Midland Division
Emergency
Disaster Services

The Salvation Army began offering assistance to disaster survivors after a major hurricane hit Galveston, TX in September 1900, destroying the coastal city and killing thousands of people. At the request of The Salvation Army's National Commander, Frederick Booth-Tucker, officers (the clergy of The Salvation Army) from across the country moved into the Galveston area to help feed and shelter the thousands of survivors, while also providing much needed emotional and spiritual support.

Since then, The Salvation Army has responded to numerous natural disasters, transportation accidents, civil unrest situations and terrorist attacks. By providing beverages, meals, and emotional and spiritual care to first responders and survivors, The Salvation Army strives to bring hope and healing to people who find themselves in the midst of extremely difficult situations.

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Training

To respond to emergency situations, training is needed. In partnership with agencies, The Salvation Army’s disaster training courses are designed to help individuals & communities prepare for emergency events & become trained disaster volunteers.

Disaster Social Services

After a family has lost everything in a disaster, The Salvation Army is there to provide emergency assistance to help meet survivors’ most urgent needs for food, clothing, shelter and medical services.

Donations & Distributions Management

The Salvation Army is one of the nation’s leaders in responsibly collecting, sorting and distributing donated goods. The Salvation Army encourages cash donations as the best and most flexible way to help and solicits only those in-kind donations which can be effectively received and efficiently distributed.

Emergency Communications

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) includes a worldwide network of volunteer amateur radio operators and communications specialists, who may be mobilized to transmit emergency information during a disaster event.

Emotional and Spiritual Care

Motivated by Christian faith, The Salvation Army deploys specially trained individuals to offer emotional and spiritual care to rescue workers and disaster survivors.

Food Service

When disaster strikes, one of the first signs that help is on the way is often the arrival of a Salvation Army mobile feeding unit, offering meals, snacks and drinks to rescue workers and survivors.

Recovery

The Salvation Army supports long-term disaster recovery operations with flexible programming that is adaptable to the unique needs of individual communities.

EDS VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION

Marty is a retired military having served over 30 years in the US Air Force, Guard and Reserves. During those years he has worked in career duty functions that included fixed & field feeding operations; fixed & field sheltering operations; group training manager; and incident command & control in joint air operation centers.

He began his career with The Salvation Army as a Development Director and in 2011 became the Director of Emergency Disaster Services. In addition to overseeing the daily operations and planning of EDS, he has served as Logistics Chief (Joplin Tornado); Operations Chief (Missouri Statewide Flood); Liaison Officer (Ferguson Civil Unrest); and Incident Commander (in multiple disasters both in size & scope).  

In other emergency management roles, Marty has served as Mass Feeding Task Force Deputy Director (2016 National Mass Care Exercise); Missouri Mass Feeding Task Force Director; Executive Committee Member (Treasurer/Membership Committee Chair) for the Missouri State VOAD. Marty is a graduate of the FEMA Emergency Management Institute's Basic Academy.

Contact: Martin.Rueter@usc.salvationarmy.org

Phone Number: (314)-646-3255

Sebastian's background in Emergency Management started during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. While Sebastian was in school to complete his M.A in Disaster Studies and his master’s certification in Disaster Management and Sustainability he was hired by a private school to help them implement and maintain a school wide safety plan that would allow the students to come back to in person learning while maintaining the required health protocols needed. During his time working with the private school Sebastian was entrusted with student recruitment/retention and school funding which includes grant writing and donor relations.

Before Sebastian began his career with The Salvation Army in August of 2022, he had just completed his service year with AmeriCorps St. Louis where he spent a full year actively volunteering in conservation, disaster, and fire projects. During his time in AmeriCorps St. Louis Sebastian served as the Chief of Planning and Deputy of Operations at the New York Emergency Management Office where he actively oversaw volunteers and coordinated with the rest of the incident command unit to reach out to those affected by Hurricane Ida. Sebastian also participated in a handful of prescribed burns and wildfires during his time in AmeriCorps’s St. Louis and is a certified Type 2 Wildland Firefighter.

Sebastian Started as a Disaster Recovery Services Case manager at The Salvation Army where he was entrusted with the post July 2022 flood case management in East St. Louis and surrounding areas and soon after was the lead case manager for the St. Louis post July 2022 flood Disaster Case Management Program. In his new position Sebastian hopes to recruit new volunteers and establish a volunteer-based group that will be able to reach out to their own communities before disasters and prepare them and reach back out to their communities after a disaster to assist them with recovery.

Contact: Sebastian.DeLosSantos@usc.salvationarmy.org

Phone Number: (314)-698-3366