Remembering 9/11: The First Few Hours of the Greater NY Red Cross Response

Every year on September 11 we reflect on that fateful day in 2001 and on the trying weeks, months and years that followed. We do so to honor those we lost, to comfort those still grieving and to thank those who gave of themselves to help us heal.

Just as our nation was forever changed, so was the Red Cross. Our organization’s relief effort—in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa.— was one of the largest in our organization’s history. The response continued for years after the attacks and involved more than 57,000 volunteers and employees from across the country.

No one place was affected as profoundly as our great city and no Red Cross chapter was as deeply impacted than Greater New York; we were at the epicenter of the relief effort. Within moments of the first plane striking the North Tower, teams of Greater Red Cross staff sprang into action to help.

Here is their story:

Minutes after the first plane struck the North Tower, Greater New York Senior Director of Emergency Services Virginia Mewborn and Assistant Director of Operations Max Green left the chapter’s headquarters on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan to respond to what they then thought was a small plane hitting the World Trade Center.

Green and Mewborn were planning to evaluate the situation to see how the Red Cross could best support emergency personnel at the scene. On the drive down, Green said he felt that if the building were evacuated early, “…it would have been a long-term canteen operation, where we would support emergency workers.”

As they drove, Virginia paged Red Cross Field Operations Supervisor Luis Avila and asked him to join them. Avila, who was in Queens that morning working a second job, could see the smoke from the North Tower from his location. He told his boss he was leaving, and in fact, never returned to that job. As he left, Avila watched in disbelief as the second plane banked and hit the South Tower.

Mewborn and Green, in their car, began to realize that they had not understood the scope of this incident. “As you got onto the West Side Highway you could see the smoke,” said Green. “My heart fluttered. I looked up at it, saying ‘This, this looks a lot bigger than what I thought it was.’”

The two parked on West Street, south of Chambers and walked towards the World Financial Center (WFC). They hoped to find a command group—people from partner agencies like the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), who would be coordinating this disaster response with the Red Cross.

Because her cell phone wasn’t working, Mewborn borrowed a phone at a shoe repair store to call headquarters. Greater NY Red Cross CEO Bob Bender told her four things: a second plane had hit, they were dealing with a terrorist attack, Red Cross would set up a Respite Center downtown for survivors and first responders, and he’d sent an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) down with a Red Cross disaster responder, Kemagne Theagne, to meet them.

Mewborn and Green found a command post on West Street, right across from the Twin Towers. That’s when they saw a horrific sight—people jumping from the upper stories of the Trade Center. They decided they should not get closer; they should in fact return to the chapter to organize the Red Cross response from there.

Meanwhile, Avila had arrived in lower Manhattan and parked on West and Vesey. “When we get to a scene,” he said, “the first person with a vehicle tries to get as close as they can.” He continued on foot to 7 World Trade, where OEM’s offices were located. “I saw debris everywhere, I was wading through rubble,” he said. As he began to follow a group of fire chiefs, the “haunting scenes” around him convinced Avila he should leave. He turned right to regroup with Green and Mewborn, and the first responders turned left, towards the Towers. Avila later learned they had perished.

As Avila approached the WFC he saw Mewborn and Green, and they walked inside together. “We made a deal that we were going to stay together from that point on,” he said, “that we were going to take care of one another.” Avila was able to contact his wife and let her know he was alright, then the line went dead. “What felt like an earthquake” shook the building. It was the North Tower coming down, but they didn’t know that. They thought the WFC was collapsing on top of them. Suddenly, the building’s windows exploded. Avila grabbed Mewborn and Green. They ran, along with hundreds of others, to the West Side Highway, zigzagging their way back to Green’s car.

Meanwhile, Kemagne Theagne, who had rushed down from chapter headquarters in an ERV, was on Church Street, directly in front of the Towers, trying to find the Red Cross staging area for the relief operation he believed Mewborn, Green and Avila were mounting. He had just gotten out of the ERV to help a woman who had fallen, when he heard, “Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.” He looked up and saw the North Tower coming down, floor by floor. “I just froze; I couldn't believe this was happening.”

As people ran out of the lobby towards Theagne, a man grabbed him. The two ran together, holding one another, towards a staircase leading into a subway station with a locked gate. They were now engulfed by choking soot and debris. Theagne tried calling his three colleagues, but his Nextel radio was dead. He said to himself, “I hope, I hope, I hope they made it.”

His colleagues were on their way back to HQ. As they drove, they spotted a man in Red Cross gear they thought was Theagne. They stopped and pulled him into the car, only to realize that it was responder Barry Crumbley, who had traveled to the site on his own to find his wife, who worked in one of the Towers. (She made it out safely.)

Theagne spent the next 45 minutes at the foot of the staircase, “just waiting,” trying to breathe, until he saw some light trying to break through the smoke. “We used that little bit of sunlight to guide us out.” They climbed up the stairs and ran.

After washing himself off at a nearby deli along with dozens of others, Theagne made his way back to the ERV. “I said to myself, ‘I got to get this vehicle out of here.’” He slowly made his way out of the site in the dust-covered ERV, “driving through the spider web what was the windshield.” When he finally arrived uptown, covered in dust and ash, no one could believe he had brought the ERV back.

Mewborn, Green and Avila had already returned, also covered in soot from head to toe. “I don't know if [our colleagues] thought we were dead or they were seeing a ghost,” said Avila. “All I remember saying is give me water… I drank about two liters as quick as I could.”

After giving themselves a few moments to wash up and regroup, they remobilized with the rest of the Red Cross team. “After we realized everybody was okay, we needed to make sure that we had supplies down there,” said Avila.

 

They needed to get the canteen trucks (the ERVs), down to the site as quickly as possible to replenish the water for the survivors, firefighters and other emergency personnel. “Preparations had already begun when we were downtown,” Avila said, “but whatever needed to be finished we continued to do.”

That included creating a plan to send caseworkers to Penn Station, Grand Central Station and the Port Authority, to position ERVs on the West Side Highway and the FDR Drive, and to get ready to set up a relief operation at the Brooklyn Chapter.

“And we knew that help was on the way,” said Mewborn. Red Crossers were coming from upstate New York and National Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C. There were also lines of people inside Greater NY Red Cross headquarters, waiting to volunteer, give blood or donate money.

