How to get involved as a Southern Arizona resident!

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us! The ongoing work of No More Deaths depends on a strong network of local volunteers, who organize, plan, support, and lead all aspects of our projects.

TUCSON

We have many different working groups within No More Deaths that are seeking volunteers to sustain the work that we do.

DESERT AID

What we do: No More Deaths maintains a year-round humanitarian presence in the deserts of southwestern Arizona. We work in the remote corridors where Prevention Through Deterrence has pushed migration routes, hiking the trails and leaving water, food, socks, blankets, and other supplies. Under the direction of our medical team, volunteers provide emergency first-aid treatment to individuals in distress.

COVID-19 UPDATE: Vaccination against COVID-19 is required for all volunteers participating in this program, including booster shot. Please review our FAQs prior to applying.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

As a Local Desert Aid volunteer, you will work alongside long-term NMD volunteers, facilitators and incoming new Month-Long volunteers. You will have opportunities to participate in water and supply drops  in remote areas along the borderlands as well as support the work at our  humanitarian aid camp.

Opportunities to participate will largely depend on the capacity of the facilitators to train and host new volunteers and conditions on the ground in Southern Arizona. Since we’re all volunteers, some months we can host new volunteers several days per week while others it may be less than that.

We prioritize BIPOC applicants,  Spanish language skills, and people who have some sort of medical training. That being said, different skill-sets are also needed and welcome!

NMD cannot provide housing for local volunteers.

ON-BOARDING PROCESS FOR NEW LOCAL VOLUNTEERS:

1. Apply to the program before the stated deadline.

2. If accepted, participate in the mandatory New Volunteer Orientation which will take place on the first Sunday of the program.

3. You will then be added to group coordination threads where training and volunteer opportunities will be announced and fellow volunteers and facilitators will be able to communicate with each other. These opportunities may include water drops, trips to camp, and logistical support needs based on capacity and availability.

4. If you are available to begin training at our humanitarian aid camp immediately, you can join the Month-Long volunteers for the initial “at-camp-training” on the first Monday and Tuesday of the program. Otherwise, you can wait for other opportunities via volunteer coordinators or via communication threads with available facilitators for training. If you are only interested in water drops or in-town support roles, opportunities will be announced via coordination threads and volunteers can choose to participate at their discretion.

5. After the initial on-boarding month, you will go through a feedback process where fellow volunteers and facilitators will have the opportunity to review their experiences with you. After 6-8 in field activities or 3 months of involvement with the organization, you will have an opportunity to debrief your experiences and share feedback with us.

6. We perform these debrief and review sessions to affirm that our values align and that we all want to continue working together. If your fellow volunteers feel they need more time in the field with you before providing feedback, the review process will be postponed until the following month.

7. After your first three months of volunteering with the organization, we hope you will have a clearer understanding of how the organization functions and how to plug into different aspects of the work.

If you are interested in being a Desert Aid volunteer, please see the information below concerning the application process.

APPLICATION SCHEDULE

Please note the application deadline for your desired start date. You will be notified about your application status within two weeks of the application deadline.

*Please note that you will need to commit to the entire mandatory New Volunteer Orientation session, held on the first Sunday of the program scheduled from 10AM-2PM.

If interested in being trained at our humanitarian aid camp, we might to be able to offer some flexibility for the at-camp training on a case-by-case basis.

STEPS FOR APPLYING

1. Please read all the information above and review our FAQ.
2. Find someone from a grassroots organization you have worked with or been involved with (activist collective, nonprofit, advocacy group, volunteer/community-service organization, etc.) to write you a letter of reference. Ask them to fill out a reference form for you before the application deadline.
3. Submit an application by the application deadline. Please indicate in your application if you are interested in water drops, being trained to work at our humanitarian aid camp, or in-town logistical work. Interested applicant can pick one, two or all three options.
4. Wait to hear back from the volunteer coordinator. Expect to hear back from us within two weeks after the application deadline.

For more information contact our volunteer coordinator at Volunteer@nomoredeaths.org .

SEARCH AND RESCUE

What we do: The Search and Rescue/Recovery (SAR) team is a working group of No More Deaths comprised of volunteers from various areas in the Southern Arizona borderlands. The project consists of an Arizona search and rescue phone line, and search and rescue response teams. It runs additional supporting projects, such as distribution of harm-reduction information and
supplies.

Volunteer opportunities and requirements: SAR is currently in need of new and returning local volunteers!

New volunteers, please fill out this form.

Returning volunteers, please fill out this form.

There are currently three different volunteer opportunities within SAR: Volunteer Phone Line Operators, Search Team Leader, and Search Team Member.