TEN YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, THE NATION WAS STILL REELING
from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. A full month after
the storm struck New Orleans, relief efforts were still far from adequate.
It was not a lack of generosity, as people from around the world poured
millions of dollars into relief efforts. The failure was in getting supplies
to where they were needed most.
Logistics professionals gathering in San Diego for the Council of
Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) annual conference
that October recognized that the supply chain for the Katrina response
was broken. Both federal and private efforts had failed to keep up with
demand. In many places, roads were still impassable, and the situation
was becoming grim. As one speaker at the conference noted, the sup-
ply chain professionals in the room could “get trin-
kets wherever we want, but we can’t get food to the
Superdome.”
It was during that meeting that outgoing CSCMP
president Mark Richards invited interested profession-
als to gather for a discussion on how members could
lend their collective expertise to the cause. From that
initial gathering in San Diego, the American Logistics
Aid Network, better known as ALAN, was born.
Under the guidance of its founding president, the
late Jock Menzies, ALAN brought together the logistics
community, government agencies, and nonprofit aid
organizations to resolve critical supply chain issues,
so that relief efforts can be mounted quickly. Menzies
was famous for stating, “The magnitude of a disaster is
predicated on the success or failure of the supply chain.”
Today, 23 key supply chain trade and professional organizations have
joined ALAN’s network of support, uniting supply chains for humanitar-
ian response whenever and wherever needed. “Our secret sauce is really
just connecting people,” says Kathy Fulton, ALAN’s executive director.
From the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, to the devastation of the
Haitian earthquake, to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, ALAN has
been there to serve as a bridge between the private sector and disaster
responders, helping to coordinate the swift delivery of much-needed
food and supplies to ease the hurting.
In addition to disaster response, ALAN also provides educational
programs and logistics support for ongoing developmental work around
the world. Future plans call for building the kinds of networks that have
succeeded nationally and internationally on the local level. Such local
connections will greatly shorten response times whenever a crisis occurs.
We at DC VELOCITY salute those men and women who 10 years ago
stepped up for good. And we urge those not yet involved in ALAN to offer
your own expertise and resources as well. Visit alanaid.org to learn more.
bigpicture
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