“In those first 12, 24, 36, 48 hours,” Mewborn said, “we registered thousands of volunteers and provided service to thousands of people in New York. We did it well, and we started the platform of how we were going to move forward.”

Red Cross Month Volunteer Profile: Alyson G.

by Stan Frank

For over 60 years, the President of the United States has designated March as American Red Cross Month. It is a month when we celebrate our volunteers and supporters who make the mission of the Red Cross a reality.

This month, we are taking a moment to celebrate the volunteers who raised their hands in 2017 to support an unprecedented year of disasters across the country and around the world. From natural catastrophes including hurricanes and floods to devastating wildfires and a tragic mass shooting, the Greater New York Region of the American Red Cross deployed more than 300 volunteers to deliver hope and help during a remarkable time.

We asked several volunteers to share some of their deployment experiences. Today we hear from Alyson G.

Alyson (3rd from right) with the External Relations Team in Houston.

What first motivated you to become a Red Cross volunteer?

The Red Cross helped my parents and grandparents many times. Our family home is in West Point, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. Our house was severely damaged in the floods of 1934, 1945, 1964 and 1997. The Red Cross helped my family during very emotional and financially stressful times. My family members have never forgotten that the Red Cross paid for hotel lodging, gave them money, and brought food, water and cleaning supplies to their town. Plus, I developed an interest in disaster services based upon global warming predictions and recent natural disasters that have affected the United States.

How many times have you deployed and where? What was your mission?

I have only deployed once, to Houston, Texas. My assignment was through an American Red Cross national partner, Lott Carey. Lott Carey is an international Christian missionary organization. One of its initiatives is disaster preparedness and response.

I was assigned to Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Operation Headquarters (DRO HQ). I served in the roles of External Relations, Community Engagement Partnerships.

What did you do on a daily basis?

My main role was to act as a liaison between the Disaster Relief Operation Headquarters (DRO HQ) and a collection of more than 30 churches. These churches were points-of-distribution (PODs) sites for the Red Cross. Daily, the PODs received hundreds of meals and numerous palettes of bulk deliveries from the Red Cross and disseminated them to local residents. My job was stay in constant contact with the PODs, fulfill their requests by adjusting orders for more or less food or supplies, and to help resolve problems in delivery. I also performed various tracking exercises, recording the dates, types and number of feedings and supplies on behalf of the Red Cross.

I also performed work for the External Relations team that was not related to the points-of-distribution. For example, I:

• helped to move Red Cross’ unsolicited donations out into the affected community;
• assisted a Red Cross shelter in obtaining identification for residents who lost their IDs in the storm; 
• searched for housing for people with special needs;
• organized bulk supply and meal drops for large council member-sponsored and community events;
• recycled hundreds freshly laundered Red Cross blankets that had been used in the shelters by finding other service organizations that could use them;
• participated in government and non-profit tabling events. My focus was assisting the community with Red Cross’ Hurricane Harvey Immediate Assistance (HHIA), a financial assistance program for impacted families; and
• I was also a contact person for corporate volunteers. 

Everyday seemed to be the same, yet somehow unexpectedly different.

Can you tell us what touched you the most during your deployment?

The most touching to me, on a micro level, was feeling I helped people that I could not see. My job was almost 100 percent in the Disaster Relief Operation Headquarters (DRO HQ). I rarely ever went out into the community. I dealt with distributions in bulk, not in small or single serving sizes. Yet, I received phone calls from people who received my number from one of the churches or a councilman’s office. People would ask for replacement walkers or glasses that were lost in the hurricane, or for disaster mental health counseling. It was very rewarding to speak with people that I went to Texas to help and to know I assisted them.

On a macro level, I was touched by the size and speed of the disaster relief operation (DRO). I had never seen a DRO before, and Hurricane Harvey was a level 7! I spent three weeks in October 2017 in Houston. When I first arrived, headquarters was approximately three floors and teams were divided into divisions and two Red Cross shelters were open. Red Crossers came from all over the country, including Hawaii.

Headquarters was incredibly busy. [To me,] it looked like all the Red Cross class text had stepped off the page and come to life. There were groups for all areas of operation: logistics, mass care, technical services, etc. There were big screen televisions airing continuous weather reports or interactive maps or staff schedules and contact information. I witnessed the DRO HQ deploy approximately 60 Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) assigned to Houston to the California wildfires in roughly a day.

When I left the DRO, [three weeks later,] one shelter had closed a few days earlier and the other was closing. The PODs were closed. The DRO was no longer subdivided into divisions. The DRO in Beaumont, Texas, was closed and combined into Houston’s. All the HQ staff was located on one floor, and it was a ghost town. Tables, equip, etc. were all being packed up and put away. I could not believe the Red Cross moves so fast!

Thank you Alyson for sharing your experience and for traveling to Texas in the fall of 2017 to deliver the mission of the American Red Cross. We are grateful for your service and for the long standing partnership we share with Lott Carey. #RedCrossMonth

In Case You Missed It – Sept 15

Red Cross responding to a 3-alarm fire on Decatur Ave in the Bronx.

In the last week the Red Cross provided emergency relief in the form of shelter, food, clothing, health services and/or emotional support to 97 New Yorkers impacted by 35 disasters across our region. Here are some highlights.

Last Week in Review

• Every year on Sept.11, we reflect on that fateful day in 2001 and on the trying weeks, months and years that followed. We do so to honor those we lost, to comfort those still grieving and to thank those who gave of themselves to help us heal.
• There were two Sandy rebuilding efforts last week. Volunteers from JetBlue Airways worked with Red Cross partners, Friends of Rockaway, on Sept. 13 to help repair two homes damaged by Sandy. Earlier in the week, volunteers from Holland & Knight worked with the Red Cross and Friends of Rockaway to help repair another Sandy-damaged home. 
• On Sept. 10, the Red Cross responded to the scene of a 3-alarm fire that damaged three buildings on Decatur Ave in the Bronx and left three families (11 adults and 3 children) homeless. We provided emergency housing, food, funds for basic necessities as well as emotional support to those that needed it.
• On September 9, the Red Cross setup a reception center with Yonkers OEM to help four families displaced by a fire in Yonkers. Translation assistance, financial assistance for personal items and referrals to community partners was provided for those families to assist in their road to recovery.
• In the second week of National Preparedness Month, we have preparedness tips for seniors and an action checklist for people with disabilities.
• Nat'l Preparedness Month is also the perfect time for you to prepare your pets for an emergency. Check out the Top 21 Most Prepared Dogs of NYC on BuzzFeed. Thanks to our friends and partners at The Good Dog Foundation, for helping us!
• Greater NY Representatives Meet with Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna to discuss Red Cross disaster services in Brooklyn. 
• A great time was had by all at the LI Volunteer Appreciation picnic on Sept. 6. Close to 100 volunteers showed up at Babylon’s Phelps Lane Park to enjoy great food, play Long Island trivia, participate in cot races and more.

