Totes of Hope

What is the Totes of Hope program?

Launched in October of 2019, Totes of Hope is a first of it’s kind statewide-project focused on showing support, compassion and empathy to emergency communication centers following times of crisis and trauma. These totes aren’t to be used in place of peer-support and critical incident stress debriefings, but instead, as a good and work-appropriate distraction, helping move past the negative helpless feelings that often come about following traumatic calls.

Totes are stationed, ready for deployment, with a volunteer in each of the five regions of Missouri. While flexible, totes can be deployed following natural disasters, line of duty deaths, unexpected deaths of co-workers and other traumatic calls as needed.

Why did we do it? Well, we wanted to demonstrate to every Emergency Communications Center (ECC), member or not, that Missouri APCO and the public safety communications professionals in Missouri care about them and their staff! It’s not about membership, it’s about reacting to human feeling and needs and providing comfort and support when it’s most needed!

Deployment History

While we launched in 2019, we did not see our first deployment until January of 2020. Below is a record of our deployments across the state.

Please note that out of respect for the centers and telecommunicators involved, only the region of deployment and a very brief description of circumstances is listed.

Coordination Team

Missouri is a large state with over 69,000 square miles comprised of 114 counties and two major metropolitan cities. In order to better serve our state, we regionalized the project to ensure timely deployments and better quality of service!

Following MOAPCO’s lead, the Totes of Hope Project is coordinated by Regional Coordinators, either the elected regional ambassador or a volunteer that was approved by the regional ambassador. These coordinators are responsible for maintaining the totes when they are not deployed, reaching out to impacted centers, and making arrangements for deployment and pickup. In addition to the five regional ambassadors, there are two state-coordinators that oversee the program and report to the Missouri APCO Board.

Select through our coordination team to learn more about the coordinators and their area of responsibility. Want to contact your Regional Coordinator? Use the interactive map, find your county and click on it!

Program Coordinators

Northwest Region

Northeast Region

Central Region

Eastern Region

Southwest Region

South-Central Region

Southeast Region

Program Coordinators

Northwest Region

Northeast Region

Central Region

Eastern Region

Southwest Region

South-Central Region

Southeast Region

How Can I Get Involved?

With our Regions spanning an average of 23 counties, logistics is a large need of the project. If you’re interested in serving your region by being part of a relay team, please reach out to your Regional Coordinator!

This project is funded through the dues of Missouri APCO’s members as well as private donations. Currently, we accept donations through our Treasurer so that you can obtain a receipt for your generosity. With that said, we are exploring alternative options to accept online donations. Please check back in the near future for more information.

Lastly, we need to get the word out! Totes of Hope is still a new program, and Centers across the state still are not aware of its existence. If you become aware of a critical incident, please consider either taking a few minutes to fill out the Deployment Request form, or reach out to the center and make them aware of our program!

How Does It Get Deployed?

What's In a Tote of Hope?

While not all-encompassing, here is a brief rundown of how a Tote of Hope will become deployed.

A member of the Missouri APCO Totes of Hope Coordination Team is made aware of a deployment need through either the request form or word of mouth.
The responsible Regional Coordinator reaches out to the impacted center and confirms details, that there is a need for deployment, and that the center will accept the Tote.
The Regional Coordinator will ensure that the Tote is adequately stocked with items and then deploy the Tote. The Coordinator may relay the Tote to the center themselves or coordinate a relay using volunteers in the region.
The Regional Coordinator or Relay Volunteer will deliver the Tote to the Center or will meet with someone from the center to exchange possession. They will explain the function of the Tote, provide a brief overview of the Totes of Hope project, and let the Center know that they can pay it forward by restocking the Tote, although that is NOT REQUIRED.
2-4 weeks later, the Regional Coordinator will reach out once again to the Center and confirm that the Tote is ready to be picked up.
The Regional Coordinator will once again stock the Tote for it’s next deployment.

The Tote of Hope is not a substitute for mental health professionals, peer team support or critical incident stress debriefs. What we are there to provide is a positive and work-appropriate distraction.

Some items that may be included in the Tote are:

Snack items
Candy
Adult coloring books
Puzzle books
Stress balls
Fidget Items
Words of encouragement
Books of positivity