Not all heroes wear capes. Many wear grey shirts.
At the end of August 2023, Hurricane Idalia rocked Florida’s Big Bend. Storm surges brought waves as tall as 12 feet crashing onto the shore, creating an estimated $12–20 billion in damages.
In response, President Biden signed a major disaster declaration, so Florida could receive the financial assistance it needed to rebuild public infrastructures. Yet money alone wasn’t enough.
That’s why humanitarian organizations sent out a call for volunteers, including Team Rubicon — a veteran-led organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises. Mickey Prock answered. A member of Team Rubicon and a Med Pay Supervisor with American Family Insurance, Mickey put on his grey shirt and headed to Florida.
While Mickey says he never left the Mobile Command Center during his Idalia deployment, he coordinated where teams went and what resources were needed to serve the community. After a day of service, a fellow grey shirt told Mickey that they had helped an older gentleman that day, probably in his late 70s or early 80s. When a huge tree fell on his property, a local company gave him a $20,000 quote to have it removed.
Team Rubicon sent a heavy equipment team to the property, complete with front-end loader and multiple chainsaw operators. Together, the group removed the tree and an old, damaged gate. While Mickey didn’t physically remove the tree, his leadership helped get it removed.
The fellow grey shirt told Mickey that the man started crying. Without help, he would’ve had to take $20,000 out of his retirement; with Team Rubicon, everything was taken care of for free.
A grey shirt
Team Rubicon’s impact extends far beyond Florida. The organization was founded in 2010 by former University of Wisconson-Madison football player and Wisconsin School of Business graduate, Jake Wood. After earning his degree, Jake enlisted in the Marine Corps. What he learned as a Badger, businessman and Marine shaped his values, leading him to create Team Rubicon after a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti. What started with eight men, attempting to help those during their most critical time of need, has grown dramatically.
Today, Team Rubicon has more than 160,000 volunteers, ready to respond to natural disasters domestically and internationally at a moment’s notice. With three U.S. branches, grey shirts can be found in all 50 states.
Mickey proudly wears a grey shirt, volunteering more than 120 hours in 2023. He says veterans, police officers, firefighters and “kick-ass” civilians comprise Team Rubicon’s strong network of volunteers. Having 20 years of insurance experience and 25 years as a firefighter, Mickey said one of Team’s Rubicon’s key values really resonated with him: “Mission first, grey shirts always.”
Working alongside Mickey through Team Rubicon’s Tucson Metro Leadership Team, David Rabb says another value rings true: “get sh*t done.” How he got connected to Team Rubicon was rather unconventional, however.
Getting sh*t done
At the beginning and end of 2021, COVID-19 cases spiked in Arizona. Living in the Tucson area since 2004, David wanted to help. When the medical community asked for volunteers, he answered the call, showed up to one of the first vaccination sites in Tucson and was greeted by a man in a grey shirt. The man introduced himself, saying he was from Team Rubicon. Immediately, a light bulb went off in David’s head — he had heard of Team Rubicon before.
A few years prior, David had taken a wilderness first aid class. After telling the instructor about his interests, they recommended he look into Team Rubicon. While the organization sounded like a great opportunity, David was still working as a software developer at the time, with a lot of other things going on. Looking back, he says, “I just procrastinated.”
Later in the day at the vaccination site, David went up to the man in the grey shirt, sharing that he had heard of Team Rubicon before. “I’ll have to join one of these days,” he said. The man in the grey shirt responded, “Why not today?”
David has been a member of the Team Rubicon ever since. Because no matter someone’s background, he says, “anybody can be a grey shirt. All you have to have is the desire.”
Deployment days
Driven by service, Team Rubicon completed 134 operations and served 28,785 individuals and 260 communities in 2023. Volunteers have signed up for deployments in Guam, Morocco and Kentucky, just to name a few places. While a typical deployment lasts seven days, some grey shirts may extend their stay based on a community’s need.
For the past two years, Mickey deployed to Florida and helped with hurricane relief. On his first deployment to Florida, he served as the Muck Out and Strike Team Leader, removing fallen debris and damaged drywall; on his second deployment, he served on the Command and General Staff in Team Rubicon’s Mobile Command Center, allocating food, trucks, equipment and other resources to volunteers.
During both of his deployments, Mickey says, “It’s the comradery and the culture that really stands out.” While upwards of 60 grey shirts start the week as strangers, he says they often leave feeling like family. The work isn’t necessarily glamourous, either.
Stories shared
Team Rubicon’s website even says, “Our culture is not for the faint of heart.” Volunteers like Mickey aren’t afraid to get dirty, working in all sorts of conditions, sometimes sleeping in church basements or tents. With volunteerism declining nationwide post-pandemic, it can be hard for many communities to grasp why Team Rubicon is choosing to help complete strangers for free.
Take David Rabb’s recent deployment to San Diego as an example. At the end of January, southern California faced flash flooding, which left devastating damage. David was working alongside other Team Rubicon volunteers, mucking out (or cutting out the drywall of) a San Diego house. In his eyes, the job was typical.
A local reporter came into the house with a camera crew (see video below). “She was so taken aback by the idea that we were all volunteers, that we came from all over the place, to do this — to wade through muck and sewage — and help these people that we didn’t know,” David says. After they were done with the story and the cameras were off, David says the reporter burst into tears.
No matter the deployment location, Mickey says each night ends with a campfire. After a long day’s work, grey shirts gather in a circle and crack a few beers, often sharing about their days. David shared the story of the news reporter inspired in San Diego; a fellow grey shirt shared about the older gentlemen moved in Florida — it’s stories like these, Mickey says, “that make it all worthwhile.”
The American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation offers a social impact budget to employees and agency owners to match donations to nonprofits. Those who use all of their budget are called “Maximizers.” We will regularly share their stories here.