Post by American Red Cross in Greater New York.

LI’s Sal Montoro Promoted to National Shelter Operations Manager

Sal Montoro, far right, with Long Island colleagues.

Like so many people, Long Island resident Sal Montoro started volunteering with the American Red Cross after 9/11. Montoro was working in downtown Manhattan for LeNoble Lumber Co., where he is now manager of credit and operations. LeNoble had become the supplier for all emergency service people carrying out recovery work, and Montoro was supervising deliveries of lumber being used to shore up building and power lines. 

One day he was driving a forklift and cut his hand open. “I saw a Red Cross station and went over for first aid,” he said. “The people were great, and they explained what they did. I promised myself that in the memory of my friends that I lost, I would do something good. That was almost 13 years ago, and I'm still here.”

Recently, with nearly 13 years of experience under his belt as a Disaster Action Team (DAT) captain, board member, shelter committee chairman, and Sheltering Operations Local Emergency Response (SOLER) team founder (SOLER teams set up and run shelters on Long Island), Montoro was promoted to the position of Red Cross National Shelter Operations Manager. In fact, he’s leading the way as the first National Shelter Operations Manager to come from the Greater New York region. 

“Shelter Operations Manager is a national title which allows me to supervise shelters in a large-scale disaster,” Montoro explained. “I’m proud of my promotion; it’s taken almost 10 years of work to get to this.”

To be approved as a shelter operations manager Montoro underwent a rigorous training process. It included nearly 15 required courses, multiple assignments as shelter manager, and acting Shelter Operations Manager during Irene and Sandy. “I've been working in shelters for more than 10 years,” he said. “Some were small (25 people); and some large (2,223 people).”

According to Liz Barker, Greater New York senior disaster program manager, Montoro has a passion and enthusiasm for this work that is contagious. “He sincerely wants to help people after disasters, is dedicated to the Red Cross mission, and keeps the success of other volunteers as one of his highest priorities,” she said. “I feel so lucky to have Sal on our side.”

What skill does Montoro believe is most important to a shelter manager? He cites the ability to work well with others. “Before one can be a good leader one needs to be a good follower,” he said. “I've learned throughout the years to become a good listener and a good follower.”

As a shelter worker, Montoro has experienced some particularly emotional scenes. One, he said, took place during Hurricane Katrina, in a Mississippi shelter with over 2,300 people.

“One older woman sat at the front door for days saying she was waiting for her son to come,” he said. “We treated her like she was an aunt, and she treated us with love as well. One day a young man asked for this woman. This was her son; it had taken almost two weeks of looking through all the shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi to find his mother. When he finally found her it was one of the most emotional times of my life.”

“The volunteer work I do is fulfilling,” he added. “It grounds me and reminds me every day how lucky I am. The Red Cross is a great organization. If they'll have me, I plan on staying here for life.”

Creating Community: What I learned during my time at the Red Cross

By Caroline Hroncich 

On a hot Monday in August I found myself standing on a street in the Bronx wearing a bright yellow and red reflective vest with two American Red Cross Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteers. They were assisting a woman who had lost her apartment of 15 years in a fire. She had just returned from the hospital, and, for someone who had just lost her home, she was surprisingly calm.

While I and the other DAT members were speaking with her, a young boy passed by, dribbling a basketball. “I’m glad you’re okay!” he yelled as he waved in our direction. The woman smiled and waved backed. I thought at that moment that this experience, although small, wholly summed up my time interning with the Red Cross. 

Before this summer, other than donating at the occasional blood drive, I had not interacted with the Red Cross. I was somewhat familiar with disaster relief, but had never quite taken that step to volunteer. So when I received an internship offer from the Communications Department of the Greater New York Red Cross Region, I eagerly accepted. What I learned about their work was much greater than I could have expected.

Interning with Communications, part of my job was to speak to with families who were helped by Red Cross volunteers in order to write their stories. I quickly learned that it doesn’t get easier listening to people tell the story of what may very well be the one of the worst days of their lives. Although all of these people came from different backgrounds and had suffered disasters ranging from fires to floods.

I realized they all had one thing in common: hope. There was a certain smile that appeared on someone’s face when he or she talked about that one special Red Cross caseworker or volunteer who had helped them through their difficult time.

The Red Cross creates a community for those who have experienced disasters; it creates a place where they can turn for reassurance that their hard time will end. It provides them with resources to help them effectively recover, and a case worker to help ensure that they do.  

So as I stood on that corner, watching this woman surrounded by her children and neighbors, I realized that community is what helps people truly recover from disasters. It’s the love and kindness of the people around you. By providing people with a place to turn, the Red Cross creates a community of resources and support, while simultaneously helping people preserve their own communities.

I was happy that this woman and her children would have a place to stay only a few blocks away from her neighborhood, so she could return and see the people she cared about the most. As the Red Cross van pulled away from the Bronx building, I was satisfied to know that we’d helped make her life just a little bit easier. Sometimes all you need is a simple “glad you’re okay!” to help you through the day; but for those times when you need a little bit more, it’s reassuring to know that the Red Cross is there to help.

First Time Out in the Field

by Alice Ding

As an intern at the American Red Cross Greater New York Region, part of my job is to interview volunteers and blog about their experiences. After hearing heart-wrenching and inspiring stories from volunteers during phone interviews, I had the chance to experience the work of a volunteer disaster responder firsthand.

In the beginning of July 2014, I shadowed long-time volunteer disaster responder Gerald Rothstein, and volunteer-in-training Jason Gray during one of their shifts. This is what the Red Cross calls a ride-along.

Gerald, Jason and I were assigned to a fire scene in Queens. The fire had ripped through a three-story house with four apartment units.

