Team Rubicon now has over 200,000 volunteers. It started with a Facebook post and a rented truck.
A Facebook Post That Changed Everything
When a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, Jake Wood, a former Marine infantry officer who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, posted on Facebook looking for volunteers. William McNulty, also a former Marine, signed on within minutes.
They assembled a team of eight veterans and medical professionals, gathered funds and medical supplies from friends and family, flew to the Dominican Republic, rented a truck, and drove into Haiti just three days after the earthquake.
Veterans Serving Again
The insight was powerful: natural disasters present many of the same challenges as combat zones. Emergency medicine, risk assessment, teamwork, and decisive leadership under pressure are skills veterans already possess. And the sense of purpose that comes with deploying to help others benefits veterans transitioning to civilian life.
Wood and McNulty founded Team Rubicon to bridge both gaps: communities need skilled disaster responders, and veterans need continued purpose.
The Greyshirts
Today, Team Rubicon's volunteers, known as "Greyshirts," number over 200,000. In 2025, the organization completed 78 disaster response operations across 825 communities, impacting more than 500,000 people. Volunteers contributed 231,607 hours of service valued at $9.38 million. What began as two Marines and a rented truck is now one of America's most effective disaster response organizations.
Learn more on our Team Rubicon page.
