A shovel seems simple enough — until you try to figure out where to put it.

For Team Rubicon volunteers responding to disasters, long-handled tools come in different shapes and sizes.

They need to be secure on the road, easy to find when volunteers arrive, and easy to put away after a long day in the field. Whatever holds the tools needs to work when the person reaching for it is wearing gloves, covered in dirt, or simply exhausted.

It was one of many small problems Ford engineers encountered when they set out to help Team Rubicon rethink how its volunteers, known as Greyshirts, carry the equipment they need to respond to disasters.

The goal was straightforward: give Greyshirts more time to do the work they came to do.

Team Rubicon expects the finished Ford Transit to save volunteers about two hours each day in the field. As we shared in August, less than 48 hours after the build was complete, the van was already on its way to the Texas Hill Country to support flood recovery efforts.

But what led to those two hours saved started months earlier, and began with a lot of questions.

Watch the mini-documentary to see how Team Rubicon, Ford Philanthropy, and GRIDRACK™ turned feedback from the field into a vehicle built for it.

Start With the Problem

Ford Philanthropy and Team Rubicon have worked together for years supporting communities before, during, and after disasters.

Over time, that relationship has expanded beyond funding alone to explore what else Ford can bring to the table.

For this project, that meant starting with the people who knew the problem best.

Ford employees, including some who volunteer as Team Rubicon Greyshirts, had seen firsthand how much time volunteers spend organizing equipment and making sure everything is ready for the field.

Ryan Keith, a Ford employee and Greyshirt, remembers noticing it on his first deployment.

“I saw that we were using a lot of our time loading and unloading vehicles,” he said. “I questioned how much more we could be doing for people if we didn’t have to do this.”

Ford Philanthropy engaged the GRIDRACK™ Consumer Insights team to dig deeper into how Greyshirts actually work.

What goes in the van? What tools do volunteers need? Where should they be stored? How do they pull them out? What happens when the day is over?

“We needed to know more about the problem,” said Kristy Safarik, part of the GRIDRACK™ Consumer Insights team.

The answers shaped what came next.

Design. Test. Listen. Repeat.

GRIDRACK™ engineers began drawing potential solutions in CAD, building prototypes and putting them in front of Team Rubicon.

The long-handled tools proved particularly tricky. Shovels, rakes, and other equipment came in different diameters and needed to fit into limited space.

The team experimented with ways to store them both vertically and horizontally while keeping them easy for volunteers to access.

A solution that works in a design studio must still work after a disaster. The only way to know whether it would actually save Greyshirts time in the field was to put it to work and keep listening.

That feedback loop was new for Team Rubicon.

“It’s allowed us to learn along the way,” said Matt Colvin of Team Rubicon.

“That’s real field work — beating the hell out of this equipment and telling hard truths.”

Making Everything Fit

GRIDRACK™ helped develop the solution: a modular storage system that could make better use of the Transit’s cargo space while adapting to different types of disaster response.

At one point, the team laid out everything Team Rubicon wanted the vehicle to carry.

“There were a couple times where we had all of the things laid out, and we’re like, ‘There’s no way we’re going to fit all this stuff in this van,’” Safarik said.

They did.

Within about 90 minutes, she recalled, the equipment was organized and off the floor.

The finished Transit includes dedicated storage for long-handled tools, bins for essential equipment, and modular wall panels that allow the setup to change depending on what a deployment requires.

It’s purpose-built — not simply for what Team Rubicon carries, but for how Greyshirts use it.

Two Hours Back to the Community

The project is part of Ford Building Together, an approach that brings Ford’s people and expertise together with nonprofit partners to solve problems and serve communities.

“That’s two hours back to the community,” said Joe Provenzano, Director of Mobility and Volunteer Engagement at Ford Philanthropy.

“That’s two hours more of work orders that Team Rubicon can execute.”

And there may be another dimension to the time-saving benefits at the end of a long day.

Jim Brooks, CEO of Team Rubicon, thinks about the volunteers who return after hours of physical — and often emotional — work in communities recovering from disaster

“This van is going to give them back time,” Brooks said, “and time for them to regroup and recenter before they go out and do it again.”

Francesca Hobson is a member of the Ford Philanthropy Communications team.