Arriving at the scene, after speaking with the fire chief to get a better sense of the situation, Gerald sat down with the owner of the house, whose family occupied the bottom two floors. Gerald explained the Red Cross assistance available to the owner, who was planning to stay with relatives, and left him with a flier with the organization’s contact information. Through the entire conversation, the owner appeared distressed, not wanting to talk much. He kept repeating that he didn’t know what to do next.

As Gerald and Jason assessed the damage inside the house, the couple from the top floor arrived. We greeted them outside and asked if they needed temporary accommodation since their apartment was not in livable condition. The woman was pregnant; her eyes were red and I had heard her crying while I was still inside. Learning they had nowhere to stay, we provided them with temporary housing and financial assistance. Gerald also directed them to come to headquarters the next day and speak with a caseworker to help them start their recovery.

Residents in the fourth unit were not home. We left Red Cross contact information so they would know where to look for help upon their return.

I left the scene with a sense of sadness. Merely imagining losing my home while trying to start a new family would bring me to the verge of tears, yet this is a reality the couple has to cope with. However, knowing the Red Cross is there to help them to get back on their feet provided some comfort for me.

This experience helped me put the work of the Red Cross in perspective. I had the chance to see that disasters can leave people with a feeling of helplessness. Knowing the Red Cross is always there to provide assistance, I left the scene with a renewed sense of purpose in my job: letting people know that the Red Cross will be there for you in the face of disaster.

“I thank the Red Cross for helping me bounce back up.”

Friends and neighbors Cristina Morales (l) and Miguelina Jaquez (r)

Miguelina Jaquez and Cristina Morales, neighbors and friends for 33 years, live on the “E” line of apartments at 2440 Amsterdam Ave., in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

The evening of Jan. 23, a four-alarm fire drove them both from their homes and out into the bitter cold. 

Morales , whose smoke alarm had gone off, ran down to Jaquez’s apartment to alert the family—Miguelina, her daughter, son-in-law, and their 8-month old son—to get out. 

Jaquez grabbed her purse and they ran from the building.

“If had been 1:30 in the morning we’d all be gone,” said Jaquez, an administrator for the MTA. “When the fire was climbing up the walls it got stronger toward the fourth floor and blew up; it went up to the roof …. we’re blessed to be alive.”

Morales, who left her apartment with no coat and only slippers on her feet, said she is grateful for the emergency financial assistance she received from the Red Cross for food and clothing. She says from now on she plans to donate ten dollars a month, every month, to help other families who may be displaced from their homes as she was.  

Jaquez said, “You helped me get back on my feet. I had no clothes; I lost everything. So to be able to get some clothes with the [debit] card you gave me helped so much. I thank the Red Cross for helping me bounce back up.”

Volunteer Profile: Franklin Maidman

Story and photo by Bill Fortune

There are times when the American Red Cross could be considered an international organization. That is especially true during times of emergency. The desire to help those in need is what drives the organization and individual volunteers. Volunteer Franklin Maidman exemplifies that attitude. 

Here on a student visa from Holland, Maidman, 19, is in New York City to study dance. In the evenings he works with his dance troupe; but every afternoon you will find him at Greater New York Red Cross regional headquarters on West 49th Street in Manhattan.

He found his way to the Red Cross shortly after arriving in the United States in early November. Recognizing that he had extra time on his hands and that people in New York needed help, he walked into the Red Cross office and asked to become a volunteer.

“When I walked into the building it was very busy,” he said. “It was only a couple of days after Hurricane Sandy and people were everywhere.”

Franklin completed the application process and began volunteering. He worked in bulk distribution for a while and then stepped into the local community volunteer activity for the disaster response operation. His energy, bright smile and strong work ethic have endeared him to the Greater New York workers.

Timothy Pitoniak, regional director of staffing and training, has high praise for Franklin:“He is here every day, working hard to meet the needs of the Red Cross,” Pitoniak said. 

Maidman has been a quick learner and easily tosses out Red Cross acronyms. He has learned that the business of the Red Cross can be hectic, challenging and rewarding, all at the same time.

“I have met so many new friends and the Red Cross is like a second family,” he said. “What I really like is meeting people of all ages and backgrounds. It is cool that there is no generation gap here. We all learn from each other. We are one Red Cross.”

A One Alarm Fire Puts Things into Perspective

By Ashley Chapman

At two a.m., the smell of burning electricity was so strong that it awoke Angela Rosa and her three kids in their Bronx apartment.

Rosa heard people scream, “Fire! Call 911!” so she and her children, ages 11, 15 and 17, grabbed warm clothes and a few photos off the wall, and fled. When they emerged into the cold January night, they saw that the apartment directly above theirs was in flames.

While the American Red Cross continues to manage recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy, its emergency dispatchers are also responding around-the-clock to disasters, like the one-alarm fire that destroyed Angela Rosa’s apartment.

Throughout the Greater New York region, the Red Cross responds to an average of seven disasters daily, and provides comfort, shelter and support to those affected.

Even one-alarm fires like Rosa’s make homes uninhabitable due to extensive water and smoke damage. When the fire department let Rosa back into her home the next day, she had to use an umbrella as the ceilings had collapsed.

“It was raining everywhere,” said Rosa. “Our mattresses were soaked, our clothing was ruined, and even the ceiling in the bedroom that I share with my little girl had burst.”

The Red Cross provided the affected residents with temporary emergency shelter at a local hotel and gave them essential resources like clothing and hygiene kits.

“The Red Cross is excellent at times in need,” said Rosa. “When you don’t have anything, you know you can turn to them because they understand.”

Rosa, who is a single mother with type 1 diabetes, hopes to return to her apartment as soon as possible with her family. But you won’t hear her complain about her situation. Instead she laments about the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

“They don’t even have a home to return to,” she said. “Just bricks. Imagine how those people are suffering. We are lucky to have a roof over our heads. We’re being taken care of, and staying warm.”

After Hurricane Sandy, A San Antonio Red Cross Volunteer’s Story

Firefighter Joseph Aminolfi (left) being interviewed by Steve Brown in Breezy Point, N.Y. Photo courtesy of American Red Cross.

As you approach the scene of a natural disaster, it’s nearly overwhelming. Every time.

On Coney Island, residents in the area told me that there was an elderly lady in a wheelchair who lived in a high-rise building and needed help. I walked up more than 20 floors and knocked on her door.

“Who are you?” I heard a very quiet voice say.

