“I couldn’t have made it without the Red Cross.”

Randall Cain and his maternal grandmother, Christmas 1969. Cain, just 21, was enroute to being assigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It could be said that Randall Cain, a former Marine and Coast Guard member who lives on Staten Island, is grateful to the American Red Cross six times over—as many times as he has been helped by the Red Cross during the past four decades.

Forty-four years ago, in May 1968, Cain was a young Marine serving at Camp Pendleton in San Diego when his mother underwent brain surgery in Washington, D.C. The Red Cross, through its Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) program, contacted the Marine Corps to confirm the surgery, then loaned Cain emergency funds to fly to the East Coast and back.

Although his mother had not been expected to survive more than 24 hours, she lingered in a coma for two weeks, and Cain was able to be with her and his family during that time.

“I was just 19 and so grateful,” he said.

Cain left the Marines in 1972. Two years later, just before joining the Coast Guard, he was living in Brandenburg, Kentucky when a tornado struck, “killing 40 some people,” Cain recalls.

Although Cain survived, his apartment was destroyed. “The Red Cross provided me with blankets, silverware, cooking utensils and food that was lost,” he said. “They took care of everybody.”

Fast forward to 1984. Cain was stationed with the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico when the Red Cross again contacted his command, this time with the sad news that his maternal grandmother, who was in her 90s, had passed away. Within six months, they reached out to Cain’s command again; his paternal grandmother, also in her 90s, had died. Thanks to these notifications, Cain was able to attend both funerals, in Texas and Kentucky, respectively.

Thirteen years later, in October 1997, Cain’s dad, Carson, suffered a heart attack. Once again, the Red Cross verified this situation to the Coast Guard, and Cain was able travel from Puerto Rico to Virginia to be at his Dad’s side for a week. Two months later, the Coast Guard released Cain to fly home for his dad’s funeral after another Red Cross notification.

Cain mentioned that the Red Cross had also played a role in Carson Cain’s military career, after his unit, the 60th Coastal Artillery, Battery E, surrendered to the Japanese at the Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines May 5, 1942.

“I read a few books by survivors of the imprisonment,” said Cain. “The authors, as I recall, mentioned receiving Red Cross packages. So I believe when my dad was transferred to a POW camp in Japan, he may have occasionally gotten Red Cross packages.”

Randall Cain retired from the Coast Guard as a Chief Warrant Officer in 2000, after 26 years of service. For the past 12 years he has worked as a clerk for the NYPD at Manhattan’s First Precinct, located near the Holland Tunnel.

Most recently, this spring, Cain was scheduled for a surgery of his own—to have a pacemaker installed. His son Christian, 23 and a Marine, was stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. Cain contacted the Red Cross by phone, asking to have an SAF representative verify the surgery to Chris’s command. Chris returned home in time to see his father through a successful surgery.

“Now you just call a 1-800 number and you’re connected,” said Cain, noting how easy it has become to receive help from the Service to the Armed Forces program.

“I couldn’t have made it without the Red Cross,” he concluded.

Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) provides humanitarian support to service members, veterans and their families around the clock and around the globe, all under a trusted symbol. Through this program, the American Red Cross facilitates emergency messages about urgent news from home—a serious illness, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one—to service men and women anywhere in the world, including ships at sea, embassies and isolated military units.

Our local SAF program supports our military community in variety of ways, including support to local VA Hospitals, Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point and attending events such as deployment briefings, welcome home ceremonies and other supportive community events such as Fleet Week and the Veterans’ Day Parade.

Greater NY Red Cross AmeriCorps Member Heads to Oklahoma

Yesterday afternoon, Greater NY Red Cross AmeriCorps member and Scarsdale, N.Y. resident Frances Lee, deployed to Oklahoma City. She will join hundreds of Red Cross volunteers from all over the country responding to the devastating storms that tore through areas in and around the city over the past week and a half. Frances is one of nearly forty Greater New York Red Cross staff members to assist with this response to date.

During her two-week deployment, Frances will be part of the Community Partnership team, helping the Red Cross coordinate with other organizations on the ground in Oklahoma in order to serve residents in need. This will be her first major response outside of our region.

Frances joined the Red Cross as an AmeriCorps volunteer in October of last year. Over these past eight months, Frances has split her time between responding to “everyday” disasters (such as fires and vacates) and assisting with the Red Cross Superstorm Sandy response.

