Tragic, awesome, challenging, inspiring work

Before I call it a night, I want to share just a few of the best and hardest moments from the last few days.  The Red Cross Disaster Team members who have responded have been amazing—handing out water as fast as they could to keep first responders hydrated and responding, comforting families suffering a devastating loss, opening a shelter and keeping it staffed 24/7, working cases, and helping people take the first really hard steps in recovery.  Many have worked 14 hour (or longer) shifts, several days in a row now.   Even now, 3 volunteers are at the shelter, and 2 will stay all night until a team relieves them Monday at 6 AM.  We need more volunteers for tomorrow, Monday night, and Tuesday.  You may be the one we need, or you may know the ones we need.  Please help spread the word by forwarding this message to your contacts.

This has been a tragic, awesome, heartbreaking, challenging, tender, touching, exhausting, and inspiring weekend. 

• Tragic:  More than 40 people have lost a place they considered home, a place that for many was the thin line before homelessness. 
• Awesome: At least 30 volunteers traded their weekends off, sleep, leisure, and family time to face heat and hard work—and found joy in serving others.
• Heartbreaking: Hard working people lost hard-earned money, clothing, tools, toys, and irreplaceable keepsakes and photos;
• Challenging:  In a community with limited resources, weekends and nights are even harder as almost no agencies provide services outside normal business hours—thankfully, Red Cross volunteers and partners do!  (Special thanks go out to the A-Trans Team, McDonald’s of Alexandria, First Responders, Law Enforcement, Grace Christian,  and Animal Control Teams for all their hard work over the weekend!)
• Tender: Moments where two young men facing their own tragic loss help another man confined to a wheel chair and times when volunteers and shelter residents cried together, neither able to talk, will remain vivid pictures in my heart. 
• Touching: Volunteers sat in the floor with children to assemble puzzles; caseworkers spent time working to provide people clothes to wear and to provide other emergency needs; friendships were forged as cots were set up and meals were served..
• Exhausting:  Since the call for Red Cross help from the Alexandria Fire Department on Friday around 2 PM and continuing through tonight, the Red Cross has been providing shelter, food, water, financial and emotional support even while we work hard to raise money to support this major disaster response at a time when we are already facing significant financial challenges forcing us to decrease our employees—again. 
• Inspiring: Late this evening, my son Patrick (who volunteered to stay at the shelter all night with a few of other Grace Christian Church members so that I could go home) summed it up in his post on Facebook: “Please pray for the people who were involved in the fire. Sitting and talking with them, they’re just like you and me. Be thankful.”  

Tomorrow and Tuesday, we need financial donors, shelter staff to fill shifts, caseworkers to help a way for the families still in the shelter to find a more permanent home, people to answer phones, volunteers to process invoices and paperwork, drivers to transport supplies, teams to sanitize and store cots, writers to help us tell the Red Cross story, cleaning crews, health services team members to work in the shelter, and office support to help complete reports and to prepare for our state-wide meeting on Wednesday. 

Come join the tragic, awesome, heartbreaking, challenging, tender, touching, exhausting, and inspiring work of the Red Cross.  We need you, and maybe you know someone else we need—please share this message.  www.cenlaredcross.org

In Just the Last 24 Hours

Feb 5, 2011

If I were not actually living this Red Cross experience, I might find it hard to believe some days.  The last 24 hours have been like that: preparing for a massive winter storm–in Louisiana; facing widespread power outages including the one at the Red Cross office; helping 10 families after an apartment fire and three home fires; and emailing a very good friend and committed Red Cross volunteer in Cairo. 

Throughout the last 24 hours, one message has rung true and clear:  be prepared.

Fortunately, the storm hit with much less impact than expected.  But families, schools, and businesses all scrambled to be prepared.  Long lines in stores and frantic phone calls evidenced the lack of routine preparation.  With frigid weather continuing and the potential for another winter storm looming, this is the right time to restock our pantry and our car trunks and to make sure we know the emergency plans for our schools and businesses, including how schedule changes and closures are communicated so that we can avoid overloading the secretaries with phone calls seeking information which may be found online or shared via email.  Be prepared.

Even though the storm hit with less impact than expected, more than 19,000 people lost power, reminding us all of the importance of being prepared: have non-perishable, ready-to-eat food and water for 3 days; be able to keep warm by having blankets and warm clothes at home and in your car; if possible, avoid traveling when roads are icy.  Amazingly, about two-thirds of the homes impacted by the outages now have regained power—thanks to hard working, dedicated crews from Cleco and other providers who worked all day, overnight and are still out working in frigid weather to restore those still without electricity.    Again, the reminder is to be prepared–prepared to be without power and to not be able to be out on the roads for 2 or 3 days.

Even now, Joel Staub, the Central Louisiana Emergency Services Manager and several volunteers are working to wrap up paper work and restock disaster response kits after helping 10 families in less than24 hours after fires forced them from their homes.  Home fires devastate families; more than 90% of the disasters in Central Louisiana are home fires.  Without exception, families who have come to the Red Cross have one thing in common—none of them thought they would lose their homes to fire.  We all must be prepared.  Have a plan for getting out of your house safely and practice it—especially with children.  Set a specific meeting place outside your home where everyone gathers.  Make a copy of important papers like your lease, deed, driver’s license and insurance policies and keep it at work or at a friend’s home.  Be sure you have working smoke detectors throughout your home and a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and garage.  Be prepared to keep your family safe.