“I’m from the Red Cross and came all the way from Texas to help you.”

I gave her blankets and food. She sat there with a hot tray of food on her lap, and you could immediately see what a difference it made. I reported to the Red Cross nurses that she needed more help than I could give her.

As a volunteer for the American Red Cross, I flew from San Antonio to New York on Oct. 31 to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, one of more than 15,000 trained disaster workers deployed by the Red Cross in the wake of an enormous disaster.

Sandy made landfall in the United States on Oct. 29, bringing with her 80 mph winds that knocked out power, and produced heavy rainfall, flooding and a destructive storm surge. It impacted an area the size of Europe, left 125 people dead, and caused tens of billions of dollars in property damage across New York, New Jersey and other northeastern states. I was assigned to the American Red Cross in Greater New York, on 49th Street in Manhattan, where we were deployed around the region to help in the areas that were hardest hit.

Breezy Point, in the New York City borough of Queens on Rockaway Peninsula, is home to many generations of firefighters and police officers, both active duty and retired. Breezy Point sustained heavy damage from flooding, and nearly 100 homes burned to the ground.

I talked with Joseph Aminolfi, a local fireman, who said he was hesitant to be interviewed because so many people had lost so much more than he had (his basement was flooded). He said local firefighters tried to respond when the fire started, but their fire trucks had all been flooded with seawater and they couldn’t even find the fire hydrants because they were under six feet of water. They tried to fight the blaze by pumping seawater. Nearly everything that caught fire burned down to the foundation, Aminolfi said.

The firefighters and police officers whose homes were damaged or destroyed all seemed to be reluctant to talk about their own personal losses. Uncomfortable, I think, because they’re typically not the victims – they’re used to being the rescuers.

My work as a Red Cross disaster volunteer is usually in public affairs – we hear people’s stories, write them down and pass them along to the Red Cross. Our stories are used to help determine what people’s needs are and to share with media outlets. For example, we might observe a mass feeding and try to determine how well it’s working and what else is needed to make it work. We are the eyes and ears for the Red Cross. I think working in public affairs is important in order to tell the lucky ones what’s happened to the unlucky ones and vice versa. Be grateful for what you have because it could be gone in a second.

When I respond to a disaster, I know my role as a public affairs worker. But when you wear that red vest, you represent the whole of American Red Cross and that means you’ll have to commit and adapt to each situation. You can’t just play one role, you have to adapt to play them all.

In addition to my public affairs duties, I have fed people, distributed comfort kits and blankets, organized feeding sites, knocked on doors, provided psychological comfort to people, done needs assessments and made referrals. The best thing is just to be able to help people.

At Lido Beach, a working middle-class and retirement community on Long Island, Hurricane Sandy sent 10 feet of water rushing in. The place was just devastated. We heard about a senior center that was without power, and the residents were cold and had not been attended to. This was an entire week after the disaster.

We filled the car with blankets and comfort kits and hot and cold food. When we got there, we would knock on doors and people would just burst into tears. They had no power, no access to media, so they didn’t understand the scope of the disaster and why it was taking so long to get help. They thought they had been abandoned. So we listened, reassured them and promised that more help was on the way.

Many people in the region had no grasp of the enormity of the storm and its impact, and thus, why they had not yet received the attention and help they needed. People who suffer in a natural disaster don’t want to feel alone. They want to know that other people know what’s happened to them. They want help.

One elderly man in a mass shelter in Brooklyn – he had been evacuated from a nursing home – told me he wanted to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. He had been there two weeks and wasn’t getting the care he was accustomed to. He missed his room and his bed and didn’t know how long he would be there. He was fed up and just needed someone to talk to. He didn’t understand the magnitude of what had happened to the region and why everything was taking so long. Once he did, it was like a weight was lifted off of him. By the time I left, he was smiling.

In my “real life” at home, I am serving my second term as the Converse City Councilman for Place 6. Since I am retired from the Air Force, I’m able to spend most of my time as a volunteer. In addition to responding to disasters for the American Red Cross, I am active with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and speak up for abused and neglected children. I do other volunteer work, too. My philosophy is that if you’re going to complain about something, you need to be part of the solution, otherwise you’re part of the problem.

I’ve responded to five or six major disasters for the Red Cross since I became a volunteer with the San Antonio Area Chapter in 2004 – Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike, and major floods on the Mississippi River. Stephanie, my wife, understands my passion for this and the other volunteer work that I do and is very supportive. So is Converse Mayor Al Suarez, when I’ve missed a couple of City Council meetings.

In addition to the individuals deployed in response to Hurricane Sandy, the American Red Cross has provided more than nine million meals and snacks, 81,000 stays in shelters, 103,000 health and emotional support contacts, 6.7 million personal relief items such as cold-weather gear and cleaning supplies, and sent in more than 300 emergency-response vehicles. About 1,400 Red Cross workers continue to support Hurricane Sandy survivors through the relief work, which continued through Christmas and past the New Year holiday.

I left New York on Nov. 15, tired and ready to go home, but I was so glad I was able to impact people’s lives. That red vest with a cross on it is a sign of hope. Help is coming.

Steve Brown serves on the City Council in Converse, Texas (just northeast of San Antonio) for Place 6 and works with local and national disaster relief and youth outreach programs.

Originally published in the January 2013 issue of The Rivard Report

Visually Impaired Volunteer Brings her Positive Spirit — and Seeing Eye Dog – to the Sandy Operation

by Lilly Watson

American Red Cross volunteers of many backgrounds from cities across America fill the fourth floor of Red Cross Greater New York regional headquarters before heading out into the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Leah Seabury, age 24, manages to stand out among her diverse peers. It’s likely that Ralphie, her lovable guide dog, who stands close by on his harness ready to help her move around headquarters and out on visits to disaster victims, helps her do so.

In New York, on her first deployment from the Raleigh Regional chapter in North Carolina, Seabury works in a multitude of service delivery areas, including a Disaster Action Team and Client Casework, her current assignment. Seabury said her passion for public service is what brought her to the Red Cross three years ago when she received Ralphie as her guide dog.

“I love helping people, and if I had my vision, I would work in public safety,” Seabury shared. “The Red Cross gave me the chance to still live my passion for helping others despite my disability. “

Seabury enjoys the opportunity to personally talk to and help people who are at a low point in their lives. A smile lights her face when talking about her work with the Red Cross. She loves how disaster victims willingly open up to her and share what they’ve been through. Often, their stories begin through conversations with Ralphie.

