Burners Without Borders
Burners Without Borders (BWB) is a grassroots, volunteer-driven, community leadership program of Burning Man Project, whose goal is to unlock the creativity of local communities to solve problems that bring about meaningful change. Supporting volunteers from around the world in innovative relief solutions & community resiliency projects, BWB is known for the unbridled creativity they bring to every project they do.
BWB promotes activities around the globe that support a community’s inherent capacity to thrive by encouraging innovative approaches to community resilience, disaster response, and grassroots initiatives that make a positive impact. Join us and get involved!
History
Burners Without Borders coalesced from a spontaneous, collective instinct to meet gaping needs where traditional societal systems were clearly failing post Hurricane Katrina. Since that time, BWB has emerged as a community led, grassroots group that encourages innovative, civic participation that creates positive change locally.
Following the 2005 Burning Man event, several participants headed south into the Hurricane Katrina disaster area to help people rebuild their devastated communities. As the volunteer numbers grew, they focused their initial efforts on rebuilding a destroyed Vietnamese temple in Biloxi, Mississippi. After several months, that job done, they moved to another needy Mississippi community, Pearlington, to continue to work hard — gifting their time — to help those in need. Over the course of eight months, BWB volunteers gifted over $1 million dollars worth of reconstruction and debris removal to the residents of Mississippi.