Remembering Hurricane Katrina: You're Never Alone

Kay Wilkins, the CEO of American Red Cross in Southeast Louisiana Chapter, talks about what it was like when Hurricane Katrina struck.

Video: Remembering Hurricane Katrina Five Years Later

Hear from those on the frontlines with the Red Cross 5 years ago about how their lives have been changed by Hurricane Katrina and how this event was a "game changer" for the Red Cross.



Help the American Red Cross prepare for the nearly 70,000 disasters it responds to each year across the country, including almost 3,000 here in Greater New York by making a donation.

NY Red Cross Assists 28 after Fire on White Plains Road

After a 3-alarm fire tore through a row of stores on White Plains Road around 11 p.m. on August 8, the NY Red Cross was on the scene to provide humanitarian assistance to the people living above the stores who were displaced by the blaze. NY Chapter relief workers registered 20 adults and 8 children for Red Cross services and provided 4 households (17 adults and 8 children) with emergency housing.

"I wanted to give our caseworker a hug."

When she smelled smoke in her fourth-floor Brooklyn apartment on the afternoon of July 6, Robin Lott called the fire department. “They came and checked the circuit breakers and felt the walls. They said the walls were cold, and left,” said Robin, who then decided to run out to the store. When she returned twenty minutes later her daughter said, “The walls are crackling!” The smell of smoke was stronger now, and Robin and her four children could see smoke rising through the rooms. After the returning firefighters discovered a fire in the incinerator shaft, Robin and her kids ran downstairs to safety. 

Robin, a seasonal worker for the NYC Parks and Recreation Department who had just been laid off, was distraught at losing the apartment where her family had lived for 15 years. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said. “And I didn’t have anybody to walk me through it. Then the Red Cross came.” Red Cross relief workers arranged emergency housing for Robin and her family and gave them money for replacement food and clothing. “The Red Cross was so good to us,” said Robin. “They took good care of us—I wanted to give our caseworker a hug.”

Robin Lott from Brooklyn, NY

“I didn’t know how much you do.”

It was four in the morning when a fire broke out in the four-family house on Staten Island where Shannon Barback rented an apartment with her three children. Shannon, the kids, and her boyfriend, Nick, were awakened by two teenage girls who saw smoke as they were passing by, banged on the door and yelled, “Fire! Get out, get out!” Nick opened the bathroom door, saw flames, slammed the door shut and ran to get Shannon and the kids, pulling them down the stairs and across the street.

“The Red Cross was there really quickly,” said Shannon. “They gave us water and coffee. We had no shoes; and they gave us shoes. They told us to come to headquarters for further services. I had no idea of all the services you provide.” At the office, the Red Cross gave the family emergency funds to buy food and clothing, MetroCards and referrals for housing and for counseling for the kids.

Shannon, who just graduated from nursing school, says that she and her kids will stay at her mom’s for now. Long term, she’s planning to take the State nursing boards, get a job, make some money and get back on her feet. And she’s very grateful to the Red Cross. “You guys do a lot,” she said. “I didn’t know how much you do. I appreciate everything; you’ve been very caring.”

Shannon Barback from Staten Island

"I have a knowledge that I'll be able to tap into if I ever need to."

Craig Stout and 14 of his co-workers from a Manhattan branding company attended a NY Red Cross CPR/ First Aid class on July 28, 2010. Craig became interested in learning lifesaving skills after his two-year-old son nearly choked on a piece of food. Being prepared for the worst makes Craig feel empowered; he’s also glad that his company values disaster readiness.

Craig Stout from Maplewood, NJ

"I never ride alone. I’ve always got a group watching over me.”

Few NY Red Cross staff members cut a more dashing figure when arriving at work than Charlie Wells on the days when he glides into the Chapter’s parking lot astride his dark purple Harley Davidson. A motorcycle rider since he was 16, Charlie has had this particular bike for the last five years. “It’s kind of like a tribute to the brothers—the firefighters and paramedics who were killed on 9/11,” he said. “I have a couple of tribute plaques on the bike in commemoration. So I never ride alone. I’ve always got a group watching over me.”

Charlie joined the NY Red Cross as Disaster Response director for New York City in January 2008 after spending 30 years with New York City’s Emergency Medical Service/New York Fire Department. His experience dealing with emergencies is long and deep. Born and bred in Queens, he worked as an EMT after high school and then joined the New York City EMS in 1977. There he rose through the ranks, responding as a paramedic captain to the 1993 bombing in the World Trade Center. In April 1995 he went to Oklahoma City as part of New York City’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force after the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building left 168 people dead and close to 700 injured. That same year, in September, he deployed to the Caribbean after two hurricanes caused extensive damage to several of the islands.

On 9/11, Charlie worked downtown as a chief in charge of an EMS operation after the World Trade Center was attacked. His brother-in-law, Bobby, a FDNY lieutenant, died that morning. “That was a very life-altering change, because it turns out we were in the same building—the Marriott Hotel,” said Charlie. “I didn’t know that on 9/11.” As the South Tower began to collapse, the triage team that Charlie was leading ran toward the Marriot through a side entrance off Liberty Street. Though trapped in debris, his team managed to dig out. “When we found Bobby three months later, I realized that we had been working 50 feet away from each other.”

So directing emergency responses is nothing unusual for Charlie Wells, which was a good thing—since his first day on the job at the Red Cross involved a building vacate in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that left some 80 unhappy people shut out of their homes. “It’s not as if I got here and got a little mentoring first, as if I walked in the door on the first day and sat at a desk for a couple of weeks learning the job,” he said. “I got thrown into it right at the very beginning.” And the large-scale responses continued with two crane collapses in Manhattan in March and May of that first year on the job.

Of course, before starting his new job, Charlie had seen the Red Cross in action “thousands of times” at fires. And, while he knew people were being helped, he never knew the details about how they were being helped. In Charlie’s position as NY Red Cross director of response for New York City, he’s back at fire scenes again. “It’s kind of brought me around full circle in my career,” he said. “As an EMS Chief, I always saw the firemen telling people, ‘stand to the side, don’t get too close, it’s too dangerous.’ Now it’s ‘Hi, I’m Charlie Wells from the Red Cross. I’m here to help you.’ The firemen are helping you by putting the fire out. And the Red Cross is going to help you get through this after the fire is out.”

Charles Wells from Baldwin, NY