“When I can tell someone has been through a lot, I’ll let Ralphie out of his harness and the family will start loving on him,” Seabury explained. “A person might open up and begin talking to Ralphie about what he or she is feeling before being ready to share with us.”

While Seabury and Ralphie bring needed emotional support to those affected by disaster, Ralphie also is a special addition to the team that can make casework easy for children and parents alike.

Seabury said, “He loves to keep children entertained and comforted, which helps parents get a head start on casework.”

While she is fresh to the Hurricane Sandy disaster relief operation, Seabury feels like the challenges she faces are no different than any other Red Cross volunteer on deployment: Mostly learning how to be flexible and positive as community needs change. She welcomes anyone with a unique background or ability to come learn how they can bring their skills to bear at the Red Cross.

“There’s always a way you can reach out to help someone through the Red Cross,” Seabury said. “Disabled to me means ‘not able to do,’ but I don’t think there’s a place for that at the Red Cross. I think there is always something someone can do to help others, and it’s all about finding what that is.”


Photo (by Destry Carr): Leah Seabury and Ralphie, her guide dog, at Greater New York regional headquarters after a day out in the field. Red Cross caseworkers like Seabury meet with affected families after a disaster to ensure that their immediate needs are met while they work to begin their long term recovery plan.

American Red Cross Service: A New Family Legacy

When Barb Bakalyar, a Board member from the American Red Cross Southwest Minnesota chapter, and her daughter, Sarah Pohlman, trained together to become Red Cross volunteers, they were looking for a change of pace – and a change of scenery.

They had no idea that months later, the Greater New York Red Cross would tap them to help with the largest Red Cross disaster relief operation in the last five years.

When she got the call, Bakalyar wasn’t sure Pohlman, a busy social worker, would agree to deploy to the Hurricane Sandy operation in New York. But Bakalyar had a special trick. “I didn’t give her enough time to say no,” she said from the nursing triage room at the Red Cross shelter at Long Island’s Nassau Community College.

Since she arrived in New York last week, Bakalyar has been working for the nursing team at Nassau Community College, where the Red Cross has set up an emergency health clinic. Pohlman has been in the serving as a client case worker at Sandy Relief Operation headquarters in Manhattan. Both Bakalyar and Pohlman took time off from their full-time jobs in Minnesota to offer their professional expertise in the wake of the devastating storm.

Bakalyar and Pohlman each have skills critical to the recovery response. Since Sandy hit, the Red Cross has provided more than 89,000 health service and emotional support contacts for people who have been living in the toughest of conditions.

Right now, nearly 3,000 Red Cross workers are supporting shelters, providing food and water at fixed sites, as well as driving through neighborhoods to distribute meals and supplies. About 90 percent of these workers are volunteers from all over the country. To date, the Red Cross has mobilized more than 14,800 trained workers to help people affected by Sandy across 10 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Back in Minnesota, Bakalyar works in the nursing industry as a clinical nurse and consultant with Avera. She said that employer’s corporate philosophy of caring for others made it easy to get approval for the spontaneous trip to New York.

Since the American Red Cross’s founding on the Civil War battlefields, nursing care has been a priority of the organization. Bakalyar believes most nurses have a caring, compassionate personality, which ideally suits them for Red Cross service.

“When you’re in the caregiving field, it just feels right,” Bakalyar said about nurses working with the Red Cross. “It feels like what I’m supposed to do.”

Photo by Lilly Watson: Red Cross volunteer Barb Bakalyar serves on a triage team at the Red Cross shelter at Nassau Community College on Long Island. Bakalyar’s team brings needed health services and emotional support to shelter residents recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

Volunteer Spotlight: Blythe Argenbright

Manhattanite Blythe Argenbright has been a Red Crosser since 2006, when she interned at the Boston chapter while in college. In 2009, having moved to Atlanta, she volunteered during that year’s devastating floods, helping provide food to affected individuals and families.

Argenbright relocated to New York City last year, just before Hurricane Irene hit. She immediately pitched in, volunteering for Red Cross staffing services during the Irene relief effort.

Not surprisingly, Argenbright began volunteering for Sandy before the storm hit, coming to Red Cross headquarters in Manhattan on Sunday, Oct. 28. She’s been here for at least a few hours a day ever since.

At first, she helped staff the volunteer hotline: “It was inspiring to see how many people were emailing and calling,” she said, “even while the storm was going on, hoping to help fellow New Yorkers.”

Since then, Argenbright, who is a case manager at the Center for Urban Community Services, a women’s transitional living facility, has been registering volunteers for the Sandy relief effort morning before work and on the weekends.

“I like the work the Red Cross does,” she says. “It’s effective in meeting community needs in times of disaster.”

Volunteer Spotlight: Krystal Richardson

by Giselle Gomez

With a bright, neon colored snow flake beanie and gloves, Red Cross volunteer Krystal Richardson from Laurel, Mississippi patiently waited in her emergency response vehicle. Her vehicle was one of several loading up at Ford Tilden in Queens, NY with food, water, blankets and supplies to be distributed throughout the impacted areas of Breezy Point and the Rockaways.

Having experienced Katrina, the 23-year old is all too familiar with disasters. “We went through something similar to this. We were out of power for three weeks,” said Krystal. “The Red Cross was one of the first responders, giving us food and water.”

Krystal has been volunteering with her local East Central Chapter in Mississippi for two years. Her enthusiasm and passion to give back to others is evident. “I love going out and helping people,” said Krystal.

If you asked me my name, I couldn’t tell you.

Disbelief … shock … sadness.

Sandra Simpson felt all these emotions while watching her basement become engulfed in flames on Labor Day 2012, then watching those flames leap to the first, and then the second, floor of her single-family, three-story home in Cambria Heights, New York.

The fire began when new bars were installed on the house’s basement windows. Without the welders’ knowledge, an errant spark had travelled into the basement, setting it afire. After the welders left, Simpson’s husband, who had gone outside to get the car, called his wife on his cell.

“Do you smell smoke?” he said.

He then spotted the flames, screamed for her to get out of the house, and called 911. (Luckily, their daughter, 19, was staying at her grandparents’ house.)