Video: Greater New York Red Cross Volunteers Deploy to Oklahoma

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast in October 2012, thousands of American Red Cross volunteers from around the United States traveled to New York to help with relief efforts here.

After horrific tornadoes wreaked havoc in Oklahoma earlier this week, New York is returning the favor.

Close to 50 Red Cross disaster workers from our area have deployed or are deploying to Oklahoma:

•  Craig Cooper, an Advanced Public Affairs volunteer from Smithtown, N.Y., in Suffolk County, will be helping to coordinate national and local media in Okla. Craig has deployed numerous times to other Red Cross relief efforts.
• Joan Broderick, from Westhampton, N.Y., also in Suffolk County, is a long-time volunteer and disaster mental health manager. Joan has responded to 9/11, Katrina, and Sandy.
• Craig and Joan both deployed to Moore, Okla., the site of the massive tornado that struck Monday.
• Today, 14 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members are headed out to Oklahoma. The DART program, a partnership between the FDNY and the Red Cross, was created in 1989. DART members—active and retired firefighter and fire officers—generously volunteer their knowledge, experience and compassion to help those affected by disaster.
• Also today, 30 members of the JetBlue all-volunteer Ready Team are travelling to Oklahoma to work as part of the Red Cross relief effort. In the past, JetBlue Ready Team members have helped in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and other disasters.

Learn more about the Red Cross Oklahoma tornado response. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD: Red Cross Tornado Relief in Sellersburg, Indiana

After recent devastating tornadoes in Indiana in March, Greater New York Red Cross volunteer Eddie McQuillan was deployed to the IVY TEC Center in Sellersburg, Ind. as a Red Cross public affairs supervisor. Here are some stories from the field Eddie put together during his time in Indiana.  

Henryville, Indiana, two weeks after
the early March tornados of 2012.

Henryville, Ind. is a small town about 15 minutes north (on Rt. 65) of the Ohio River that splits the two states, Kentucky and Indiana. On the Kentucky side, the city of Louisville. Hence people say “Kentucky-ana” or “India-tucky,” depending which side of the river they hail from.

This little roadside house sits on the main corner of the town. Behind it are bowl-like hillsides that show a clear path of destruction. This corridor of devastation is covered in blue tarps, littered with downed trees and flung with assorted debris.  

 This little house stood up to the storm and shows its scars. 

  



The high school



Behind and to the left is the high school. The gym roof has been ripped off and it also looks like it has a collapsed wall. The photo was taken was from a hillside field before entering town. It shows the effects of an F2 tornado (a "significant tornado" on the Fujita Scale; F2 tornadoes can produce wind speeds of 150 mph) crossing a field and slamming into a building. This is a fully engineered building made of steel beams, concrete and cinder block. 

The church.

Behind and to the right is a church and the first stoplight at the four comers of Henryville. I stopped there and spoke to the pastor and his wife, along with a small group of church volunteers who were getting a little lunch.

The church and parking lot were operating as a Point of Distribution (“POD” in Emergency Management talk), a place people receive donated goods and services. These spring up spontaneously after disasters and are great resources to help community members get back on their feet. Most are run by the volunteer community or organized by faith-based groups.

At the POD I delivered some Red Cross flyers encouraging the local residents to visit the Sellersburg Service Center located at the Ivy Tech College (just on the other side of the Rt. 65 interchange) and the Underwood Service Center.

The folks here seemed to be pleased to have the Red Cross in their town helping out and offering services. That was a good sign. But I hadn’t met any clients yet, and I had just come from the Tech Center. Nobody from the community was there. Had we reached everybody already? We’d been in town two weeks. Not likely.

People in small towns tend to stay with family and friends, so Red Cross shelters were closed. Most people were (I guessed) just catching their breath after two weeks. This was a sunny, warm weekend. A good time to do some clean up, and there was still too much of that to do. Residents would have to self-identify, to show up to the service centers, and ask for help. Not an easy thing for anybody to do.

I’ve seen this before.

Last year I had the privilege to serve in the Red Cross response to the tornados in Alabama and later in Joplin, Missouri. Some were big towns like Tuscaloosa and Birmingham; others were little towns like Hacklesburg and Phil Campbell, Ala. The devastation there was catastrophic.

Here too, in places, it looked much the same. Thankfully there hadn’t been any loss of life here in Henryville and neighboring Marysville.

The early part of an incident is the “response phase.” That’s when police, fire and EMS pour into the towns to help the injured, performing first aid and rescue operations, restoring order and assessing the full scope of the disaster. Two weeks on, these folks were into the “recovery phase,” the long slog of clean-up and getting back to a new normal.

