Rallying support and gathering donations to assist with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy has been more difficult than other natural disasters, members of the local Crisis Response Unit have noticed.

Crisis Response Unit is a chapter of Crisis Response International, a nonprofit organization that “resources, trains and mobilizes volunteers, churches and other organizations to respond to disasters and other compassion initiatives in the United States and worldwide,” according to its website.

Two members, Wade Baker and Terry Meythaler, left for the northeast with chairman of the Oklahoma City Crisis Response Unit CJ Swickey on Monday evening. The three will spend a week on the south shore of Long Island, NY, helping transport materials and supportive resources to areas in need and may also assist clean-up crews dealing with Sandy’s aftermath.

One week ago Sandy slammed into the country’s eastern coastline, killing more than 100 people and leaving nearly 8 million people without power. As of Tuesday morning, there are still about one million people in six states without power, according to the U.S.

Department of Energy.

The CRU members are taking a CRI trailer with blankets, cots and a generator and will use the trailer to transport materials to different sites while there.

“We knew we had assetshere that they could use there,” Baker said. “We were trying to figure out the most efficient way of getting them there. It can get really expensive.”

Baker explained that people can generally find water and food within a 100-mile radius of a disaster zone, and it can become expensive to haul those items long-distances so it’s more beneficial to provide specialized equipment - like a disaster relief trailer or a passenger bus to help move responders to where they need to be.

“We don’t have the funds right now to cover that,” Baker said of the bus. “We barely have what we need to do this trip.”

Compared to seeing the public’s enthusiastic response after other natural disasters - such as the Joplin, Mo.. tornado last year and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - Baker and Meythaler said the response to Hurricane Sandy has “been a little spotty.”

After talking with several churches and other community groups, Meythaler said it was a struggle to rally active response. Before leaving, $220 were donated to SSCRU, he said.

Several factors could contribute to a lack of enthusiasm, with geographical distance and the category of the storm’s strength being two of thestrongest ones, Baker and Meythaler said.

While offering assistance in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, a Category 1 hurricane that hit in the Gulf of Mexico Aug. 28, Baker said he received a lot of feedback from people wondering why he was helping with a weak hurricane.

“Sandy was also a catone,” Baker said. “The bar was raised really high with the cat five that hit in 2005 down in New Orleans. Everything since then has almost felt a little anticlimactic, and so it’s been a little bit of a struggle to get people energized to help.”

For more information about the Siloam SpringsCrisis Response Unit, visit it’s Facebook page http://on.fb. me/RDJjal.

News, Pages 1 on 11/07/2012