone. We have been most active in the Gulf Coast which is FEMA Region IV; but are now expanding our organization nationwide and internationally. We are proud of the services that we currently provide utilizing our fleet of trucks, forklifts, heavy equipment, refrigeration trailers, tents and support equipment for:
  • Establishing Points of Distribution to rapidly and efficiently distribute goods within six hours of their arrival by common carrier.
  • Cooking and distributing hot meals with self-contained mobile disaster kitchens of various sizes and capacities.
  • Staging area or Base camp management at the request of State or Local Emergency Operation Centers.
  • Mobile Public Address Systems (mobile sound stages).
  • Debris removal and personal item recovery teams.
  • Registration and coordination of unaffiliated volunteers within the impacted area. Using mobile volunteer registration centers we are able to organize and form work teams to provide workforce resources to assist in recovery.
• Medical Response - Through a nationwide network of Health Care Professionals, ACTS can assemble teams to provide inoculations and first response health care. With dedicated all-terrain 4-wheel drive medical support and response vehicles, expandable semi-trailers and canvas shelters, ACTS has the resources to set up a field medical facility that can provide for area support.
• Community Service Institute - Training is the key for empowering adults to mentor and train our youth to be the new leaders of today! These leaders are then, in turn, qualified to train the leaders of tomorrow. ACTS promotes on-line certification as well as the granting of college credits or continuing education, with electives in:
  • Youth Chaplaincy
  • Public Health
  • Creative Ministry
  • Emergency Response Preparedness
• Development - Community development both here in the United States and in overseas mission projects is an ongoing priority within ACTS. This is accomplished by mobilizing volunteers to respond to ongoing projects such as: rebuilding homes destroyed by Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua, assisting with the training of first responders in Honduras, drilling water wells, or general classes on hygiene, sanitation, water purification, disaster response and Public Health. ACTS is training and empowering a cadre of community concerned citizens that have adopted values of community development, providing hope so that physical and emotional healing can occur.
• Emergency Support - This is ACTS most technically trained Division. All ACTS ES Volunteers receive basic-training in Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and the Incident Command System (IS 100). ACTS ES Volunteers wanting to advance to highly technical Quick Response Teams are required to take additional specialized training that allows them to work side by side with local/county/state First Responder Agencies, with federal agencies including FEMA and Homeland Security, and with other similar agencies. ACTS Quick Response Teams include:
  • Aerial Video Documentation
  • Emergency Scene Control
  • Emergency Communications HAM Radio
  • Emergency Incident Documentation
  • Mobile Hydration & Nutrition
  • Multi-Purpose Team (entry level)
  • Special Unmet Needs Assessment Surveys

  ACTS Emergency Support has the ability to provide "Special Unmet Needs" (SUN) Assessment Surveys with its team of trained volunteers through Memorandums of Understanding with partnering First Responder Agencies.

  Continuing education and training is a vital part of ACTS Emergency Support and NIMS.