The aftermaths of natural disasters are dirty, dusty and overwhelming. The reality of not being able to restore things to the way they were sinks in. People crash after two weeks of running on adrenalin, fixing things and caring for people.

About now is when people are tired, testy and just want it all to go away. This is a tough wall to climb when you’re exhausted and know you can’t do it all yourself.

The pride of a little house stands as a backdrop to this effort.

                                                                        ****

Red Cross volunteer Bethany Dusseou talks about how a family she met made it through the tornadoes that struck their community

First-time volunteer Bethany Dusseou from Indiana
registered people for Red Cross assistance
at the Underwood Service Center..

A 62-year Indiana resident told Bethany how she and her grandson ran into their dug-out shelter just minutes after hearing tornado alerts on TV. The grandmother remembered that the door was off the shelter. She said and friends used to play in it when she was young; they’d swing on the door, and it had fallen off years earlier.

The grandmother described watching with her grandson through the open door as the tornado came through and destroyed their mobile home. It then came back and spun everything around again.

When the tornado finally passed, they tried to find their home, but it was gone. They walked around thinking they would find a big part of it, but it was literally broken into small pieces.

They told Bethany, that’s when they decided to go for help. But they couldn’t get down the road because of trees and “big stuff” in the road that they were unable to move.

They decided to drive through the woods the cross the creek behind what had been their mobile home. The Grandmother drove the pickup; her grandson walked out in front in the water, looking for stumps or deep holes. It took them some time to find other people; when they did, nobody knew what to do. Cell phones didn’t work and it was getting dark. They went back across the creek.

The grandmother told Bethany she had a feeling she should return to her house, even though it literally wasn’t there anymore. When they got back, family members, fearing the worst, were searching the woods for her and her grandson.

The grandmother reported having a tearful reunion when they found each other. She said she and her family thank the Red Cross for listening and being there to help them at the service center.

Bethany was able to offer direct assistance to the grandmother and her grandson, helping them get food and temporary housing through the Red Cross.

“I’m glad I joined the Red Cross and deployed here to Henryville,” Bethany said. “Being here to listen and give assistance has made me feel that as a volunteer, I’m part of something that really helps people.”

                                                                       ****

Family Receives Red Cross Help after Indiana Tornado



Tabitha P., her mom and three boys, register
for Red Cross assistance at the
Ivy Tech Center in Sellersburg, Ind.

"We were really lucky,” Tabitha said, “a lot of people have it a lot worse. At first we didn’t think we needed help, but when we got back to the house, it was still a really big mess.”

Red Cross caseworkers helped guide Tabitha and her mom through the process of registering for Red Cross services, and explaining what type of services they would qualify for.

“I’m glad we came down here to do this,” Tabitha said. “It’s not easy asking for help. I would tell people it’s been good to come here; it’s helped us to heal and little, and the Red Cross volunteers have been great.”

Photos and story by Ed McQuillan
Public Affairs Supervisor DRO KY/IN TOR

A New Yorker in Joplin

Immediately after a deadly tornado hit the city of Joplin, Missouri on May 22, destroying thousands of homes, killing more than 150 people, and throwing thousands of lives into disarray, the Red Cross in Missouri rushed to help. It housed, fed and provided comfort and caring to hundreds of residents, gave out tarps, gloves, rakes and dust masks, and distributed comfort kits containing essentials such as shampoo and toothpaste. Additionally, Red Cross vehicles drove through Joplin neighborhoods, providing residents with water, snacks and much needed emotional support.

The Greater New York region also sprang into action, deploying 12 workers to assist in the Joplin relief operation. James Bethea, a Greater NY Disaster Mental Health volunteer, was one of those dispatched to the disaster area. As his deployment was ending, the New York native checked in from Joplin to talk about his time there.



Greater NY volunteer James Bethea and friends

 What is your role in Joplin?

I got here four days after the tornado struck. I was assigned to a shelter where about 400 people—children and families—were staying. As far as the mental health work I’m doing, I’ve been talking to about 20 people a day. I’m part of an integrated care team that reaches out to family members who lost loved ones in the tornado. That’s obviously quite intense.

Was the situation on the ground what you excepted?

In our training, we’re taught to deal with trauma and crisis, but nothing really prepares you for these types of events. When I first arrived, I was overwhelmed by the destruction I saw and by hearing the gut-wrenching stories from the victims. It took me a while to really compose myself.