With 10 fires in less than 24 hours, the Red Cross needs you.  Thanks to donors of the Red Cross, we make sure that families have a place to stay, clothes to wear, and food to eat as they begin the hard work of recovery.  Donors who give monthly make sure that our Red Cross is prepared to help whenever a disaster strikes.  A gift of $15 a month for a year will provide clothes for a child after a home fire.  A gift of $60 a month will provide food and shelter for two families after a tornado; $120 a month will provide all Red Cross emergency services for military families, disaster response and education for a day throughout Central Louisiana.   Help us be prepared to respond whenever families need the Red Cross.

While we were gearing up for the storm, I received an email from Kevin Gebhart, a Red Cross Disaster Services volunteer who spent several weeks working as a volunteer in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina and then came to help us in Central Louisiana after Hurricane Rita struck.  (Many of you probably remember Kevin.  He worked alongside hundreds of volunteers to provide more than 180,000 overnight stays in Central Louisiana shelters and continued to work here in disaster response and recovery for more than a year after the shelter operation ended.)   A very dear friend to me and my family, Kevin emailed me from Cairo amidst the unrest and riots.   True to form, Kevin recently went to Cairo to help someone in need—this time one of his dearest friends.  Since he left Central Louisiana, Kevin has been leading non-profit, humanitarian work in Kenya, but when a friend living and working in Cairo needed support, Kevin went to her.  His email assured me that they are safe but concerned and watchful, staying indoors and helping others who were not as prepared.  Again, the message rings through—be prepared.  Kevin shared the following with me:

“This is the first time Cairo has had Internet access in over a week, ATMs are low or out of cash, banks are closed, food prices have risen and food supplies are more limited, mobile phone service is generally not working and communication is very difficult.  While we are not evacuating . . . we have taken steps to stockpile food, and have every available container filled with water in the likely event that power and water services are cut.  We have plenty of batteries for our battery powered radio to get important info when other sources are down.”

Important messaging [should] include always traveling with “hard currency,” sufficient US dollars to manage when ATM and credit card services are no longer available.  Having 1 emergency contact back at home, the 1 person you contact with updates while in an emergency situation abroad that relays updates to other friends and loved ones. Checking state departments warnings before you travel to any location outside of the United States. Registering with the US embassy or consulate when you are abroad and conditions warrant such action.

Kevin also shared a bit about his concerns about the conditions in Haiti, and he wrote that he wished he could “take the Central Louisiana A team to Haiti to ‘get ‘er done.’  We did some tremendous work together.”  Kevin’s memories of the wonderful volunteers in Central Louisiana remains very accurate—great people who do whatever is needed to help others!

The last 24 hours have brought a variety of challenges and needs to light, but in every case, the key to helping ourselves and others is to Be Prepared.  To learn more about ways to prepare yourself and your family may be found at www.cenlaredcross.org.  You can change lives and help the Red Cross respond to the 10 families who lost their homes to fire in the last 24 hours and the 3 military families we are currently serving as well as families who will turn the Red Cross tonight, tomorrow and every day next week by donating at www.cenlaredcross.org or by calling 318 442-6621 or in person at 425 Bolton Ave during normal business hours.

A gift of any size to the American Red Cross will save the day when the next disaster strikes. When a neighbor’s house burns down. When a family needs to contact a deployed service member in an emergency. When a child needs a hug and a blanket. The gift that saves the day is the gift you give today.

Red Cross On-Call

Red Cross On-Call—24 hours a day

Every day and all night long, someone in the Central Louisiana Red Cross is on-call, responding whenever needed.  Actually a couple of folks are on call.  On a recent weekend, I carried the Admin-on-Call phone.  At 4:30 AM, a call came in from a military family needing an emergency message sent to a soldier in Afghanistan.  At 10 on Saturday morning, another family called the Red Cross for help.  One family was facing a serious illness of a family member.  The other devastated by a sudden death.  The families who go to sleep every night missing a loved one who is serving our country in the Armed Forces and then move through every day knowing the dangers faced by the Armed Forces—those families deserve to have someone standing by, ready to respond whenever needed.  Right here in Central Louisiana, across the country and in Red Cross stations around the world, Red Cross team members standing by, ready to respond 24 hours a day.  I’m privileged to be part of this Red Cross team.  Your support makes it possible for Red Cross to serve the people serving our country and their families.

More Amazing Numbers

In the last look at the “Red Cross by the numbers,” I shared that the Red Cross has provided a total of more than $3,630,000 in programs and services  right here in Central Louisiana since 2005. 

That doesn’t nearly reflect the full picture, though.  Catastrophic disasters are not included in the amounts above; major disasters often require more money than can be raised in the local area and often the disaster crosses several regions of a state.  These major disasters are funded by contributions from Central Louisiana and all over the country which have been designated for those disasters.  Many local residents donated through our Central Louisiana Red Cross to support the Tsunami response, to the Haiti response, to the California Wildfires, to the Midwest floods.  The Red Cross National (and International) Disaster Relief Fund is the processing center for major disaster relief operations. 

