National Volunteer Week
Lotus | Sandi Lilly Volunteer Spotlights 2021, Volunteers

Volunteer Spotlight: Ariana Mercer

When did you get involved with CEDR?

I’ve been volunteering with CEDR since August 2019, after seeing CEDR’s response to wildfires in the west and hurricanes in the east.

What are your activities and what do they involve?

I work with CEDR’s maps and GIS applications, primarily in ArcGIS Online. During activations, myself and other volunteers use these applications to map and update shelter locations in real time. Our shelter map is shared with the public to provide a single place to see all shelter locations, which often cross jurisdictional lines. The feature layers we maintain are made available to other organizations that may wish to use them in their own maps and apps.

I also participate in data mining during activations, which involves monitoring for new information about evacuations, shelters, and resources for those affected by a disaster.

What motivates you to stay involved?

Providing timely, accurate information to the public during a disaster is my goal at CEDR. Having been through many wildfire seasons growing up in California, a lack of current information can be dangerous, not to mention extremely frustrating. With new technology being applied to track and respond to disasters, there is more information to share and more places to share it than ever before. The challenge now lies in separating the good information from the bad, and helping accomplish that goal is what motivates me to stay involved with CEDR.

Of what contribution or achievement are you most proud?

During 2020, I revamped CEDR’s shelter mapping workflow, to move from a spreadsheet-based database to a truly GIS-based database. Combining the spreadsheets from all previous activations gave me several hundred shelter locations to start with, and in 2020 alone our volunteers (including myself) mapped more than 700 new shelter locations and over 200 evacuation center locations.

Using the tools available in ArcGIS Online, I was able to streamline the data entry process, so that we no longer have to manually enter information such as the county, state, and latitude and longitude of each shelter. In addition, relevant information is now easier for the public to see, such as the date and time each shelter location was last updated, and a link to Google Maps that will route someone from their location to a shelter.

In your opinion, what is the most important work that this organization does?

Sharing critical – and accurate – information quickly during a disaster response is the most important function of CEDR, in my opinion. While social media allows for easier and more frequent information sharing, it can also lead to misinformation spreading very quickly, which can have a real impact on peoples’ lives during a disaster. CEDR provides an important function by reviewing multiple sources to ensure we share only verified information.

What do you do when you aren’t working and volunteering?

In my free time, I enjoy spending time outdoors – hiking, camping, kayaking, anything that allows me to get out into nature (bonus points for anywhere without cell service). I also love reading; there’s nothing better than a used bookstore on a rainy day.

Lotus | Sandi Lilly Coronavirus, COVID19

A Personal State of Emergency: What You Can Do Handle Anxiety During Coronavirus

Sandi Lilly


Across the United States this week, you’ll likely be seeing the National Guard activated in several capacities. During the State of Emergency, the Guard deploys to assist with disaster relief. These individuals stand ready to help with tasks ranging from assisting with meal delivery services to helping to set up supply and relief distribution centers. They’ll be working throughout the country providing helping hands, keeping the local police forces free to help maintain law and order in your neighborhoods. In addition, the National Guard will also be deploying Medical Task Force Teams, made up of skilled medical professionals, to help provide additional medical care where it’s needed most.

During any national emergency, you’ll hear phrases like “the guard is being called out”.  This does not automatically mean that the situation has grown dramatically worse in the last few days. It does, however, mean that your government is gaining access to Federal funding and resources so that if the situation continues to worsen, they are better prepared to deal with the emergency.

As schools close, restaurants shut down, bars shutter their doors, and we hear about the National State of Emergency, it’s easy to become panicked. However, in any time of struggle, one of the most important things you can do is to find a way to ground yourself and stay calm. As we face this outbreak as a nation, there are a few things that you and your family can do to help:

1 – Social Distancing:  Put simply, stay home and stay away from contact with people. Even if you are feeling well, you may spread the virus to someone else who is more at risk of serious illness. For the time being, the best thing that you can do is to get comfortable at home with your family and settle in for a bit.

2 – Stay Calm:  Panicking will only make the situation worse. If you’re having difficulty processing the media as it comes in, you may need to take short media fasts, or ask a friend to update you if anything major breaks in your area. Consider catching up on your favorite television show, your reading list, or starting a new craft so that you have something to do to occupy yourself.

3 – Check on Friends and Loved Ones:  While you aren’t seeing your friends and loved ones in person, a call, text, or email may go a long way towards helping someone who’s isolating feel a little better about their day. Reach out by phone, video chat, or text to check on elderly individuals or those that you know to live alone.

4 – Be Gentle with Yourself as You Learn to Homeschool:  Many parents have suddenly become teachers without any advance warning or preparation. While it’s easy to be anxious about this and want to do everything correctly, it’s also important to remember that learning how to teach your children at home will take a bit of time. There are numerous resources available to assist you, and CEDR will be sharing those on an ongoing basis to assist you. Be gentle with yourself and remember that you’re learning a new skill, possibly while still maintaining a home and a career.

There’s a lot to feel anxious about at the moment. It’s important to take time to breathe and find the bright moments in your day that you can, no matter how small. Drop a comment below to let us know what you enjoyed about today.