How does this role compare to your volunteer work in the New York area?

It’s different in the sense of scale. The tornado was about a mile wide and six miles long. The hospital, Home Depot and Wal-Mart were all destroyed. This was a city-wide disaster, as opposed to the smaller-scale traumatic events I‘ve responded to in New York.

What is the general mood?

The general feeling is shock, that this was a surreal experience. A lot of people are angry because they lost everything. For some people, the only thing they could salvage before the storm hit was a bag of clothes or some small valuables. But I am also seeing incredible resolve among the people—especially people who are out in the community. Neighbors are helping neighbors and people are moving forward. When people realize I am from New York, they’re really thankful, appreciative and humble that people have come from Red Cross chapters all over the country to help. But I feel like this community has helped me just as much. To see people bond together like that, support and comfort each other like that, it’s inspiring. I’m deeply humbled to be a part of it. It’s been an amazing experience.

Looking for Coffee, Finding Hope

Sam Kille, our region’s Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations, discusses his deployment to New England as part of the American Red Cross' Advanced Public Affairs Team, in response to a series of tornadoes that hit several Massachusetts’ communities on the evening of June 1.

Twenty-four hours without sleep tends to make me a bit cranky and feeling less than talkative, especially when a cup of coffee is nowhere in sight. Yet normal goes out the window when standing in the middle of a neighborhood literally crushed by the fist of Mother Nature.

Called “Six Corners” by its residents, this neighborhood’s damage was the backdrop of many reporters’ coverage of the tornadoes that hit not only Springfield, but several Massachusetts’ communities on the evening of June 1. I had arrived there during the middle of the night, with my fellow Long Islander Craig Cooper, to work with the media to let the public know how the American Red Cross was helping the victims.

While waiting for opportunities to go on camera, we received word of a press conference with the governor, so Craig headed downtown and left me behind to handle interviews there. As you might expect, Craig was held up for a while and I was pretty much stranded after making my rounds. So, I did the only thing I could do—listened to the survivors.

As I spoke with residents, it became very clear that they weren’t used to weather events like this in New England—blizzards yes, but not tornadoes. This of course reinforced my “Red Cross brainwashing” that preparedness, far too often, is an “I’ll do it tomorrow” concept—and we don’t always get tomorrows.

One young mother described how she watched the twister come across an open field, barreling toward her townhome-style apartment complex. She grabbed her son and rushed into a hallway, hoping and praying that they would live. Amazingly, other than her windows, her apartment received no other damage. Still, due to the dangers in the neighborhood, she would be seeking shelter from the Red Cross. So, I let her know where our shelter was.

Neighbors, like Hector, weren’t as fortunate. His family’s home, like most of the complex, was completely destroyed. Yet his spirit resonated with me and I must’ve spent a good 20 minutes listening to his life story.

He told me of a motorcycle accident a decade ago that left him in a coma for two weeks—during which, he missed the birth of a child. It was a second chance at a life that had been filled with bad choices and legal woes. From that, he has changed his life, becoming a role model for those who might otherwise turn to gangs or drugs.

And as he spoke of the need for the community to come together and be “reborn” through this disaster, I could only hope that he succeeds and my own determination to help was strengthened.

I heard a lot of great stories of hope and determination that morning. One woman asked me how she could organize a fund drive, more worried about her neighbors than herself. Some tales were truly astonishing like the gentleman who took me to a building and said, “See that? It’s my second floor.” Then he pointed to another building and said, “It was over there.” It was as if Mother Nature had played a game of “musical rooftops” there.

I’m still shaking my head at the fact that there were not more fatalities in Massachusetts. Over a 48-hour period, I would visit many communities including West Springfield, Westfield and Monson. Each had more than its fair share of devastation. Homes, businesses, and places of worship destroyed—many places look more like a warzone. Hundreds have been staying in Red Cross shelters. Many are being served food via Red Cross vehicles driving into affected areas.

And while I was eventually able to get that much cherished cup of coffee, what really drove me—like so many Red Cross workers on the ground—was the knowledge that even if these survivors had somewhere to stay other than our shelters; or had the means to purchase a hot meal on their own; sometimes, hope lies in knowing that someone is there to listen to you—and the American Red Cross does just that.

Video: Tornadoes Devastate Springfield, MA - YOU Can Help!

