Working hard: Chaperon in action

Throughout September, master’s student Colin Chaperon had been acting as the assistant job director for the local Red Cross as it responded to Hurricane Katrina in the days immediately following the disaster. By the end of the month, after senior leadership staff had been deployed to other areas, Chaperon became the job director for the entire local operation. “I'm overseeing the day-to-day management of both human and material resources for 11 ‘service delivery sites,’” he explains. “I’ve been directing work in the DC Armory Shelter as well as all at other chapters in the Washington Metropolitan Area Consortium—which includes Alexandria, Arlington, Loudoun, DC, Farifax, Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Prince William. And each local field office has been providing financial assistance to evacuees who have moved into our community.” His team has seen 6107 people in this area alone, he points out, and says that this enormous effort could not have possible without the generous support of roughly 2679 volunteers and 95 staff members.

Chaperon is thinking about doing his master’s thesis on the role of the U.S. military in non-military operations. “The Katrina response demanded the mobilization of the U.S. military to support on-going disaster relief activities,” he points out, explaining his interest. “And there are higher level proposals recommending that the military should have a direct lead role once a disaster reaches a certain level of response.”

Dr. Alison Frendak Blume, director of SPP’s Peace Operations Policy Program, is advising Chaperon as he pursues his studies. Chaperon points out that Blume, through the program, hosted an American Red Cross “Disaster Leadership Orientation and Briefing” for personnel working on the local operation. “We are extremely grateful for the support and partnership that the Peace Operations Program provided to the American Red Cross during the Katrina response,” he says.

Chaperon talks to a colleague at the local Red Cross