during the Katrina hurricane season. There were times when I was so angry at how little was being done, then I came to realize, “Who else could have done anything?” I recently saw a chart on how little of the money contributed goes to actual aid. What the chart does not show is how much is done, mostly by volunteers, and how much preparation goes unused, but is there when it is needed. I began with almost a year of classes, some a half day, others more, preparing for volunteering. I had somewhere around 25 classes before my first call as a volunteer. In '05, we had already had a minor hurricane which now I cannot remember the name. Probably 30 or 40 of us were stationed in northern Louisiana awaiting landfall. Two of our KC volunteers were already driving a 'food truck' toward possible land fall. The rest of us volunteers had flown in from different cities and picked up rental cars waiting at the staging area for the order to advance to possible disaster areas. The hurricane was minor and within a week of land fall, we were on our way home. But when we arrived at our location for distributing food aid, many factors had already occurred. Besides the training each of the volunteers had received, all across America at food distributions centers were semi-trailer trucks already loaded and ready to pull out on notice. When we arrived at our feeding center, already a semi-trailer outfitted to be a kitchen was there, manned and cooking. We backed up the half dozen or so food trucks, loaded them and then sent them out on routes that had been picked by local volunteers who knew the area. Later in the season, a hurricane was headed for the Mexico-Us border and this time I arrived in San Antonio with around a hundred (just a guess) while food trucks had already been sent on their journey. After a day, 4 of us volunteers were dispatched to a small town near Brownsville. Upon arrival, we were immediately dispatched to motels as the hurricane had veered directly toward Brownsville. For two day we sat in a motel waiting for the hurricane to pass. Heavy rains and a moderate rain (less than 60 mph if I remember right) left little damage except minor flooding. The 4 of us went around to the shelters, now empty, and made an inspection for any damages that might have occurred from the residents seeking shelter. These shelters had given those who were scared a place to find relief. Mostly schools and other commercial buildings, they were dry, secure and furnished food with cots and blankets for sleep. The local volunteers as well as minimum paid staff had already in times past found and obtained approval for use of these buildings. By the time the hurricane arrived, food had been stocked and the residents of the city had a secure place to flee. When I think of all the preparation, planning, and infrastructure already in place and then think of how much may never be used, it almost boggles my mind. From fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes or any other disaster, the Red Cross tries to be prepared. Katrina stretched that ability. I was staged in Houston along with maybe 20 others. The Red Cross had requested permission to stage in the Superdome, but had been denied. What a difference that would have made. We received the call late in the evening to meet at the Astrodome around dark. “We have a lot of people coming in and we will be spit up to work 12 hour shifts. There will be no days off (normally we are given a day off every 7 days. In the almost 3 months I worked as a volunteer that year, I had 2 days off). One shift will work nights sitting up cots. The others will work days caring for people. You are Red Cross. You know what to do” This was our instructions from the site manager sent from headquarters and we would seldom see him again. Looking back, none of us had any idea what was to come. More to come-keep reading below the twisted string
When I arrived at 6 the next morning, the citizens of New Orleans began flowing in and by the time the flow had stopped a few days later, we had 35 thousand people in the Astrodome. We began with cots side by side, head to head, lined on the floor of the Astrodome lined in rows. Then we began lining the ramps and all the extra spaces that had been used for other activities. When the flow stopped, the bleacher seats were also being used as we had run out of room for cots. Paid staff had rented an upper floor in a building next door and we never saw them, but we knew they were there. At every meal time, meals arrived. They were sufficient and came from different sources. The people who arrived, came without anything, many if not most, without even a purse or billfold. As I learned later, many had been plucked from the tops of buildings, roads... By the second day, an area had been set up with a wide selection of donated clothes. I know not where they came from as usually Red Cross doesn't take donated clothes. I assume the city of Dallas contributed: eventually we had to quit taking donations of clothes as we had more than we needed. If you think of the logistics involved: buses to bring them to Houston: food to be delivered: doctors and nurses for the triage: clothing solicited along with whatever was happening to the rest of the refugees from along along the coast, one is almost over whelmed. There is more to the story and this time it comes from the volunteers and many others. When I arrived at 6 that first morning, the first problem was that many of the citizens arriving were in poor health and needed a wheel chair as they departed from the buses. We only had two wheel chairs available and myself and one other spent our time wheeling them from outside the stadium down to the floor and most to the Triage Staging Area. I was one of the younger males in decent shape and so my presence on the floor became a common sight. Maybe that is why when a stranger arrived and asked me who was in charge, I inquired as to what he wanted. At this time we didn't have any one on the floor in charge and wouldn't have a volunteer in charge for some days. I didn't know at this time that the paid staff had set up office in the next buildings, so as I had been told , 'You know what to do'... He explained that he owned a major laundry in Houston. He wanted to provide towels for our 'residents'. He explained that his company sterilized all of the washing. What he needed was to drop off a couple of cages of towel along with a couple of empty cages. We would need to take these to the areas where the showers were and then every day bring down the empty cages which had been filled with dirty towels. I gave him the ok.. I don't think he had any idea how many towels would eventually be needed, but before I moved to another shelter, I noticed that he had enlisted the help of other laundries in the Houston area. I don't know if the home office of the Red Cross had ever considered this problem, but it worked well. Each person could go over to the desk where several people sorted all the incoming clothing. They would give a size and then choose form the choices available. This allowed each person to have a clean shower and clean clothing for each day, after all it was the first of Sept in the south and keeping 35,000 people clean was a major success. The offices of the Astrodome gradually filled with different government offices. A post office was set up for people to collect mail, but many didn't have any identification and so measures were enacted to provide ID's for those receiving mail and filling out government forms for aid. We had another man