Sam Kille, an American Red Cross spokesman, tells how you can help victims of disasters like the tornadoes that destroyed homes and businesses in places like Springfield, MA. June 2, 2011.

North Carolina Deployment

 As the country’s attention turned to tornado-ravaged Alabama and preparations for flooding relief efforts along the Mississippi River, five NY Red Cross volunteers were concluding their deployment to Red Cross tornado relief efforts in North Carolina. One of them, AmeriCorps member Martha van Gelder, left for Smithfield, NC about a week after a violent band of storms tore through parts of that state, leaving hundreds homeless. As her stay was winding down, we talked with her about the experience.

When did you find out that you were going to deploy?
On Saturday, April 24th, I was planning to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday upstate but at 9:30 that morning I got the call that I was being deployed as a caseworker. I left the next morning.

When did the storms hit that area?
The 16th of April, so we were actually there pretty late into it. This is normal for caseworkers. When you have a big disaster, the first people to come in are the sheltering and damage assessment people. You can’t really do casework until after you understand what kind of damage people have suffered.

What was your role exactly?
I was deployed as a caseworker. I traveled with mental health workers and nurses to clients’ homes to discuss the disaster-related needs. As a caseworker, I was often able to pass on emergency financial assistance as well as referrals to local organizations. My partners were able to offer services which ranged from a voucher for new eyeglasses to mental health counseling.

What kind of damage did you see?
You’d have houses that were nothing but rubble, and right next door there would be a house that only had a couple of shingles missing. It was pretty un-nerving to go down a peaceful-looking neighborhood, turn a corner, and see a block of complete destruction.

How would you describe the general mood of the people you helped?
This was several days after the disaster, not immediately following the storm, so people were trying to move on. Some people were confused about why it had happened to them and not the person next door.

A couple days after I arrived, there was a pretty bad storm approaching, and a tornado watch was in effect. After seeing all these houses that were completely destroyed, it didn’t make me feel good when people said to just hide in the bathroom—because there were all these places where everything including the bathroom was gone. Then the watch became a warning, which means you should find shelter right away. I didn’t think it would be frightening, but after seeing destruction day after day and talking hearing people’s stories, it was a little scary.

Yet I can’t imagine what it must have been like for our clients who had just gone through the disaster. So to answer your question about the mood, I think that people were trying to move on but were still traumatized.

What do you think you will take away from the experience?
It was really interesting to see how a large-scale disaster relief operation is organized. Here in New York, the largest scale disasters I’ve been to are five-alarm fires. They’ve seemed pretty big, but they don’t require the same extent of coordination between functions. In North Carolina, we were working with damage assessment, shelter workers, health services and staffing, all at the same time.

Also, as part of my team included a mental health worker, we took the time to discuss the emotional impacts of the disaster with every client. We listened to their stories and discussed recovery plans. Many showed real resiliency and hope in moving forward, and I’m glad we got to represent the Red Cross as part of that process.

Brooklyn Tornado Story: "The Red Cross gave me a sense of relief"

Phyllis Ebanks (Photo: Anita Salzberg)

As Phyllis Ebanks and Sherry Dowling, who lived on different floors of the same apartment building on Quincy Street in Brooklyn, made their way home on the evening of September 16th, they had no idea that their building had just been hit by a tornado.

They each arrived home sometime after 7 pm, only to be greeted by the chaotic sight of blown-out windows, fire trucks lining the street, yellow police tape cordoning off the building and the sounds of despair. Neighbors soon explained to them that they were struck by a freak storm. “The roofs from the buildings next to ours had blown onto the top of our building, caving in the ceiling of the room where I sleep!” Phyllis recalled.

Due to possible structural damage, she and Sherry soon were told that all tenants from their building were barred from entering, that it could take weeks for that situation to change. Neither knew what they were going to do. After learning that the Red Cross might be able to assist, the women separately made their way to the New York Red Cross Chapter headquarters in Manhattan, hoping for real help.




“The Red Cross gave me a sense of relief,” said Phyllis. “Desperate for information, I poured out questions like crazy and not once did the Red Cross people tell me that I’d have to wait for the answers. They helped me with money for food and put me in a hotel right away; they didn’t leave me wondering where I was going to stay.”

“I love the Red Cross,” said Sherry, who received emergency housing, a stipend for food, and referrals to city agencies for further services. “If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t know my next step—what I was going to eat, where I was going to sleep. They really helped a lot.”

Phyllis Ebanks and Sherry Dowling from Brooklyn, NY