For example, in November 2004, the Red Cross responded to 6 Central Louisiana communities struck by tornadoes, including Olla where more than 200 homes were destroyed; donations of more than $100,000 (with some $70,000 coming from outside Central Louisiana) were given specifically to meet the emergency needs of families in LaSalle, Vernon, Winn, Catahoula, and Rapides.  When Hurricane Katrina and Rita struck and we sheltered for 63 days in a row, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated from around the country and spent in Central Louisiana to provide shelter, food, and assistance in Red Cross shelters and in partner shelters supported by the Red Cross.  The donations of people from across the country and from people right here in Central Louisiana paid the expenses of providing more than 180,000 overnight stays in Central Louisiana shelters. 

Also through the Red Cross, people around the country contributed a staggering $2.6 million to help more than 2,400 families in Central Louisiana whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Rita—primarily in Allen and Vernon Parishes.  Hurricanes Gustav and Ike also resulted in donations from donors through sister Red Cross chapters to pay for shelter expenses like utilities, toilet paper, cleaning supplies for the more than 34,400 overnight stays in Central Louisiana Red Cross shelters and for the meals, snacks, water, clean up kits and support provided in shelters and neighborhoods cleaning up after the floods that affected our area.   The amounts are difficult to tabulate in a major disaster for just one region, like Central Louisiana, because many of the bills are paid through the local Red Cross, many are paid directly by the National Disaster Relief Fund, many are paid to companies, like food suppliers, who sent food to Red Cross shelters in multiple states for a hurricane response.  So saying precisely what specific amount was spent in Central Louisiana or benefited Central Louisianans can be a challenge during those events that impact more than one area.  Based on the average cost of supporting shelters and the meals provided in major disasters, the 234,400 nights provided in Central Louisiana resulted in more than $11 million spent in this region.  It is clearly documented that in just the past 6 years, Central Louisiana families who lost their homes to the 2004 tornadoes and Hurricane Rita, received more than $2.7 million from the Red Cross thanks to donors down the street, across the country and around the world. 

None of those amounts include the incredible donation of time and talent of Red Cross volunteers.  A very conservative valuation of the volunteer hours in Central Louisiana over those six years would look something like this:

                881,556 hours valued at $15,074,607

Pretty amazing for an organization that lives on a budget of less than $2.10 per person living in Central Louisiana.  Our goal this year is to raise $650,000.  During fiscal year 2005 through the end of 2010, the Red Cross has invested more than $32 million to benefit Central Louisianans and the people who have been sheltered here, that is almost ten times more than the amount of support given to the Central Louisiana Red Cross

By the Numbers

I’ve tried a couple of times just to quantify the impact of the Red Cross volunteers and donors on Central Louisiana, just since I started working here.  That’s a lot tougher than it sounds.  It’s easy enough to list the amount of money donated to the Central Louisiana Red Cross that has been spent helping people in Central Louisiana in each fiscal year:

                FY 2005                 $531,244

                FY 2006                 $591,472

                FY 2007                 $614,557

                FY 2008                 $670,765

                FY 2009                 $576,704

                FY 2010                 $645,267

A total of $3,630,009 spent to help people right here in Central Louisiana, but that’s only the beginning.  Check out the next blog posting to learn the rest of the story.

Cross Talk

I’ve decided to start a blog about our Red Cross in the hope that it helps tell our story more effectively and encourages more people to volunteer.  I wish I had started it May 17, 2004—my first day with the Central Louisiana Red Cross.  Much has happened over the last seven years, events that have changed my life and outlook, bleeding over into the lives of my family, my church, my friends, even my children’s friends.  In 2004, my husband Mike, my nieces Amanda and Amber and my sons Patrick and Colten, and I moved to Alexandria.  Our children were 17, 15, 13, and 10 years old then.  Today, we have only Colten still living at home.  He is a sophomore at Grace Christian School and plays basketball and baseball.  Patrick attends Louisiana College, teaches CPR and First Aid, and is a Red Cross lifeguard. 

Since I didn’t start the blog back then, I may from time to time share some of my memories of events, volunteers and clients.  To honor confidentiality, I won’t share names unless the person has specifically agreed that I may.  I will also try to avoid giving details that would inadvertently identify the person.  I might tell a about an event at Christmas but not tell which Christmas, for example.   If you think you see yourself in the blog, you might be right!  My hope is that you enjoy reading about our adventures in the Red Cross and that we will all work together even more to help our friends and neighbors through the Red Cross.

This won’t be a blog in its truest sense because it won’t be chronological and it most certainly won’t be a daily online log.  It will, however, be blog-like in that it will be just a sharing of my thoughts and experiences, without a lot of polishing or editing.   I may very well end up being the only one who ever reads this blog, but I hope others do and enjoy seeing the Red Cross through my eyes.  You can help me stay on task by sending ideas, thoughts or comments to me at ceo@cenlaredcross.org.  Please let me know if I have your permission to quote you or recognize your submission.

Leann