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Disaster Relief with Vanessa Bennett

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management Season 2025 Episode 3

What do you define as a disaster? 

And…what disasters has your community faced? 

We’ve all become accustomed to the images of different disasters impacting our country and the world at large. Wildfires out west, tornados in the plains, and hurricanes in the Deep South, plus many others. The last one is what I want to stay on, hurricanes in the Deep South. Now, as someone who grew up in Georgia. We are always aware of the next hurricane, not as much as our neighbors in Florida, but just enough to keep us on our toes.

However, inland Tennessee is not a place where you talk about severe hurricanes as much. But last year, Tennessee and North Carolina became a heavy topic of discussion when Hurricane Helene tore through the Deep South and left behind a path of destruction. 

That’s where I want to start with my interview today with Vanessa Bennett, IOM, TNCCE, Chief Operations Officer for the Kingsport Chamber in you guessed it, Tennessee. I wanna see how the Kingsport Chamber’s role blossomed during a not so common disaster and how they are learning for the future.

If you wanna learn more about how to help those facing different disasters, feel free to head over to https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/disasters.

If you like what you heard and want to get some more, subscribe to the podcast wherever you get them. Also, come to Institute and meet more chamber/association/ nonprofit professionals.  You can find more information about Institute at our website: Institute for Organization Management – A Program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (uschamber.com)

If you have any questions, please email us at iom@uschamber.com.


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