As they watched the flames spread, the fire department arrived. They quickly put out the blaze, which destroyed the basement and first floor, rendering the house unlivable.

“The Red Cross came maybe within a half hour,” said Simpson. “There were two responders, a brother and sister. Her first question to me was ‘Is everybody safe?” I told her yes. She asked me, ‘What do you need?’ She started to tell me about the Red Cross and all they could provide. She was so giving, so concerned.

“You’re dazed from what happened to you. You don’t know what to do or who to call and she provided such good information: ‘We’re going to get a hotel; if you need food, if you need clothes, we have those things in the van; tomorrow you’ll call the office. They’ll tell you if you need to come in and walk you through everything.’”

Simpson said that before the fire, she associated Red Cross only with CPR and blood donations.

“I had no idea that the Red Cross helped after a fire,” she said. “Before they arrived, I couldn’t think straight—and I’m a nurse. If you asked me my name, I couldn’t tell you. The responders calmed us down.”

After being dropped off at a nearby hotel, Simpson and her husband received many more calls from the Red Cross. “Everyone from the Red Cross who called said, ‘Are you okay?’ ‘You need to come in to see us.’ ‘Do you have food?’ ‘Did you get your debit card?’ I can’t thank the Red Cross enough.”

Sandra Simpson, Queens, N.Y.

Twenty-year Red Cross Volunteer Ana Torres Deploys to Mississippi

New Rochelle resident and 20-year American Red Cross volunteer Ana Torres deployed to the Gulf Coast last week as part of the Red Cross relief effort for Hurricane Isaac. We chatted with her just before she left.

Tell us about your deployment.
I’m gonna be traveling to Meridian and then to headquarters in Harrisburg, Mississippi.

So you’ll be in Harrisburg.
Usually you go to a Red Cross disaster “headquarters” and from there they send you to the different places where they have need. If I’m needed in New Orleans I’ll be sent to New Orleans. Until I get to Harrisburg, I won’t know where I’m going to be working.

Describe your role.
I’ll be doing casework—interviewing the people that are affected by the storm. We find out what they lost and help them with their immediate needs. (On other deployments, Torres worked at a shelter and served food.)

You know, you just sit down and talk to the people because it’s hard for them. And you try to console them, tell them it’s not the end; that we’re here to help them.

I’m bilingual so if there’s anybody that speaks Spanish I’ll be able to take care of them. I’ve done that in a lot of the places that I’ve been to. I’m able to give a little bit more help.

Is it easy to just leave home for a deployment?
I don’t work, so I’m able to. My husband doesn’t mind me going, sharing myself. I feel like I’m a better person being able to share myself with others.

What kind of things do you pack for a disaster deployment?
The first time you take a lot of stuff but now I don't take so much, especially if there’s a store and I can buy whatever’s necessary. But I have special tops I can wash by hand if I don’t find a place to do the laundry. You have things you take that you know you can use if it’s very hot or cold. And shoes to walk in the mud, if there’s mud.

You deployed for Hurricane Katrina. What does it feel like going back to almost the same area?
Hopefully I will find that there’s not as much damage as when I went for Katrina. But there’s always something. I don’t think this time it’s going to be as devastating as it was for Katrina. And hopefully it’s not the same people that got hit last time.

How long are you deploying for this time?
It might be just a week. They don’t want the volunteers to overdo it. The Red Cross is very good—they take care of you. They don’t want you to burn out.

Why do you volunteer with the Red Cross?
I want to share all the good things that I’ve been given. I’m able to give some of myself, to other people. It makes me feel good, especially when people thank you for helping.

Hurricane Isaac Relief: "Bringing people together to help them get through the worst day, or sometimes weeks, of their lives."

Sam Kille speaks with Jim Cantore, of The Weather Channel, about the Red Cross response to Hurricane Isaac. Behind them is a flooded neighborhood in Slidell, LA., just one of many communities impacted by Hurricane Isaac.

By Sam Kille, Greater New York’s regional communications director, was deployed to Louisiana for a week as part of the American Red Cross Advanced Public Affairs Team (APAT). APAT members are tasked with sharing the story of Red Cross disaster relief with the media, working in federal or state emergency operations centers as public information liaisons, and gathering photos and video clips to share through www.redcross.org and on social media.

Being more than a thousand miles away, during a time when politics is grabbing most of the headlines, it’s easy to forget that Hurricane Isaac slammed the Gulf Coast last week. It’s a little harder for me though, because I spent just over a week there—before, during and after landfall.

As an American Red Cross worker for more than five years, I’ve worked a few coastal storms. I actually felt a great sense of déjà vu, revisiting many areas of Louisiana that I worked in following Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Yet this storm definitely was different. The rain and wind sat atop of us for 24 hours straight. The power outages were massive and there were several floods. Places like Plaquemines Parish were under 10 feet of water.

Even after landfall, things didn’t get any better—very unsettling was the news of an evacuation of nearly 50,000 people in Tangipahoa Parish due to a potential dam breach. There’s a certain sense of “what’s wrong with this picture” when headed toward trouble, driving unimpeded on an interstate in one direction, while the opposite is filled with traffic.

Thousands of people turned to the Red Cross for safe shelter because of Isaac. At one point, shelters were open from Florida to Texas. Even a week later, many are still waking up in shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi.

I had the opportunity to visit a shelter in Hammond, La. Half of the nearly 300 evacuees had been there for days. They had heeded government warnings and smartly evacuated their low-lying communities surrounding New Orleans. Yet now, they were tired and worried about whether or not they had homes to return to.

The rest were new evacuees from Tangipahoa—they left their homes with little warning—many with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Most disasters have a heightened sense of emotion and stress—yet the timing of Hurricane Isaac couldn’t have been worse—the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Now, by no means was this a Katrina, but for those who survived it, old wounds were reopened.

While I heard many stories, there is one I cannot shake. “Queen” as she likes to be called, is a waitress at a restaurant in New Orleans. When the city flooded following Katrina, many in her neighborhood sought refuge in a school that was on higher ground. They were even fortunate enough to have a boat they could use to get in and out.

One day, they saw a woman walking through more than four feet of water. She had a child in each arm, their heads resting on her shoulders. Queen and her neighbors kept yelling out, “Stop! We have a boat, we’re coming for you.” The woman kept walking despite their warnings. Unlike the residents who knew where the hazards in the street were, the woman didn’t. In horror, Queen watched as the woman walked over an open storm drain—sucked in, three lives lost in an instant.