show up just like the laundry man. He was an employee of the local phone company and the company had installed phones in an area where people could call family and friends. Remember, cell phones were more of an luxury then especially in the poor areas. Many would have lost their phones along with purses and billfolds anyway. As they made the calls, many would find a place where they could stay. The problem was that nobody had transportation. This man from the phone company and I am sorry I have lost his name (he was a lifesaver), had found someone with a bus and with his own funds and help from friends, they would pay for the fuel needed to take people to friends in cities nearby. He had taken it upon himself to verify that their was an actual person willing to take in those who said they had a place to go. I had kept in contact with him each day following how he was doing. Then one day, after about two weeks, he said, “I have 500 people with a place to go, but I have run out of money to buy fuel for the bus. Can you help?” By now we had a couple of volunteers from Canada Red Cross who were in charge of the floor. I explained to them the problem and asked about any resources. They couldn't help and as they put it, “Paid Staff doesn't talk to volunteers.” At the beginning I said that their were things about the Red Cross that made me mad. But I was determined and made the trip to the building next door where the temporary offices of management existed. I tried to explain to the man at the door and he took me in. I watched as the man in charge came unglued yelling at the man who had brought me in as to why I was there. Then he calmed down and I told him my story. He pulled out an address book and gave me the number of a bus company telling me they had already made arrangements. When I was outside I gave the company a call only to find out that it was the city bus line and they would give free rides anywhere in town. Within a day or so, I am walking across the floor of the stadium on an errand of some sort when I was stopped by a woman. She introduced herself and I came face to face with the CEO of Red Cross who wanted to see the situation first hand. “Is there anything you need?” “We have 500 people with places to go and no way to get they there.” She turned to her executive secretary and told him to call someone who he put me on the line with. I told her the problem and then went on my way. Two days later this lady called me and asked if anything had happened yet and I told her no. But within a couple of days, any person displaced by Katrina would have either a bus ticket or airplane ticket paid for to take them where ever they wanted. By now three weeks is up and normally I would return home. But the tour of duty was expiring for most of the other volunteers also and there was no one at the shelter in Corpus Christi with any training, so I moved over there. Within a week another hurricane was approaching and this time the fear was Houston or possible Corpus Christi would be hit. I was sent immediately to San Antonio. By now, the Red Cross has learned much and within a day or so all the people in the shelter at Corpus Christi and to the best of my knowledge, Houston, were moved to San Antonio. Some way or other, three large shelters were established, volunteer staffing, nurses, food and bedding along with housing for the hundred or so volunteers and it happened. Within hours of my arrival I was transporting nurses on different shift to three different shelters. At the end of 5 ½ weeks, I was wore out. Without a break and many 10 or 12 hour days, I went home. But I would go one more time to the Katrina hurricane disaster, this time to Gulfport. At Gulfport, there were one hundred feeding trucks. Again my job became one of helping then get organized, loaded and on there way to distribute food. With 2 months since Katrina, we had people coming and going every day because they had put in their 3 weeks. Each truck had to have a certified driver and on any day the driver would just not show up as they went home. In addition, each route had to have some one on board who knew where to go. After the lunches were served, the trucks trickled back in depending on the length of their route and many were as late as 5 or so. Each truck had to have all the food containers washed and sterilized and taken back to the food preparation area. As you can imagine, one hundred trucks took time. Each day as we left our staging area, we would pass another feeding truck some distance away. It was a Salvation Army truck. It brought home that to furnish help on the scale that we did, it would take more than churches and the Red Cross did things few others could including the government. I think of how when I down there the last time, the government still had mobile trailers sitting in Ark where they would eventually rot away. I thought of how the Red Cross was able to furnish 30,000 cots and food for all as they poured in from New Orleans. A lack of government control and lots of volunteers made an effective machine. When my shift was completed, I would get a ride back to where we were staying. On most of my campaigns, we had stayed at a motel. But this time we had over 300 people and the hotels had been wiped out by the storm, so our turn came to stay in an abandoned Army building. This time we were on cots next to one another. A couple of semi-trailer trucks from California with portable kitchens were there to serve us. The same trucks were used when firefighters fought fires and food was ample and good. After helping load the food trucks, I would ride a route so I would know the territory in case of shortage of drivers. One area I rode many times. It was a short route and we passed many homes that still had not been worked on. I remember one which was elevated on pillars. The middle of the house had been completely blown away and one could see all the way through. A lady lived there and it was apparent repairs were slow. Across the street and nice house with little outside damage (it would have been flooded so all sheet rock would have to be removed for mold control) and in the yard was a 15 ft sail boat. Where it had come from was any ones guess. It was not uncommon to see boats in the tops of trees. As we went through other areas, we would see some blocks where there was nothing but stacked wood from destroyed homes, others where houses had floated across the road and I remember one concrete slab with nothing remaining. Someone had found the steeple that had been on the church that was there and had brought it back to sit on the concrete slab. This route always ended near the ocean front where a man was trying to rebuild. The water had been 60 ft deep over his house and of course nothing was left. He and the rest of the family would scrounge around looking for 2x4's and with nails he had found they had a frame of sorts started. The last day I was there, he was very happy. They had found a large tarp and he had it nailed to the frame to give some protection from the wind. He told me of two sisters who had not left in time and had to climb a tree to stay above the water and ride out the storm. They lived. There was a father who had not left in time and he climbed a tree with his two children to escape the storm. It has been 10 years and I can remember even more details as though it were yesterday even though I am not sure where I was even living at the time. The pictures in my mind just won't fade. I suppose that the father still sees his children as they were swept away from him.