His career has led from one disaster to another

For more than a decade, Barry Shade of Olathe was in the business of disaster.

Whether it was flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes or mudslides, Shade was often either on the ground helping local authorities prepare for and respond to crises or training workers to provide needed support, not just as chaos reigned but months later, as affected communities attempted to rebuild.

“The real work in many cases starts when the cameras leave,” Shade said. “That’s when the recovery really begins.”

Shade, 66, ended at least his professional relationship with calamity on May 15, when he retired from Church World Service, or CWS, a New York-based organization that coordinates with 37 religious denominations across the country on matters of disaster relief, refugee assistance and support in developing countries. For five years, he oversaw the group’s domestic emergency response efforts, coordinating with the ever-growing number of organizations involved in disaster response.

“I think the Internet has made us much more aware of disasters,” he said. “We’ve got the Weather Channel telling us about disasters. People want to help.”

Before CWS, he spent five years as a Kansas City-based public assistance officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, working with cities to assess damage from disasters and help secure grants to rebuild infrastructure.

Shade dealt with disaster early in his life when his hometown of Lewistown, Pa., suffered extensive flooding from Hurricane Agnes in 1972, a disaster from which the city never fully recovered.

That same year, Shade joined the Air Force, beginning a 30-year career, during which his position as a group support commander often involved working with disaster professionals to respond to crashed aircraft or fires and flooding on bases across the Midwest. He moved to Olathe in 2005 to be closer to his grandchildren and that’s when he joined FEMA.

He said his military experience has often helped during disasters when someone needed to quickly take charge, organize the existing volunteers, law enforcement and other resources and keep the information flowing freely between the groups.

In fact, for someone who regularly travels to scenes of devastation and heartbreak, Shade mostly looks back at the disasters in terms of their organizational challenges.

For example, he said the 2011 tornado in Joplin was “one of the toughest ones to watch” because it took a while for the local response groups to get organized and start attacking problems. Once they did, however, Shade said “they’ve made a great recovery.”

Meanwhile, he remembers the response to 2012’s Superstorm Sandy in New York and New Jersey as a good one, chiefly because the communities organized so fast and were so anxious to get to work.

“Training is the most gratifying part,” he said. “You’re not out there working yourself, but you’re equipping people to help their community find a new normal.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t recognize the burdens responders face — he stresses that recovery groups should always include professionals to care for the emotional and spiritual needs of caregivers — but he’s never reached the point of burnout.

“I think I’ve always been able to find my purpose,” he said.

Donna Derr, CWS’s director for development and humanitarian assistance programs, said Shade was instrumental in improving the organization’s training and mentoring of local recovery organizations.

“Barry is a very good listener,” Derr said. “So he listened and heard well what communities often said was difficult in their recovery process after all the immediate responders had come and gone.”

Jono Anzalone, division disaster executive for the North Central Division of the American Red Cross, said he worked with Shade during Superstorm Sandy and that Shade provided a calm voice of reason as they mapped out what the various communities would need immediately after the storm and in the long-term.

“Barry had an amazing, compassionate soul and spirit and still does,” Anzalone said. “He’s very genuine in his willingness and also calling to do something that makes a difference.”

While Shade is retiring from CWS, he’s not ready yet to entirely leave chaos behind. He said he looks forward to doing mission trips — some disaster-related —with his church, St. Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, a Disciples of Christ congregation. He said his faith motivates him to help with disasters.

“We try to work with the most vulnerable,” he said. “I think there’s a deep and amazing appreciation that someone cares. ”

This story was originally published June 2, 2015 at 5:53 PM with the headline "His career has led from one disaster to another."