How Hurricane Katrina transformed nonprofit disaster relief 20 years later

​​As Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast in 2005, it reshaped the way nonprofits approach disaster relief, focusing on recovering the “whole community.”

“I think one of the things about long-term recovery is that you don’t just build back the same way, but you build back smarter and stronger,” said Jeff Jellets, emergency disaster services director for the Salvation Army’s southern region.

When Jellets first arrived in New Orleans, he saw piles of debris along the streets. The beach was empty. Not even the foundations of the beautiful homes that once stood along the shoreline were spared. All remaining evidence of life was stripped out piece by piece and taken to the sea.

During the first few hours, he and his team were somewhat calm. “We’re going to be OK,” Jellets thought to himself, but didn’t foresee the monstrosity that Katrina would inevitably become.

“Then the levees obviously breached, and at that point, what was already a significant catastrophe just became much, much worse,” he said.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, AUGUST 29, 2005, HURRICANE KATRINA SLAMS GULF COAST, CAUSING MASSIVE DAMAGE

At that moment, the Salvation Army, whose sole purpose is to protect those with no way out, became a victim of the storm, losing facilities in Pascagoula, Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi. But that didn’t stop their efforts. According to the Salvation Army’s report in 2005, the organization served more than 4.7 million hot meals and 6.8 million sandwiches, snacks and drinks. They also offered emotional and spiritual support to nearly 103,000 people.

Now, 20 years later, Jellets reflected on the improvements the Salvation Army has implemented post-Katrina, and on how the storm demonstrated the critical need to include nonprofits and community organizations in recovery efforts.

Jellets outlined the three major operational changes the Salvation Army implemented post-Katrina: expanding feeding capabilities, pre-stocking of supplies and enhancing communications technology.

“We really expanded our mass-feeding footprint,” he said. “We changed the design of a lot of our vehicles to a more pickup truck-style that is a little more low profile, more durable and can get into some of those disaster areas.”

Leading up to Katrina, Jellets says a lot of the response was on-demand,…