Yet despite the fear of what the future holds for many in the Gulf, I did witness many moments of hope. In Westwego, I visited a mobile feeding kitchen being operated by the Southern Baptist Convention, a partner of the Red Cross. There, 35,000 warm meals are being cooked each day and then loaded onto Red Cross emergency response vehicles which fan out into affected communities. And this is only one site!

Even in the shelters, people are adapting and making the best of their circumstances. In Hammond, I watched two dozen kids gleefully set the place settings in the cafeteria for dinner. The shelter manager had found that by putting the kids to work, it cured their boredom (after all, no TV or video games) and gave them a sense of community.

And that’s what the American Red Cross is all about—bringing people together to help them get through the worst day, or sometimes weeks, of their lives.

Sadly, the damage in the Gulf is far greater than most probably realize. While the Red Cross is doing all it can, it truly needs your help. Shelters remain open and vital supplies are still being distributed. Please consider a donation today by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED-CROSS, or by texting REDCROSS to 90999, to give $10.

Long Island Red Cross Volunteer Finds Satisfaction in Hurricane Deployments

In the two years since Susan duBourg, a retired Verizon employee from Glen Head, New York, became an American Red Cross disaster volunteer she has worked in disaster response and assessment, sheltering and mass care (feeding) on Long Island.

She has also deployed to three major disaster relief operations: to nearby Farmingdale, N.Y., after Hurricane Irene last year; to Binghamton, N.Y., after Tropical Storm Lee; and last week, to Tampa, Fla., for Isaac.

In Farmingdale, duBourg’s first national disaster response, she worked at a Red Cross shelter where 400 people had taken refuge. She called this a terrific experience.

“It was a great learning how to deal with the issues that came up,” she said. “Issues like feeding, working with a great many people, and learning to adjust to it all.”

Although deployed to Binghamton as a mass care worker (someone who provides meals to shelter residents), duBourg was actually placed in a Red Cross warehouse doing logistics. She said she quickly readjusted to her new role and was gratified to be volunteering where people really needed help.

Perhaps the best part of these deployments for duBourg has been learning that she can cope with anything that is thrown her way.

“Every experience has been a new adventure,” she said. “You learn how to deal with people in different kinds of situations.”

Since Isaac did not directly hit Florida as expected, duBourg has found volunteering in Tampa to be fairly uneventful. She is, however, ready, willing and able to be re-deployed to the Gulf Coast to help those directly impacted by Isaac.

"It’s a normal day, and the next thing you know your building gets hit by lightning."

According to the National Weather Service, about 25 million lightning flashes occur each year in the United States, each one potentially deadly.

In Ryan Gerald del Castillo’s case, on July 26, lightning struck not him, but the roof of his seven-story Brooklyn apartment building, setting off a massive 7-alarm blaze. The fire raged through the building, ultimately forcing him out of the second floor apartment he’d lived in for nearly 17 years, since he’d emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines.

Because the building is so large, and because the fire started on the top floor, it was at least an hour—and possibly longer—before del Castillo, a nurse at the NYU Medical Center ICU in Manhattan, realized the extent of the fire and left for the safety of the street.

He explained that because he lives so close to at least two neighborhood hospitals, it’s normal to hear sirens—fire trucks, ambulances and alarms.

“You always hear something,” he said. “I didn’t really see smoke … I was nonchalant.”

Once outside, del Castillo joined his aunt, who also works as a nurse, but at Kings County hospital, and lives with her daughter on the building’s first floor. His aunt had called about twenty minutes after the fire started to make sure her nephew was okay and he’d assured her he was.

Now, watching as the flames covering the entire roof spread, del Castillo understood the true severity of the situation.

“I’m looking at the building with this blank stare,” he said. “It was overwhelming; it was traumatic. You can’t even talk.”

He and his aunt decided to visit the Red Cross reception center set up at a nearby school for assistance.

“We needed someone to comfort us,” he said. “The Red Cross volunteer was helpful and friendly and asked how we were doing. You feel horrible, and they’re there to listen a little.”

Although he and his aunt declined emergency housing from the Red Cross, he said they were extremely grateful for the assistance they did receive.

“I’m so appreciative of the Red Cross,” he said. “They were helpful with what to do next. Me and my aunt are thinking of volunteering after we get settled. It’s not just the physical help they give; it’s the emotional help that people need.”

Ryan Gerald del Castillo, Brooklyn, NY

“If they weren’t here, we don’t know what would have happened to us.”



Photo: E. Calderon/S. Johnson


Okisha Ashley, her four children and her grandmother, Nellie, who was visiting from the Island of Jamaica, were fast asleep in Okisha’s Walton Avenue apartment in the Bronx around 12:30 am on July 18 when they were awoken by someone kicking hard at the apartment door.

Alarmed, Okisha called the police. Then she looked out the window, saw fire trucks and heard a commotion. She immediately grabbed her kids and her grandmother and ran downstairs and out of the building.

“We didn’t bring anything,” she said, “just the cloths on our backs.”

Her entire apartment, her home for 33 years, was destroyed—her ceiling had collapsed as a result of all the water being used to put out the fire above.

“I had just remodeled my apartment—new furniture, a new TV,” said Okisha, “Everything is gone.”

They were, however, very glad to be safe.

“I was just thankful that we are all alive.”

After evacuating, they waited in a park across the street until the Red Cross set up a reception center at nearby All Hallows High School. There, they cooled down a bit, ate and waited.

At the center, a Red Cross responder told Okisha that she and her family were eligible for emergency housing at a hotel. Although grateful for the offer, they declined and stayed with a friend.

They did, however, come to Greater NY headquarters in Manhattan the next day where Red Cross caseworkers provided the family with emergency funds for clothing.

“My kids have been wearing the same thing since the fire,” said Okisha, “Because of the Red Cross, I’ll be able to buy them a change of clothes.”

The Red Cross also provided Okisha with information on how to obtain long-term housing while their apartment is being renovated.

“I didn’t know the Red Cross was so helpful,” said Okisha. “You would never think you would be in that situation; that’s how quick you can end up homeless. I really appreciate what the Red Cross did for us. If they weren’t here, we don’t know what would have happened to us.”